Cardinals Win Shootout in Overtime; Next Stop New Orleans

What an epic…I’m still in shock after that insta-classic down in the desert.

As far as next week goes, I see that for the Saints to win not only do they need to shut down the Kurt Warner Extravaganza, they also need to find balance in their offense to keep Arizona off the field too. Green Bay got virtually no heat on Warner all game long, so pass rushing will be at a premium, assuming we can find some.

Short version? I hope like heck you are correct.

If we can get a pass rush, we’ll have a very good chance. If not, not sure.

Yeah, Arizona can run. But not that well. And since chuckwagon couldn’t rush the passer, if we can replace him with somebody who can, we’ll improve our chances. We’ll still have to play gap discipline because no team is completely incompetent at rushing and Arizona isn’t even close to incompetent. But a good pass rush can disturb Warner and that’s good enough to give us a chance.

I hope our defensive backfield rediscovers it’s early-season form, but I think this game will hinge on the play of the lines. Getting pressure on Kurt(finally, a rematch with our venerable playoff foe!), and keeping Drew clean. I think our run defense can get a big boost in this game, too. While Hightower and Wells are solid, they’re no NFC South running attack. Best-case scenario for us!

That is why a first round bye is so important. It’s going to be hard for AZ to recover physically from an OT barnburner and face a fresh number one seed on the road six days later. Played into our hands perfectly.

Sharper’s gonna be roaming in the defensive backfield.

We’re gonna blitz early (LB’s only please) and rattle Warner.

PT is gonna be rolling.

And Brees is gonna do what he does.

And, prediction, Hargrove is gonna step up and have a big game in Grant’s absence.

As it is in every game, the key will be TOP. For as much back and forth as there was in the Arizona-Green Bay game — and despite never having the ball it OT — the Cardinals won TOP. In fact, all four wild card round winners won TOP, the other three more convincingly, all with a more comfortable margin of victory to show for it. All four winners also won the turnover battle as well, which plays into TOP. All four winners gained more overall yards than their opponent. All four winners had more first downs. Again, all of that plays into TOP. Three of the four winners rushing for more yards than their opponent. The only one that didn’t (Jets) tied. Want to take a guess what rushing the ball leads to? Better offensive balance is important. But more important than TOP? Nope. Of the more balanced teams, two won, two lost. Three of the four losers passed for more yards. That should spell out what it’s going to take to win at this level. A running attack. A three and out defense (in order to get the ball back as often as possible), an opportunistic defense (to possibly get it back in even better field position (not necessary, though definitely a welcomed bonus) and an efficient offensive attack that is going to score every time we have ball and — more importantly, RUN THAT CLOCK. Arizona isn’t beating us with Kurt Warner on the sidelines, I guarantee you that. Get into another 96 point shootout and it’s difficult to imagine Brees having any better a game than the one we just saw out of Aaron Rodgers. Let’s not emulate the team that just lost to them. Let’s try something more fundamentally sound — and unexpected (from a Saints team) — to nail down this victory.

That’s how many days rest the Cardinals will get after this shootout. Plus, the Cards have been up and down all season so we have no way of knowing which Cardinals team will show up. If it’s the good one, the Saints had better bring their A-game. The Cards D can be much more effective than they were tonight. They certainly shut the Vikings down. That said, this may be the perfect scenario for our Saints. I like that they’re going against the Cardinals. I would have preferred the Eagles and their injury-depleted O-line, but this will do.

Ya hear that sound? That’s the sound of Payton and his staff at this very moment game-planning for the Cardinals. I hope they get it right. With the time off and the mini training camp they had this weekend to polish up their fundamentals, I think they’ll come out strong like they did against the Pats, Giants, Eagles, Lions, Jets, etc., etc. I’m liking this matchup.

I would’ve been really worried. They were the team I didn’t want anyway. If, after the worst possible defensive performance they could muster, they won anyway I would have extremely concerned. The cardinals are very capable, but I’ll take my chances. Besides, what are the chances that Warner has that kind of performance again – right?

Is the Achillies heel of the New Orleans Saints.
So many times has this plagued them this year. This will be the most important stat of the postseason.
If the saints can have a great game defending the run, Kurt Warner would be forced to go against the best underrated Secondary of the NFC. This will lead to turnovers, and home teams that win the TO ratio statistical 93+% chance of winning their games.

In addition if the Defensive line stops the run now it will dramatically change opponents game plans against us.

One thing to think about is the 24 hour NFL rule. This rule makes every team rest for 24 hours before practice
They will only have 3 days to practice before the saturday. Tuesday Wednesday, and thursday are going to be padded practice days. Friday will be walkthrough and saturday will be the game.

Three practice days to defend against the saints, well that does not sound like a lot of time to get things going.
Especially when they have not played the saints all year long.

the final score will look more like a basketball game, and whoever scores last wins. Playing the clock may just win the game.

We need to click on offense – methodical drives that end in TDs and take time off the clock. Shockey catching some crucial 3rd down passes to keep the chains moving.

Defense that makes it hard for them to move the ball – stuff the run and/or rattle Warner into bad throws. Getting the ball back in the hands of our offense early and often. It’d be nice if Sharper/Greer could get a couple of turnovers.

We need to build a lead so that if we have some defensive or special teams breakdowns as the game wears on, they won’t cost us the game, as they have in the past.

WHO DAT!

Does this refer to when we were playing Detroit, an Eagles back-up QB, a Buffalo team who just fired their whole staff, the rookie Sanchez, or the disastrous Giants?

Or are we collectively referring to the teams swept up in our winning streak after that (Miami, Atlanta, Carolina, St.Louis, Tampa, Patriots, Redskins and Falcons)? Teams that scored on average 22 pts a game on us?

My point is this. Early we were fortunate to play offensively challenged teams. We got ahead early and made the other team one-dimensional. During the middle season, our offense operated at a super-natural level, bailing out uneven defensive performances.

During the last month our offense has been pedestrian. Call me chicken little but I’m very worried about this game…

Also does anyone actually think that Kurt Warner is retiring after this season? He’s making bank. He’s thought of as a top qb. And he might as well keep playing. This is all just leverage to get a bigger contract. But now do we have to have Warner retirement bs every year just like Favre?

This season has been a roller coaster for us, and that thrill ride continues even as the Saints have a bye week. We started out with a bang and finished off on a very somber note, but the cards are in our hands now (pun not intended). We have had an extra week to get our guys healthy and try to return to the same form we had when we were peaking earlier in the season. Not to mention we are playing one of the most upsie-downsie teams in the NFL that are probably physically and mentally drained after a barnburner on their home field against one of the hottest teams in the league. The Cards had no defense in that game until OT, which really was kind of lucky. Look if our offense can get their heads straight, and the defense force some turnovers then we’re unstoppable in not only this game but every game. This team still has a lot to prove to us the fans and the fans all over the country. I think the 2 guys that are vital for our offense to succeed are Lance Moore and Pierre Thomas. If these guys can make even cameo appearances then our offense can be as potent as ever. The 3 important guys on defense are Will Smith so he can break old man Warner’s hip, Jon Vilma to do what he was made to do, LEAD, and Jabari Greer to make his case as being on elite corner in the league. We have all the tools on our side and all the advantages. All we have to do is put it together for 2 more weeks and we’re in the big one for the first time ever. I think we can do it as the underdog and bounce back from a bad streak of games. I’m expecting us to peak again.

they are mostly pass happy, their run game is average at best. if the D line can stop their run, which they should be able to, and smith and hargrove and maybe mccray, can get a legit rush on warner, then we should have no problem on that side of the ball. i think the really big question is will our offense be back to its elite form. the last few games before the carolina game they were just off sync, if they are back on track after rest and this so-called mini training camp, then i think this game wont even be close. hopefully those losses at the end of the season lit a fire under their asses and theyre hungry again.

The Saints defense will allow the cardinals to score about 24 points our defense has been there all year (meaning they bent but didn’t break) and our offense backed off some in the last 2 games not counting Carolina and for good reason I hope
Now we’ll see if Payton has an offense plan that allows the Saints to score 38 or more points

Barn burners are fun to watch if you have nothing invested in the game. I’d much rather lean on our running game, which when clicking, I think is superior to AZ’s, and keep Warner off the field. Eating clock and taking their running game out of it early by grinding out scores will give our defense an advantage it may need against their passing attack.

In response to DK’s post, I personally love seeing Roman Harper blitz. His crazy huge neck makes him missle-shaped anyway.

Sideline reporter talking to Darnell Dockett after the game: “We all know how great it was to watch it, but how did it feel to play in this game?”

Dockett: “Exhausting…… exhausting…………………….. Exhausting.”

That’s where it’s at.

i do not want to have a heart attack in the stands at age 28. that would be embarrassing. but i think that warner is going to have a hard time trying to match that performance in the place where 2 of his 3 playoff losses have come. hope the cards are tired after all that running around and scoring.

WHO DAT!

Particularly because he seems to have never seen a bandwagon he didn’t want to jump on, I’m not sure why I read his stuff either. I guess it’s the same reason I respond to adamlawson’s posts. But….

Today King wrote that after the Cardinals/Packers game, he texted Greg Williams and asked what he thought of Warner’s performance. Of course, in his text, King had to add:

“It reminded me of the games we used to see Joe Montana slow his heart rate down and play the music in his head from Bill Walsh’s west coast offense. Kurt was in charge and playing a really fast game in slow motion in his mind. The game slowed down for him and his focus was strong.”

Williams response: “Very respectful and ready to play. Our guys are rested and ready to compete. Drew Brees is like that every day in practice.”