Over the final 10 weeks of the 2013 season, the Arizona Cardinals posted the second best record in the N.F.L. at 7-2. Then, over the first 11 weeks of the 2014 season, the Cardinals sat atop the N.F.L. standings with an 8-1 record. But quarterback injuries doomed the team, and Arizona lost its final three games of the season playing with a third-string quarterback, Ryan Lindley.
Expectations were not very high for the Cardinals entering 2015, despite the return of their starting quarterback, Carson Palmer. But through two weeks, the Cardinals lead the N.