Dan Bickley

azcentral sports

Every sports town deserves a nickname. We are Hype City, where lofty expectations and excess excitement send our teams fleeing into the basement and the rest of us down the path of emotional ruin.

The 2016 Cardinals are threatening to become our latest scourge.

Following a 17-13 defeat to the Rams on Sunday, they have two home losses and trail two teams by two games in the NFC West. They have lost to a trio of mediocre quarterbacks (Jimmy Garoppolo, Tyrod Taylor, Case Keenum), guys who aren’t household names in their own dwellings. The easy part of the schedule just concluded, and it appears the Cardinals will have to play their next opponent on the road, on short rest, with their backup quarterback.

What could possibly go wrong?

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“The sky is not falling for us,” Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians said. “I’m sure it is for a bunch of fans. I’m disappointed to say that, but we’ve got another game Thursday night.”

Maybe Arians is a little miffed at the bandwagon nature of Valley sports fans, many of whom are grumbling over the performance of Cardinals coaches. Maybe the assessment is the only galvanizing trick he has left to reach an underperforming team.

That said, the Cardinals better be thankful for the passion that is burning their ears after the opening month of the season, and not scorn those that have painted the Valley red in recent years.

“Everybody’s pissed off about the situation of what we’re in right now,” said wide receiver John Brown, who was not part of the problem on Sunday, posting 10 receptions. “That’s the only thing I can speak on as a team from what I see right now.”

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When this game was over, the locker room resembled a ghost town. The silence was eerie and extremely hard on the ears. This team appeared to improve on paper entering the 2016 season, but clearly, there is something seriously wrong with the mix.

The Cardinals seemed to win the important battles on Sunday. Their offensive line held its own against the ferocious Rams, gaining 118 rushing yards and averaging nearly five yards per carry. Yet it managed only one touchdown and couldn’t score in the opening quarter for the fourth time this season.

The Cardinals’ defense held Todd Gurley to 33 rushing yards. Yet they missed more tackles, made more mental errors and Marcus Cooper experienced the flipside of good fortune. The cornerback was the surprise hero in his debut at University of Phoenix Stadium, only to give up both touchdowns in his encore, including the game-winner.

NOTES: Likely starter Drew Stanton has Arizona Cardinals' full confidence

The special teams didn’t botch any field-goal attempts, but gave up the play of the game, a 47-yard punt return, with another 15 yards tacked on via penalty.

“We know we had great expectations coming into the season,” Cardinals safety Tyrann Mathieu said. “We have a talented roster (on) both sides of the ball, and 1-3 is not what we all envisioned.”

It’s been a brutal season for both combatants in last year’s NFC Championship Game. The Panthers are 1-3 and lost Cam Newton to a concussion in Sunday’s loss. The same fate occurred to the Cardinals and Carson Palmer, forcing Drew Stanton to attempt a game-winning drive with laughable results.

Stanton, an interception machine during training camp, threw three picks in two possessions, one of which was overturned on instant replay. His last-second Hail Mary wasn’t even close to a Cardinals wide receiver. At one time, Stanton was Arians’ chosen one, the quarterback that was going to define the head coach’s success in Arizona.

MCMANAMAN: Cardinals offense missing last season's magic

These days, it’s safe to say that Arians has far more confidence in Stanton than you do.

“A ton,” Arians said. “I’ve got a ton (of confidence in him). Drew did everything he could to get us down there for that last play. He’s beaten this team before, the 49ers. Everybody has a ton of confidence in Drew.”

The laughable praise is necessary bluster. If Stanton has to start against the 49ers, he can’t be playing out of fear and without full confidence of the team’s play-caller. Except Stanton knows that he didn’t exactly deliver on Sunday.

“You know, that’s my job, so it’s frustrating to not come in there and have success,” Stanton said. “It’s unfortunate to let this team down and the organization and the fans, because we’re much better than that.”

Sorry. At this point, the Cardinals have lost three of four games, and five of their last seven dating back to last season. They have lost the right to call themselves better than how they appear in the standings.

The Cardinals are not yet the 2016 Diamondbacks, a team that was expected to compete for a championship, only to celebrate a season-ending victory that kept them out of last place. But if they don’t get a victory soon, they might be our greatest disappointment yet. And in these parts, that’s saying something.

Reach Bickley at dan.bickley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8253. Follow him at twitter.com/danbickley. Listen to “Bickley and Marotta,” weekdays from 12-2 p.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.