James Conner discusses Cardinals' turnaround amid four-game winning streak

One week after the Arizona Cardinals beat the Chicago Bears by 20 points, Arizona smashed the New York Jets 31-6 to earn a fourth straight victory and improve to 6-4 on the season. 

Following the dominant performance on Sunday afternoon, Cardinals running back James Conner sent somewhat of a message to the rest of the league regarding where Arizona is today compared to where the club was when it began the campaign at 1-3. 

"It’s a young, hungry group," Conner said while speaking with Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated after the win. "I think we’re all playing together. It’s the ultimate team game, so special teams is doing their thing. Defense is playing lights out. Offense, we execute. When we put all three phases together, you come to work and put it all together and enjoy the process, you get the results." 

ESPN Bet listed the Jets as 1.5-point favorites for Sunday's matchup. That line looks downright silly after the fact considering what happened at State Farm Stadium. 

On offense, Arizona rushed for 147 yards and three touchdowns as quarterback Kyler Murray completed 22-of-24 passes for 266 yards with a score and as Cardinals players caused the Jets to miss 20 tackles. Defensively, the Cardinals held future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers to a season-low 151 yards through the air and surrendered zero touchdown drives. 

Following the victory, outlets such as NBC Sports and Fox Sports said Murray should at least have his name mentioned in Most Valuable Player Award discussions this fall. According to ESPN stats, Murray began Monday ranked second in the NFL with a 75.5 adjusted QBR for the season. Across the campaign's first 10 games, he tossed 12 touchdown passes and rushed for four additional scores. 

As of Monday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed Murray fifth among the betting favorites at +1500 odds to claim MVP Award honors. 

"We just want to be a team on the rise," Conner added. "I’m not surprised. It’s just earned. You got to earn it week in and week out. We keep coming to work and it’s showing up." 

The first-place Cardinals are on the bye in Week 11 and next play at the 4-5 Seattle Seahawks on Nov. 24. On Monday, ESPN Analytics gave Arizona a 54.9% chance to pick up the win at Lumen Field.