Sunday 22 October 2017 08:19, UK
The Arizona Cardinals own the oldest starting roster of 22 players in the NFL.
This Sunday, at Twickenham, they face the team with the fifth-youngest in their NFC West divisional rival Los Angeles Rams. And it doesn't stop there - 31-year-old Sean McVay became the youngest head coach hire in the history of the NFL in January of this year.
Staring him down from the opposite sideline is Cardinals coaching veteran, 65-year-old Bruce Arians - a head coach, at Temple University, before McVay was even born.
But, far from being concerned at the advancing years of his Arizona roster, Arians only made it older with the recent addition of 32-year-old future Hall of Fame running back Adrian Peterson, via a trade with the New Orleans Saints.
On the strength of his 134-yard and two-TD debut in beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the move has reinvigorated the Arizona run game which, following the Week One injury of their backfield stud David Johnson, hadn't had a rusher manage more than 44 yards this year.
Peterson, himself, is a new man, possessing new purpose and a beaming smile that is just as evident as the snarl he wore during a miserable four weeks in New Orleans. There, collectively, he carried the ball on only one more occasion than his 26 touches in his Arizona opener.
"It's amazing," Peterson said, when addressing the British media this week. "When you think about my first four weeks and sitting on the sideline for the first time in my career, averaging less than 10 plays a game, for this opportunity and trade to come up, it's a blessing."
A blessing for AP, sure, but for the Cardinals too.
Arizona had only two wins to show from their first five games, and those were uninspiring overtime efforts against the Indianapolis Colts (2-4) and the still winless San Francisco 49ers (0-6).
The spark was back against the Bucs, the team scoring a season-high 38 points - comfortably bettering their previous best of only 23, made in the Week One defeat to the Detroit Lions.
This Sunday's Twickenham tussle with the Rams is now the first of three straight divisional games. A win and they'd go level with current leaders Los Angeles in the West.
But could the Cards dare to have loftier ambitions from 2017, especially in a wide-open NFC conference?
The Green Bay Packers are Aaron-Rodgers-less, the 2-3 Dallas Cowboys could conceivably, at some point, be Ezekiel-Elliott-less, the much-fancied-preseason New York Giants are 1-5 and completely wide-receiver-less, while the defending NFC champion Atlanta Falcons have lost two straight heading into a Super Bowl re-match against the New England Patriots.
Key to any Arizona success this season though, is AP's arrival, according to Sky Sports' Neil Reynolds.
"You look at this team and they've got confidence all of a sudden" Reynolds said, while attending Cardinals training this week. "Peterson changes this team.
"It's a roster loaded with talent. They have Larry Fitzgerald, Carson Palmer, and on defence Patrick Peterson, Tyrann Mathieu, Chandler Jones.
"But, the amount of pressure that was on Palmer before was too much - he was throwing the ball roughly 40 times a game. With AP there, that dropped to 22 times in the win over Tampa Bay. It's all connected.
"Sure, the Cardinals have had problems on their offensive line this season, but Peterson's a running back who creates his own blocking. It's just the way he runs. He's a big boy."
While Palmer's passing attempts may have reduced with Peterson in the backfield, the effectiveness of his throws to Fitzgerald grew, with the veteran receiver torching the Tampa defence for 138 yards and a TD.
Jen Welter, the first ever female coach in the NFL, worked with Fitzgerald during her time with the Cardinals in 2015, and is convinced he'll produce similar numbers throughout the season with the presence of AP.
"Defences will be committed to shutting down Peterson, which opens up some different passing options for the Cardinals," Welter told Sky Sports.
"Teams will dedicate and pull some attention to the running game, and any time you can't double up on Larry you're going to have a problem! He's one of the best receivers ever to have played the game."
But, that receiver is now 34 years old. Is time running out on Fitzgerald's, and this team's, Super Bowl window?
Palmer, Peterson and Fitzgerald are the only quarterback, running back and wide receiver team-mates in NFL history to have at least 300, 100 and 100 total TDs respectively. But, crucially, they also have no Super Bowl rings to their name.
"I wish he'd [Peterson] have been here 11 years from the beginning," Fitzgerald told reporters after the team's Tampa win. "I'd already have a Super Bowl ring."
Fitzgerald has before sampled the biggest game in football, losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2009 - a Super Bowl, it's worth noting, he had 129 yards and two scores in.
But while we're almost 10 years removed from that dazzling display, Fitzgerald is showing no signs of slowing - he is on pace for his ninth 1,000-yard year, and third in a row, having already accounted for 465 through six games.
He is also on course for a third successive year with 100 catches, having logged 42 so far, and Arians - speaking to Sky Sports during the summer - said it would take just 90 for him to be back in 2018, with this being a contract year.
"I asked Arians during our chat, is that Super bowl window closing?" adds Reynolds. "Is it slammed shut?
"Not with sports science today it's not. Palmer is still throwing it like he is 29 years old. Fitzgerald still looks as good as ever. And we saw last week that Peterson can still do it.
"The Cards have got an opportunity. There's still time for this team."
The addition of AP points to Arizona's eagerness not to let this opportunity pass them by.
Watch the Los Angeles Rams take on the Arizona Cardinals at Twickenham, live on Sky Sports Action (407) from 5.15pm on Sunday.
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