For the next five days everyone will be telling you why the Arizona Cardinals don’t have a chance to win against the Carolina Panthers. What about the reasons why they could pull the upset? Here are five reasons why you may be able to celebrate a Cardinals’ victory on Saturday night.

5) The Role of Underdog

With the exception of diehard Cardinals’ fans, no one expects the Redbirds to pull off the upset in Carolina Saturday night. That role suited the Cardinals just fine on this past weekend as the national media and odds makers picked Atlanta to win. Although the Cardinals shouldn’t need motivation, being overlooked can help this young team gain that little extra focus needed to win on the road. Not to mention that with Carolina being a 9.5 point favorite, the largest spread of the weekend, the Panthers may be looking forward to the NFC Championship Game rather than taking care of business at home.

4) Every streak has to come to an end

The Cardinals are 0-5 in games east of the Mississippi this year and 2-19 over the last 6 seasons, while the Panthers are 8-0 at home this year. Not encouraging stats when you think about it, but every streak has to come to an end right?

One factor that may benefit the Cardinals is that in the last 6 years only one of those east coast games was the late game, a start time the Cardinals are accustomed to. Athletes are creatures of habit, so instead of waking up much earlier than they normally would and starting a game when they usually would be arriving at the stadium, Saturday’s 6:15pm local start time affords them the chance to stay in their normal rhythm even though they are playing in the Eastern Time Zone.

3) Edgerrin James

Whether he is playing to help the Cardinals win a championship, or to audition for a new team for the 2009 season, Edgerrin James has come up big in the last two games. In those two contests against Seattle and Atlanta, James has combined for 179 yards on 30 carries. In the four weeks prior to James’ return to the starting lineup, the Cardinals entire team combined for 175 rushing yards on 54 carries.

Edge has been the Britney Spears of the NFL in the last few weeks. Like Britney, he teetered on the edge of irrelevance, only to reinvent himself and thrust himself back into the spotlight. If he continues to be effective when called upon, the Cardinals offense is next to unstoppable. That balanced attack could propel the Cards to victory.

2) Week 8 of the NFL season: Panthers 27, Cardinals 23

How can a 27-23 loss be reason for optimism?

The Cardinals cost themselves the game, hands down. They had a 14-point lead on the road. The Panthers had no answer for the Cardinals passing attack, giving up 375 yards and 2 touchdowns to Kurt Warner. If it weren’t for two turnovers that killed scoring drives, the Cardinals would have maintained that lead. How about when the Cardinals took a 23-17 lead and Neil Rackers missed the extra point? Or a controversial ruling that Steve Smith didn’t step out of bounds on a long touchdown at the end of the third quarter to give Carolina a 24-23 lead?

The Cardinals know that they can hang with the Panthers in Carolina because of this game. If they can minimize mistakes and follow a similar game plan to that of Week 8, they should be in strong position to win.

1) Kurt Warner

Plain and simple, Kurt Warner knows how to win in big situations. As the starting quarterback in 1994 at Northern Iowa he won the Missouri Valley Football Conference Championship. In the Arena Football League, Warner was 5-3 as a starter in the playoffs with two arena bowl appearances in his 3 seasons. As a starting quarterback in the NFL, he is 7-2 in the playoffs with two trips to the Super Bowl.

Every time Kurt Warner seems to be counted out, he finds a way to win. His experience and leadership are enough to give the Cardinals a good chance. Plus, he was a starter for the Amsterdam Admirals, while Panthers’ quarterback Jake Delhome was his backup, so that has to be worth something, right?.