Tag: St. Louis Rams (Page 32 of 42)

      Top 20 Most Memorable Playoff Games

      January 12, 2009 /

      The Love of Sports put together a great list of the top 20 most memorable playoff games.

      2. 1992 AFC Wild Card: Bills 41, Oilers 38 (OT)
      At some point during this game, possibly at halftime, NBC actually flashed a graphic on screen that said something to the tune of: “Next week: Houston at Pittsburgh, 4pm.” Oops. I wish I had video to confirm this. Oh, and the Bills stormed back with hall-of-famers Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas out of the game. My dad attended the game, and reported of fans trying to scale the fences to get back into the stadium after walking out with the score 35-3. Of course, with the local blackout, the only way you could see it in Western New York was if you were there.

      1. 2003 NFC Divisional: Panthers 29, Rams 23 (2 OT)
      I will go to my grave arguing this is the second-most entertaining NFL game I’ve ever seen, behind only Super Bowl XXXVIII. Amazingly, the ‘04 Panthers played in both.

      How awesome was it?

      – Mushin Muhammad scored not on a catch, but a fumble recovery of a botched shovel pass.
      – The Panthers, following a John Kasay missed FG that would have put them up by 14, blew an 11-point lead in the final 2:39, and still won.
      – The Rams’ kicker successfully recovered his own onside kick after cutting Carolina’s lead to three.
      – Mike Martz’s bizarre strategy to let the clock run down and play for the tie, despite having the ball in the red zone with that offense at home will be second-guessed for eternity.
      – The Panthers seemingly won the game in the first OT on a 40-yard field goal but got flagged for delay of game. The 45-yard attempt sailed wide right.
      – The Rams then missed a 53-yard field goal on their ensuing possession.
      – The game went into a second overtime – the first such game since 1987.
      – Jake Delhomme’s 69-yard nail-in-the-coffin bomb to Steve Smith was as pretty of a play as you’ll ever see.
      – It was the Rams’ first home playoff loss, and their first home loss of any kind in 14 games.
      – It was the fifth-longest game in NFL history.
      – I needed a separate list just to describe the awesomeness of this game.

      What a great list, although as a Falcons fan I would have loved to have seen the boys at TLOS rank the 1998 NFC Championship Game higher than 10. Thanks Gary Anderson – love, ya.

      Make sure and check out the entire list because it comes complete with video. It’s crazy to look back on how many great playoff games there have been over the years.

      Video

      If NFL teams want better defenses, they better build outdoors

      January 6, 2009 /

      Georgia DomeLast Sunday a couple friends and I were watching the Ravens-Dolphins playoff game and we were talking about how good both Baltimore and Miami’s defenses were this season. Then we started to gab about other top defenses in the league and the thought dawned on me – all the good defensive teams play outdoors.

      Think about it. What teams had the best defenses in 2008? Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington and the Giants all ranked in the top five – all outdoors teams. Granted, Minnesota was No. 6, but the next dome team was Indianapolis at No. 11.

      Out of the eight dome teams (I’ll count both Dallas and Arizona as dome teams), five of them (Arizona, Atlanta, New Orleans, St. Louis and Detroit) finished in the bottom half of the league in total defense. In 2007, six of the eight teams finished in the bottom half. In 2006, five teams finished in the bottom half. In 2005, four of the seven dome teams (Arizona was outdoors before 2006) finished in the bottom half and in 2004, six of the seven dome teams ranked in the bottom half defensively.

      Here’s a breakdown of how each dome team has done defensively since 2002:

      Arizona 2006-2008: 29th; 17th; 19th
      Atlanta 2002-2008: 19th; 32nd; 14th; 22nd; 22nd; 29th; 24th
      Dallas 2002-2008: 18th; 1st; 16th; 10th; 20th; 13th; 9th; 8th
      Detroit 2002-2008: 31st; 24th; 22nd; 28th; 32nd; 32nd
      Indianapolis 2002-2008: 8th; 11th; 29th; 11th; 21st; 11th;
      Minnesota 2002-2008: 26th; 23rd; 28th; 21st; 8th; 20th; 3rd; 6th
      New Orleans 2002-2008: 27th; 18th; 32nd; 14th; 11th; 26th; 23rd
      St. Louis 2002-2008: 13th; 16th; 17th; 30th; 23rd; 21st; 28th

      Let’s recap:

      – Of the eight dome teams, only three of them have ever finished in the top 10 in total defense since 2002.
      – Only two of them (Dallas and Minnesota) have ever finished in the top 5 in total defense since 2002.
      – All of them have finished in the bottom half of the league in total defense at least once.
      – Atlanta, Detroit, New Orleans and St. Louis haven’t cracked the top 10 in total defense once since 2002.

      Granted, there are several huge factors that work against the theory that dome teams are worse off defensively than those that play outdoors. First and foremost, there’s a larger sample size of outdoors teams than dome, so of course they’re going to have better overall defensive rankings. Secondly, 2002 to 2008 might not be a long enough time period to definitively say that dome teams are worse defensively.

      But think about it – when has a dome team ever had a consistently good defense? Chicago, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New England have always been known for their defense. Outside of the “Purple People Eaters” when has a dome team ever been known for its defense? Never. And this plays into the fact that dome teams struggle to make Super Bowl appearances.

      Why? It can’t be that these teams have ignored their defenses over the years or have just had terrible luck in the drafts. Free agency has allowed teams to rebuild in just one offseason, so it’s not like these teams haven’t had the opportunity to re-tool their defensive units.

      The simple explanation is that teams can obviously move the ball better when they don’t have to deal with weather conditions, so therefore dome teams are more susceptible to giving up more yardage and points. But is that it? So dome teams are just doomed defensively for the end of time? They best they can do on a consistent basis is finish 11-16 in total defense?

      Obviously this research is largely incomplete, but it’s an interesting topic.

      NFL

      NFL Playoff Preview: Cardinals’ offense needs to find balance

      January 2, 2009 /

      With their 34-10 win over the St. Louis Rams in Week 14, the Arizona Cardinals clinched the NFC West for the first time since the league realigned the divisions in 2002. At 8-5, the Cards secured home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs and essentially felt pretty good about their chances of making a deep postseason run thanks to their explosive offense.

      Then all hell broke loose for two weeks.

      Arizona was hammered by the Minnesota Vikings, 35-14 at home in Week 15 and were trounced 47-7 by the New England Patriots in Foxboro the following week. In those two losses, the Cards turned the ball over four times and averaged just 43.5 rushing yards. If it weren’t for their salvaging 34-21 win over the Seahawks in the final week of the regular season, ‘Zona would have limped into the playoffs losers of three straight.

      While NFL purists love to note how explosive the Cardinals’ passing game is, the key for them beating the Atlanta Falcons on Saturday in the opening round of the playoffs is creating offensive balance. If they can’t run the ball, the Falcons should have no problem sitting back in coverage and allowing defensive linemen John Abraham, Kroy Biermann and Jonathan Babineaux to pin their ears back and get pressure on Kurt Warner.

      The Cardinals have averaged just 73.6 rushing yards per game this season, which ranks them dead last in the NFL. While Tim Hightower demonstrated his powerful running style at times this season, his inconsistency has forced Ken Whisenhunt to give veteran Edgerrin James more carries in efforts to try and revive his team’s dead running game.

      Led by Warner and a trio of 1,000-yard receivers in Anquan Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Breaston, the Cardinals are going to move the ball through the air on Saturday. But if the Falcons are able to stop the run using just their front seven, it’ll allow safeties Erik Coleman and Lawyer Milloy to stay back in coverage and help corners Dominique Foxworth, Chris Houston and rookie Chevis Jackson blanket the Cards’ talented receivers. Arizona must run the football effectively and force Atlanta to bring Milloy up to help in run support, or else the Cardinals will be one and done this postseason.

      The Falcons offense ranks sixth in the league in yards per game and is scoring 24.4 PPG, so they’re equipped for a shootout if one were to break out on Saturday. Given how poor the Cardinals’ defense has played at times this season, it would be a mistake to think ‘Zona will go anywhere this postseason if they can’t run the ball and strike balance on offense.

      NFL

      Has Matt Ryan finally hit the rookie wall?

      December 28, 2008 /

      Matt RyanThe Atlanta Falcons might be the story of the year in the NFL this season and Matt Ryan is a big reason why. But has the first-year quarterback finally hit the preverbal rookie wall?

      Ryan was not particularly sharp in the Falcons’ last three regular season games, completing just 38 of 68 (55%) of his pass attempts for 500 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions. In Atlanta’s 31-27 win over the Rams on Sunday, the rookie was just 10 of 21 passing for 160 yards and two interceptions.

      A telltale sign that the Falcons might be playing things more cautiously with Ryan was apparent on their game-winning touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter on Sunday. Down 27-24 with just under seven minutes remaining in the game, Atlanta offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey called runs on five of the six plays on the drive. Jerious Norwood then capped the drive off with a 45-yard touchdown run.

      I love Ryan; I’ve waxed poetically about his accomplishments all season. And I don’t want to take anything away from him because what he’s been able to accomplish this year has been amazing. Some of the throws he’s made have been beyond impressive (see the Denver game for examples of what I’m talking about) and to play all 16 games as a rookie is nothing short of extraordinary. He’s also led a team that was 4-12 a year ago to an 11-5 record and the playoffs, and he’s even running the no-huddle offense with apparent ease.

      That said, he seems to be making more rookie mistakes now than he did in the beginning of the season and maybe that’s because the Falcons are trusting him more with the offense and are opening up the playbook. But some of his throws in the second half Sunday against the Rams had nothing to do with the plays being called – they were just bad decisions. (Especially his second interception of the day, which was thrown off his back foot.)

      I hope Ryan dazzles in his first playoff game in Arizona next week. He’s truly a special player and he’s great for the NFL. I just hope that rookie wall isn’t making an appearance at the most important point in his season.

      NFL

      2008 Year-End Sports Review: What We Already Knew

      December 27, 2008 /

      While every year has its own host of surprises, there are always those stories that simply fit the trend. Sure, it can get repetitive, but if we don’t look back at history aren’t we only doomed to repeat it? Every year has its fair share of stories that fell into this category, and 2008 was no different.

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