Eagles hosting the suddenly playoff-minded Arizona Cardinals on Sunday

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One of the great things about pro football in my humble opinion is how quickly a franchise can go from first-overall pick territory to world champion. It can take years to turn around a floundering Major League baseball team, and it’s damn near impossible to do in the NBA until the organization trips over a LeBron James. In the NFL, there’s always next season.

Today we asked the question whether the Eagles could be embarking on a worst-to-first success story, but they’re not the only ones trying to accomplish that feat. This Sunday’s opponent is riding a four-game winning streak into the Linc, and currently owns a better record than Philadelphia for that matter.

That would be the surprising 7-4 Arizona Cardinals, a team whose season looked dead in the water a month ago. As Michael Silver writes for NFL.com though, the red birds have managed to pull off a 180 to rescue their 2013 campaign. Now they have the playoffs in their sights.

With a four-game winning streak and a half-game lead over San Francisco (heading into the 49ers' Monday night game against the Washington Redskins) in the race for the NFC's second wild-card spot, the Cardinals (7-4) are starting to believe in the potential that has been relentlessly trumpeted by their first-year coach, Bruce Arians.

Momentum in late November is a wonderful thing -- just ask the Carolina Panthers, a team Arizona defeated 22-6 back in Week 5 -- and right now, the Cards are joyriding.

"Bruce, coming out of training camp, told us, 'Hey, you guys, we're a good team,' " veteran offensive tackle Eric Winston said Sunday night as he celebrated with teammates and family members in the stadium parking lot. "He saw it before anybody else. Yet, until very recently, I don't know if guys believed it yet.

"I think Bruce had to convince us we can win these big games. He told us, 'You know what? We can beat good teams. And if you don't know, you should now.' "

Arizona is probably best known for a stingy run defense that ranks second in the NFL and an opportunistic secondary that is tied for third in interceptions. Veteran quarterback Carson Palmer has been playing extremely well these past four games however, posting a strong 110.8 quarterback rating during that span.

Not to take anything away from the Cardinals—partly because the Eagles are guilty of this as well—but they’ve been beating up on some bad teams during the current run. Three of the four wins came at the expense of opponents still searching for their third win of the season. It’s fair to wonder how good they really are.

It sure sounds like the Cards have a great deal of confidence heading into this week’s matchup with the Eagles though, which holds big postseason implications for both teams. Get to know the enemy a little better in Silver’s column.

For what it’s worth, in Silver’s power rankings he has Arizona eighth and Philly way down at No. 14.

>> Arizona Cardinals rounding into playoff form [NFL.com]

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