FanHouse Dominique Rodgers Cromartie

Training camps have wrapped up, the NFL season is right around the corner, and it's still hot as sin outside. But instead of cooling you off with a warm island song, FanHouse break out ye old heat check for our 2009 NFL Season Previews. We'll rate each club in 5 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

After what seemed like about 15 straight seasons heading into the year as the trendy "sleeper" pick of the NFL, the Arizona Cardinals finally realized their potential, winning a home playoff game for the first time in the life of many football fans (myself included) and heading to the first-ever Super Bowl. Now, all of a sudden, expectations are at an all-time high. Can the team thrive, or will they disappoint?

With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all.

Meet the ...
Defending NFC champions. A few inches either way, and we could say the Super Bowl champions. Soak that up. The Arizona Cardinals almost took home a title. It was like a bizarro world Super Bowl -- if you only looked at the NFC side, that is. Regardless, the Cardinals did it with a prolific passing attack, and you know we love that in fantasy football.

They've lost their offensive coordinator and replaced Edgerrin James' aging legs with some fresh ones. Other than that, they look pretty similar in fantasy land. And that's a good thing.

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Franchise tags and salary-cap concerns play a very important role in real-world wheelings and dealings, but what if the biggest-named free agents were matched with the teams that gave them the best chance to make a Super Bowl run? What would that list look like? Glad you asked.

Yes, this is a strictly fictional account, one that requires you to suspend reality for the next few minutes. But, hey, it's the NFL offseason, which means that there won't be any meaningful football for another seven months. What else do you have to do?

Steelers No. 1 receiver Hines Ward gutted his way through the entire game, but with a strained MCL, he was not much more than a gimpy decoy. Pittsburgh No. 3 receiver Nate Washington hurt his shoulder on his only catch of the game with 1:33 to play, which meant he was running routes with not much more than one arm.

So when Ben Roethlisberger hopped into the huddle with 48 seconds to play, he really had one option among his top three receivers -- Santonio Holmes. On both of the Steelers' two goal-line plays in the final seconds, everything was set up to get Holmes open.

Well, that didn't take long -- after contemplating that the Eagles might be en route to storming back on the Arizona Cardinals ... they did just that.
On a second-and-10, Donovan McNabb went deep to rookie DeSean Jackson, who had a half step on Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. That half-step was just enough for McNabb to squeeze the ball in and, after tipping the ball to himself, Jackson juggled it a few times and waltzed into the end zone on a 62-yard touchdown pass, putting the Eagles ahead for the first time all game, 25-24.

There was little reason to think -- at least as soon as 15 real time minutes ago -- that the Philadelphia Eagles had any chance of beating the Arizona Cardinals and advancing to the Super Bowl. Adrian Wilson was sacking Donovan McNabb frequently, Antrel Rolle and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie were smothering the Guls' receivers (whom are average at best anyway, DeSean Jackson's youth aside).

Then, all of a sudden, McNabb hit Kevin Curtis on a laser-rocket-arm 50 yard completion on third and 19 that set up the Eagles up in the Arizona red zone, a rare occurance today indeed. Four plays later, D-Nasty found Brent Celek in the back of the end zone and the Eagles were suddenly within nine points.

The Arizona Cardinals have dominated the third quarter of today's wild card playoff game, turning a 17-14 halftime deficit into a 28-17 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The second half couldn't have started much better for the Cardinals: On the second play of the third quarter, a botched Falcons handoff was fumbled and plucked out of the air by Cardinals safety Antrel Rolle, who raced 27 yards for a touchdown to give the Cardinals a 21-17 lead.

Later in the third, Cardinals running back Tim Hightower scored on a four-yard touchdown run to give the Cardinals a 28-17 lead, and then Arizona started to pour it on: On the Falcons' first play after the ensuing kickoff, Cardinals cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie showed off his incredible vertical jump as he leaped into the air and picked off a Matt Ryan pass.

The Cardinals had to punt on their next possession, and the Falcons have the ball heading into the fourth, but Atlanta now has an uphill climb to keep its season alive.

Despite having their first-round pick taken away for their top-secret advanced scouting techniques, the New England Patriots still had a first-round pick in the 2008 NFL draft, thanks to a shrewd deal during the 2007 NFL draft that landed them San Francisco's pick in '08. And because the 49ers were pretty lousy in 2007, the Patriots ended up with the No. 10 overall selection following a 16-0 regular season, and a trip to the Super Bowl.

With the No. 10 pick, the Patriots selected linebacker Jerod Mayo from the University of Tennessee, and he became an instant star in the New England defense, starting every game for the Patriots and recording 128 tackles (five for loss), four pass defenses, and a forced fumble. For his efforts, Mayo was named the NFL's defensive rookie of the year on Wednesday, picking up 49 of a possible 50 votes.

According to Pro Football Talk, the 50th vote went to Bengals rookie linebacker Keith Rivers for the seven games he played during the season. I'm going to take a wild guess and say Rivers' vote came from someone who happens to work in Cincinnati. If you're not going to vote for Mayo, who was pretty obviously the best rookie on the defensive side of the ball, the No. 2 choice probably should have been Arizona's Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie for his 19 pass defenses, four interceptions, blocked kick and one touchdown.

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is a month off, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: Matt Leinart enters his third year and he finally seems to understand that football is actually more important than bonging beers with Nick Lachey. If he struggles early, though, head coach Ken Whisenhunt won't hesitate to go with 37-year-old Kurt Warner. Heat Index: 5

Running backs: Edgerrin James' best days are (way) behind him, and Marcel Shipp, J.J. Arrington and rookie Tim Hightower are all "just guys." Which is to say: defenses will continue to play the pass until the running game proves otherwise. Heat Index: 3

Receivers: Larry Fitzgerald is extremely happy; Anquan Boldin, not so much. Still, they are two of the best wideouts in the league. No one will miss Bryant Johnson, and rookie Early Doucet will get every chance to win the slot receiver job. Assuming Leinart doesn't regress in '08, both Fitzgerald and Boldin should have 1,000-yard receiving seasons. Heat Index: 8