Thank goodness for the Cardinals and Packers.

Author: Scott Taylor

January 11, 2010

Scott Taylor's E-Take is sponsored by Wellness Institute at Seven Oaks General Hospital, a comprehensive medical fitness facility that is a place to learn to become well and to stay well. www.wellnessinstitute.ca

Thank the football gods for the Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals.  At least that final half saved what might have been the worst weekend of lopsided football we’ve seen in decades.

In an incredibly brilliant offensive football game, it was ultimately a remarkable defensive play that won it in overtime for the Cardinals as Arizona defeated the Packers 51-46.

Man, what a tremendous game.  That’s why we watch football.

In regulation time, the Packers and Cardinals were tied 45-45.  There had been 1,018 yards of offence, 90 points and 62 first downs and in the end, it was the highest scoring game in playoff history (96 total points).  And yet it was won on a 17-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Karlos Dansby, the best (maybe the only?) defensive player on the field all game.

But more of that later.

First let’s recap: It was the Cowboys defence, the Ravens absolute viciousness and the New York Jets ground game that sent the other three teams to the National Football League’s Conference finals.

Of course, if you really stop and think about it, in the first three games of the weekend, lousy football was the difference between winning and losing.  In fact, we saw three games and had three routs.

So now the Divisional Wild Card playoff games are over and the Jets, Cowboys, Ravens and Cards have advanced to next week’s Conference finals.  The Cards will go into New Orleans on Saturday at 3:30 (Fox) and then Baltimore will play at Indianapolis, Saturday at 7:15 (CBS).  On Sunday, Dallas will battle the Vikings at Mall of America Field at Noon (Fox) while the Jets will go to San Diego, at 3:40 (CBS).

But first things first: This past weekend produced three games that were all decided by halftime – in every case, the losing team got off to such a horrible start, there was really no sense playing the final 30 minutes.

1) The Jets built a 14-7 halftime lead, but Cincinnati had no answer to the Jets running game and even though New York was up only a touchdown, there was never any doubt the Jets would grind out a win.

Final score 24-14. Cincinnati simply forgot to show up.

2) The Cowboys defence was sensational and Tony Romo won the first playoff game of his career as Dallas built a 27-7 halftime lead (all 27 points were scored in the second quarter) and cruised to a crushing 34-7 win over Philadelphia.

The Eagles lost three fumbles and Donovan McNabb threw one interception as Dallas’s new 21st Century Doomsday Defence, held Philly to one touchdown in the first three quarters.  This was a Cowboys defence that had posted two straight shutouts and allowed only 11½ points per game over the final seven games of the season.  Saturday, the NEW Doomsday Defence was as good as it gets.

Dallas-at-Minnesota will be a great game this Sunday simply because the Cowboys are starting to look like a Super Bowl contender and the Vikes have Brett Favre and play inside the Decibel-Dome.

"It's just ... rewarding," said Romo, during his on-line post-game interview.  "It makes me proud of the guys in there -- fighting, grinding, staying committed to the approach.  I'm happy for the guys, happy for Wade (head coach Phillips), happy for Jerry (owner Jones)."

Happy?  I would hope.  Phillips went into the game 0-4 in the playoffs as a head coach.  Romo was 0-2, not a lot better.  But as we suggested this week on 92-CITI-FM, the Cowboys success would have less to do with Romo’s offence than it did with the new 21st Century Doomsday Defence.  And the Doomsdayers did not disappoint.

3) In Foxboro, the Baltimore Ravens ate up the Patriots offensive line, then ate up Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

Brady, who had no time to think, let alone throw, threw two quick, first-quarter interceptions, the Ravens scored 17 points off a total of three first-quarter turnovers (Brady also fumbled) and the Ravens defence blasted New England 33-14.

This was a game that proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that if you lose in the trenches, you’ll get killed on the scoreboard.

And I’m sure that today some donkey in the local mainstream media will try to tell us that the Patriots lost because Wes Welker got hurt in that meaningless game in the final week of the season.  Don’t believe a word of that garbage (Arizona’s Anquan Boldin also got hurt in a meaningless game and it didn’t hurt the Cards offence).  The Patriots lost because Ed Reed (four tackles and an interception), Ray Lewis (13 tackles, two quarterback hits and a sack), Terrell Suggs (three tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery), Dawan Landry (seven tackles and an interception) and Chris Carr (five tackles, two tackles for losses and an interception) dominated from the opening kickoff until the final whistle.

In fact, Welker’s replacement, Julian Edelman caught six passes for 44 yards and two touchdowns and was the best player on the field for the Pats.

“To get the turnovers and capitalize on those turnovers, that’s how you win football games,” said Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh in his post-game news conference. “That’s especially how you win playoff games.”

4) In Arizona, the Cardinals jumped out to a 24-10 halftime lead and appeared to be on the way to a rout.

However, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the same guy who threw an interception on the first play from scrimmage, put on a marvelous performance in the second half.

Rodgers finished with 28 completions on 42 attempts for 422 yards and four touchdowns as he attacked the Cardinals shaky defence and put up 35 points.

However, Kurt Warner was even better.  Warner finished 29-for-33 for 379 yards and FIVE touchdowns.  Early Doucet, replacing the injured Anquan Boldin caught two, while the sure-handed Larry Fitzgerald had a pair and Steve Breaston, who made a couple of highlight-reel catches and chalked 125 receiving yards, scored one.

Rodgers finished the game with a passer’s rating of 121.3 while Warner’s was a magnificent 154.1.

This was a game in which neither defence had an answer for its opponent’s offence, and that’s what turned a potential blowout into one of the most entertaining and exciting games of this or any other season.  The NFL called in “An Instant Classic.”

Still, it was a tough way to lose for Rodgers who was playing in his first playoff game.  Sadly, the Packers D had no idea how to stop Warner and that sensational Cardinals passing game.

Ultimately, turnovers and bad offence were the difference in three of the four games this weekend and you can pretty much guarantee that the teams that win the turnover battle next week, will rule the day again.  No matter which day it is.

Meanwhile, the NFL had better hope that the four games this coming week are a lot closer than the four games played this past weekend.  On Saturday and Sunday, at least half of the audience for three of the four games was gone by halftime.

Thank goodness for the Cardinals and Packers.  It was the last game and the best game and it saved what might have been a weekend full of blowouts.
 

« Back