Tag: Arizona Cardinals (Page 15 of 51)

      NFL Playoffs Fan Battle: Cardinals vs. Saints Preview

      January 14, 2010 /

      To get you ready for the Cardinals-Saints’ Divisional Round tilt in the “Big Easy” this Saturday, here’s a preview of the game via a mock dialogue between an Arizona and a New Orleans fan.

      Saint Fan: I bet Sean Payton couldn’t sleep after watching the Packers rip apart the Cardinals’ defense last Sunday! Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, James Jones and Jermichael Finley lit you guys up and we have similar weapons in Marques Colston, Jeremy Shockey, Devery Henderson and Robert Meachem. I can’t wait to see what that group will do against Arizona’s brutal secondary this Saturday!

      Cardinal Fan: Last week was an anomaly – the Cards’ defense won’t play that bad two weeks in a row. Ken Whisenhunt and his staff have already dissected what went wrong and are working to correct the problem. Besides, tackling was the main issue last week, which is correctable.

      Saint Fan: Payton just won coach of the year and is one of the brightest offensive minds in football. If Mike McCarthy figured out how to rack up 40-plus points on Arizona, then Payton might double that.

      Cardinal Fan: This isn’t the regular season – it’s the playoffs.

      Saint Fan: Wow, you’re just figuring this out now?

      Cardinal Fan: Hear me out; Whisenhunt is 4-1 in the postseason as the Cardinals’ head coach. He has already been to the Super Bowl and thus knows what it takes to get there. There’s no doubt Payton is a great coach, but there’s a lot more at stake for him this weekend with the Saints being the No. 1 seed and expected to reach the Super Bowl after running through the competition for most of the season.

      Saint Fan: Yeah, but let’s give defensive coordinator Gregg Williams his due. His aggressive style has changed how the Saints run their defense and he deserves just as much credit for our team’s success this year as Payton does.

      Cardinal Fan: Oh, you mean the same Gregg Williams-led defense that can’t stop the run? Once we establish the ground game with Beanie Wells, Kurt Warner is going to pick your fading defense apart with his precision passing. Plus, once we get inside the red zone we’re nearly unstoppable. We’ve scored touchdowns on 70.4 percent of our trips inside our opponents’ 20-yard line, which is the best in the league.

      Continue reading »

      NFL

      Cardinals-Packers thriller saves Wildcard Weekend

      January 10, 2010 /

      For the casual NFL fan, Wildcard Weekend was a bust. Unless you were a Jets, Cowboys or Ravens fan, the games were boring and highly un-entertaining. (Unless you like one team completing dominating another, that is.)

      But the Cardinals’ 51-45 overtime thriller over the Packers saved what could have been the worst Wildcard Weekend in recent memory. In fact, it was probably the best game of the season.

      Kurt Warner never ceases to amaze me. What he did against a solid Green Bay secondary was pretty extraordinary – even for him. He completed 29-of-33 passes for 379 yards, five touchdown passes and every time the Cards needed a score, he managed to get them into position to do so. If this is indeed Warner’s last dance, it looks like he’s going to leave everything out on the floor.

      After throwing an interception on the first play of the game, Aaron Rodgers put on a show himself. He completed 28-of-42 passes for 422 yards and four touchdowns. There will be plenty of Packer fans that will say that Brett Favre would have won this game. But even the fiercest of Brett backers had to marvel at how Rodgers went toe-to-toe with Warner today and almost came out victorious.

      I realize his fumble in overtime will haunt him and Green Bay in the offseason (he also overshot a wide open Greg Jennings on the first play of overtime that would have won the game), but don’t forget this was his first career playoff appearance. And with this being his first ever postseason appearance, he played incredibly well and once again proved that the Packers have a bright future. Keep in mind that Arizona got the benefit of a couple of calls in overtime that aided in Rodgers and Green Bay’s demise. The refs could have called a helmet-to-helmet hit on Rodgers on the second play of the drive, as well as a face mask penalty on the game-winning touchdown recovery.

      Continue reading »

      NFL

      Report: Warner likely to retire at the end of season

      January 10, 2010 /

      Sources tell ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter that this will likely be Kurt Warner’s last season in the NFL.

      Arizona’s next loss could mark the last time that quarterback Kurt Warner plays in an NFL game.

      He always could change his mind, but this likely will be the 38-year-old Warner’s final NFL season, according to sources close to the quarterback.

      Warner has been voted to five Pro Bowls, won two NFL MVP awards, one Super Bowl and became the second quarterback in history to throw more than 100 touchdown passes for two NFL franchises.

      Earlier this season, Warner suffered a concussion that raised questions about his future.

      While there’s no doubt he’d like to go out on top with a Super Bowl victory, Warner has nothing left to prove. He’s had a great career and if this is his final season, he’ll exit as one of the classiest players to have ever suited up in the NFL.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      NFL

      NFL Playoff Preview: Sunday games

      January 10, 2010 /

      Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots
      1:00 pm ET
      TV—CBS

      Last season, the Ravens began their playoff journey as a wild card by upsetting the AFC East champion Dolphins, and then upsetting the top seeded Tennessee Titans, before losing to the eventual champion Steelers in the AFC championship game. This season the Ravens went 10-6 and eked into the playoffs in Week 17, but their losses have mostly been close games, including a 27-21 defeat in New England in Week 4. The Ravens’ fifth ranked rushing attack is led by RB Ray Rice, and they will once again use their stout defense (ranked third overall) to try and stop Tom Brady, Randy Moss and company. The Patriots will try to run the ball to control the clock and keep it away from Rice, and also try to use said running game to allow Brady and his receivers to stretch the field. Of course, everyone knows that Wes Welker is out for the season after jamming his knee into the Reliant Stadium turf last Sunday. But did anyone expect rookie WR (and 7th round draft pick) Julian Edelman to catch 10 passes for 103 yards and run up and down the field looking like a Welker clone doing it? Not really. Still, Brady didn’t have guys named Lewis, Suggs and Reed lining up on the other side last week, and those guys in purple jerseys could force him into making a few mistakes. The bottom line, however, is that the Patriots are 8-0 at home this season, and a Bill Belichick coached team is a tough out in the playoffs.
      THE PICK: PATRIOTS 26, RAVENS 17

      Green Bay Packers at Arizona Cardinals
      4:40 pm ET
      TV—FOX

      Amazingly, this game is the third contest of the weekend that is a rematch of a Week 17 game, and like the Philly/Dallas game, this one is also in the same building, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona. Will it be the same outcome though? Last week, the Packers played all of their starters in annihilating the defending NFC champs 33-7, but Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt did not use star QB Kurt Warner after the first quarter. Still, how much of that crap about tipping your hand before playing an opponent again do you believe? This is the NFL, and the team that executes their game plan usually wins. Packers’ coach Mike McCarthy believed that letting Aaron Rodgers and his receivers stretch the field against the Cardinals’ 23rd ranked pass defense, as well as mixing in a heavy dose of Ryan Grant and Ahman Green to run the ball and keep it away from Warner and Matt Leinart was an effective strategy. Of course, McCarthy’s Packers boast the #1 rushing defense in the NFL and the #5 passing defense, so they feel like they can stop whoever is trying to move the ball against them anyway, especially if star CB Charles Woodson suits up after aggravating a shoulder injury last week. Remember, though, that the Cardinals are recently playoff tested, and came within a brilliant Santonio Holmes touchdown catch from winning it all less than a year ago.
      THE PICK: PACKERS 33, CARDINALS 30

      NFL

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑