The 'no respect' card is pretty common meme in sports; the Patriots are kings of playing it, and last year, the Giants used it for several weeks in a row en route to winning the Super Bowl.As Kevin Blackistone noted, the Cardinals are very arguably the hottest team in the playoffs. But that's not stopping them from slinging the underdog card around left and right. Darnell Dockett, obviously, wanted to let people know they recognized the disrespect.
But he wasn't the only one. Safety Adrian Wilson discussed "no one giving them a chance" and "feeding off the negativity" following the team's win over the Panthers:
That's okay. It is what it is. We have to go out there and prove everyone wrong. We were 10 point underdogs in this game. We have been playing the underdog during the whole playoffs.Excuse me while I raise my hand in guilt. Anquan Boldin, who didn't play, echoed Wilson's sentiments, stating that he was "very proud" because "Nobody gave us a chance".
[...] Of course we are [feeding off the negativity]. Of course. No one is giving us a chance.
Antonio Smith even went so far as to point out that the Cardinals relish the chance to be disrespected.
We are always going to be the underdogs and we love being the underdogs. And I'm grateful.And frankly, it was a basic theme that reverberated across the Cardinal locker room following the win against the Panthers; much like the 2007 Giants, the 2008 Cardinals believe they're good enough on both sides of the ball and just underrated enough to win a Super Bowl.
Of course, this probably shouldn't be any real "news" -- MDS pointed this out before the playoffs started -- but the sudden realization that the Cardinals are much better than we thought could make for a compelling matchup if the Giants can beat the Eagles today.
