Tagged As: NFL, Cardinals, Eagles, Ravens, Steelers

At the beginning of the year it looked like a Giants-Patriots rematch in the Super Bowl. Now, after the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs neither team is going to make it to even the conference championship. Who would have thought the NFC Championship game would have the Arizona Cardinals hosting the Philadelphia Eagles? The Cardinals as the home team?!? While many guessed that the Pittsburgh Steelers might have made it to the AFC Championship, not many thought they would be playing the Baltimore Ravens.

How did this happen? Well let’s start with the games this weekend. The Baltimore Ravens beat the Tennessee Titans 13-10 on a last minute field goal from 43 yards out won the game. Before that the Titans lost Chris Johnson, had 12 costly penalties, and turned the ball over three times inside the red zone.

I said that the only way the Ravens were going to advance was if they won the turnover battle. This obviously is not a tremendous observation, but it is the only reason they won. You can commend Joe Flacco on making the big throws and not turning the ball over, but even that only produced 13 points.

The nightcap Saturday was a Arizona Cardinals bombastic game in which they won 33-13 over the Carolina Panthers. I thought that Boldin had to find a way to play for the red birds to have a chance, but I was wrong. Apparently, after the incredible catch by Larry Fitzgerald on a lofted 41-yard deep ball from Kurt Warner, nobody in the Panthers secondary wanted to be poster-ized, so they simply did not cover him. Fitzgerald had 153 yards in the first half! He was the best receiver in the NFL during the regular season with 96 catches, 1,431 yards, and 12 touchdowns so he was not exactly a secret.

I was wrong on just about all my conditions for the Cardinals to beat the Panthers. Kurt Warner had a good game, but not an MVP caliber game. The team also did establish a running game and did play defense (with a little help from a six-turnover Jake Delhoume breakdown that will go down in NFL Postseason history) for a second week in a row. That and this next game meant that Cardinals tickets next weekend will host the NFC Championship at University of Phoenix Stadium.

The next game I was referring to was the Philadelphia Eagles 23-11 win over the New York Giants at the Meadowlands. I thought this game was going to be a blowout. I thought that neither team had a marquee receiver so the running game was going to decide things. Westbrook did nothing liked I called and the Giants three headed beast was more than adequate. What happened could not be seen in the numbers.

Both Eli Manning and Donovan McNabb had two picks, but McNabb had decent numbers while Manning’s were less than pedestrian. McNabb made the plays when they counted on third down and was able to avoid the Giants pass rush. He kept things going even after he was sacked by a grounding penalty in the second quarter. The question for next week is will McNabb and the Eagles offense be able to put up enough points to keep up with the Cards. Meanwhile, the question for New York is will Manning be able to handle the pressure and criticism this offseason.

The last game was between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the San Diego Chargers. Well, after that dominant and time-consuming third quarter the Steelers tickets next week will be at home to decide the AFC Championship.

The Chargers were not able to win and failed to complete my two keys to the game. Darren Sproles was nowhere near as dominant as he was last week. Sure had 92 receiving yards and a touchdown and he posted a 32.8 yard kickoff return average, but his rushing numbers (15 yards on 11 carries) and punt return numbers failed to impress or even challenge the Steel Curtain. The defense was not able to stop Willie Parker (27 carries, 146 yards, 2 touchdowns).

In the end the game was over at 12:52 in the fourth quarter when the score was 28-10. Those 14 extra Chargers points were pity points to make this game look somewhat close. San Diego had a nice run, but they could not keep their improbable run going. The question is can the Cardinals keep their improbable season going so that they can reach a true league championship game for the first time since 1948.