As the Cardinals prepare to play Washington in the first round of the playoffs on Saturday, Cardinals coach Bruce Arians made an interesting observation:
“We’re not playing a 7-9 team. We’re playing a 4-1 team. When Alex Smith plays, they’re a 4-1 team,” Arians said on ESPN. “We’re not playing Dwayne Haskins. We’re playing Alex Smith.”
Arians actually understated how much better Washington’s record was with Smith during the 2020 season: Washington went 5-1 in games started by Smith, 1-5 in games started by Haskins and 1-3 in games started by Kyle Allen.