VeeshanVault

Jice Virago wrote:
Either scenario is possible, but I think B is more likely at the moment. Either way, the game is going to be decided by how close to Jesus Kurt feels, since I think the actual main defense scheme the Cards run when they give a shit will prevent the track meet we saw last weekend. For me, it comes down to whether or not the Packer Defense gets a score and plays with a lead against Warner, which means how hurt is Woodson exactly? If I were Capers, I would be watching the TE passing game extremely closely, because thats where the Vikes and Steelers gutted him earlier this year.

Funny stuff re: Kurt and Jesus. It's probably 100% true. : )

As for TE gutting you. Our best TE is out for the season so that's not as much of a threat as it could have been. On the flip side, I'm very concerned about the Packers TE Finley. He's going to be a great TE IMO. AZ does have Adrian Wilson though who's excellent (normally) at covering TEs and gets lot so picks.

I'm up in the air on this game as well. Could go either way. 50/50 IMO. We'll know early as either the Cardinals get off to a hot start, or you may as well turn off the TV as they aren't going to come back because they like to jump out to big lead and then watch it slowly erode, barely hanging on for a win.

What kind of retard would name their son, Dominique?

Unisex name

No.

Male - Dominic
Female - Dominique

The accent on the "que" makes all the difference.

But how many other names are as silly? It makes me seem almost a little racist but its mostly black players with names like Jamarcus, Demarcus, Lecharles, Deangelo and stuff... or maybe its just the traditionalist in me. I don't have issues with a name likes Osi (Umenyiora), Tamba (Hali) or Kenichi (Udeze) because they sound like something that could be a traditional name reflecting a player's heritage. The faux-french stuff just sounds goofy and almost pretentious, as if giving a kid a french sounding name will make them seem more sophisticated.

Dominique is unisex, actually.

Dominique is the French feminine and masculine form of Dominic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominique_%28given_name%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic

Also, Dominique Wilkins pretty much saved anyone with that name from being made fun of, for all eternity.

I've suffered a lot over the years as an Eagle fan, these last 2 weeks have been absolutely shameful

Trek wrote:I've suffered a lot over the years as an Eagle fan, these last 2 weeks have been absolutely shameful

Im with you on that, but I really couldn't expect much once our center got taken out. He was our coverage and blitz reader. Couldn't expect Nick Cole to fill those shoes in 2 weeks.

Hey Packers.

That one counted!

51 points! 45 on the 2nd best defense in the NFL. Go Cardinals!

I picked the packers to win, but I for one am looking forward to seeing the homer pack fans self immolate. I guess its easy to be the number one D in the league when you play the bottom five teams in the NFL (including Detroit, twice), but not so easy when Kurt and his pal Jesus show up. I guess scenario A is what happened, complete with the Cards burning us in the middle of the field all day. On a humorous note, didn't we all agree with dumping the last QB because of game losing turnovers in the playoffs? Can we now all agree that Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy are bad for the team?

That was a very entertaining game!

It's interesting to note that Kurt Warner has never had a bad playoff performance.

He's 9-3 and the three he lost were last minute wins like the Super Bowl last year where the ball wasn't in his hands at the end of the game.

He has the second highest Quarterback rating in playoff history behind Bart Starr

The top three passing performances in the Super Bowl all belong to Kurt Warner.

I don't think he'll be the reason if the Cardinals bow out of the playoffs.

Here's the highlights of the Cardinals/Packers game. The Highlights alone are 7+ minutes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dr1w__tjMk

Maybe next year, Aaron Rogers will keep his little hip thrust end zone celebration to himself until he's in a playoff game and not in a meaningless game that will only fires up the opposing team.

And Jice is right. The Cardinals raped the Packers in the middle field passing game. They better find a way to shore that up for next season.

As for the Cardinals, if Beanie Wells can just keep making babystep improvements, they have a chance at making it back to the Super Bowl.

Cardinals/Saints should be another fun game to watch. Saints lost 3 in a row but the Cardinals will be focused and hopefully manage to rest up during the short week for the Saturday game. The Cardinals can keep up with the Saints in a high scoring game. I know the Saints are getting some key players back on defense for the game.

Funny to say it, but the Cardinals have a lot of playoff experience now compared to the teams they're playing.

Defense wins championships.

Spang wrote:Defense wins championships.

Well the #2 defense didn't do very well in the playoffs.


Here's your top five defenses:

1. New York Jets
2. Green Bay Packers
3. Baltimore Ravens
4. Cincinnati Bengals
5. Pittsburgh Steelers


Packers, Bengals and Steelers are OUT!

Jets and Ravens still in it. I like the Ravens.

Winnow wrote:Well the #2 defense didn't do very well in the playoffs.

The point is, the Cardinals gave up 45 points. If the same Cardinal defense shows up next week, they're out.

The top three passing performances in the Super Bowl all belong to Kurt Warner.

That is an amazing stat. I agree with you, the Cards has as good a shot as anybody from the NFC to make the Super Bowl. They will have to play a little more defense, though.

Cowboys looked great too. In fact, all the teams that won looked pretty good.

I'm pretty upset about the Eagles

I am not overly upset that the Packers lost so much as how they lost. In my opinion I don't believe either team should have gone considering that both teams gave up an amazing amount of points.

Aaron Rogers makes one celebratory move all year and it gets slammed. Granted, even the radio guys here said that he should never EVER do that again. I agree.

I was surprised by a couple things this weekend:

1) how weak the defenses of both Arizona and Green Bay were. I was more surprised by Green Bay but Arizona better suck it up or they ain't getting past New Orleans.

2) How exposing the Ravens D was on the O of New England. Yeah they missed Welker but it appears the days of Robo-Brady the Unstoppable Cyborg of the Evil Empire are done... at least until they get him some protection.

3) How bad the Bengals are now. Too bad they waited so long to tank.

4) How complete Dallas is looking... they could be scary if they can keep rolling...

Dallas always has one thing against it: wade phillips. Until they are in the super bowl, I won't give them any credit. Let's see what they do in Minnesotta this time around...and then I'll say the same thing if they win and have to play the cardinals.

That cardinals/packers game was awesome. While I am pulling for the Cards because of Whisenhunt and Grimm...they did show why they lost the superbowl last year, again lastnight. For all the talk their defense does, they really can't stop anyone. For whatever reason, The Cardinals still don't know how to close out a team/game. Granted, Rogers is one of the best QB's in the league...but still...that was embarassing. I expect them to be this hot offensively though throughout, so maybe they won't need their defense at all to make the superbowl.

@ Wulfran:
Don't buy into the bullshit of the Green Bay D being any good. Its a case where the stats really lie. They played the Rams, Seahawks, Bucs, Browns, Lions (Twice), and the Bears (twice) this season. So, they quite litterally played the worst teams of most of the rest of the divisons in football, who collectively barely combined for over 8 wins. If you toss the Redskins in there, you have a schedule that even a high school defense could rack up good numbers agaisnt. The offense wasn't exactly stellar against quality opposition, either, honestly (the banged up Pittsburg game being the exception) but they at least put up some points on the board against everyone. When you can't run and you are losing a lot, your passing numbers and pass defense stats are going to look a lot better, too. It was all smoke and mirrors and every experienced QB who faced the unit lit them up like a christmas tree, especially over the middle of the field.

As far as the New England game, no amount of cheating can make up for how poor the O-Line has gotten there and the fairweather NE fans didn't exactly help their team, either. The NE dynasty will probably exceed the Jimmy Johnson era Cowboys for most hated pro football dynasty in history. I think NE is hoping the labor talks break down so that they can throw money at the problem.

With Dallas, I don't think they can win outside their own stadium in a big game, especially since Jerry won't be able to stock the game with his personal favorite refs and the giant fucking screen to get the crowd involved. Dallas looked good, but they did start shakey. I think the Vikes will jump in front early and the game will be radically different than the kind they have been playing the last couple months. Of course, the Vikes are always one Peterson fumble away from losing control of the game. Seriously, that fucker cost them home field easily with his mistakes and poor ball handling.

Jice Virago wrote: With Dallas, I don't think they can win outside their own stadium in a big game, especially since Jerry won't be able to stock the game with his personal favorite refs and the giant fucking screen to get the crowd involved. Dallas looked good, but they did start shakey. I think the Vikes will jump in front early and the game will be radically different than the kind they have been playing the last couple months. Of course, the Vikes are always one Peterson fumble away from losing control of the game. Seriously, that fucker cost them home field easily with his mistakes and poor ball handling.

Because they didn't win @Washington, @Philly, and @New Orleans this year?
You might have heard they handed New Orleans their first loss of the season in the Super Dome.

Ok, first off I am not even going to waste the energy rolling my eyes about the Washington game.

Philly was not hot the time they beat them on the road and the Eagles matchup issues against Dallas are well known (case in point the back to back ass kickings they just got).

New Orleans is the one big road win they have this year, as they were still playing to secure home field. But, I think the Saints have issues with ball control physical smash mouth teams (hence why Washington almost beat them) and Dallas is very much that. Lets not forget that Dallas shit the bed both at home and away a few times this season, so for every New Orleans game there is a Denver or Chiefs game to go with it.

Where I see Dallas hurting is when playing another physical team in a close game. Philly used to be this, which is why they used to have the advantage, but they have all but abandoned the running game and have suffered losses to Dallas as a result. A good example of what I am talking about is what the Chargers did to Dallas this season, when both teams were jockeying for seeding. While the score was close, the Chargers were very much in control of that game the whole way and just physically outplayed Dallas. I expect a similar game in Minnesotta, but the Vikes are not as physical and not as good at running as the Chargers are. Favre is also a lot better at reading defenses than most of the QBs Dallas has faced this season, so I expect an early score or two there, especially since the Vikes are generally fast out of the gate when Childress isn't trying to assert his non-existant authority. Where Dallas has the advantage is in the running game, since the Vikes haven't seemed to figure out that Taylor is the hot back this season and AP is a fumbling machine.

Kluden wrote:Dallas always has one thing against it: wade phillips. Until they are in the super bowl, I won't give them any credit. Let's see what they do in Minnesotta this time around...and then I'll say the same thing if they win and have to play the cardinals.

Wade Phillips made the Dallas D what it is: quite good.

Garrett (the offensive coordinator) is the spot I'm more worried about. He has the tendency to fall into overly predictable and stubborn play calling, which have the potential to metastisize into turnover-plagued drubbings.

Dallas won't say this, but they can already walk away from this season feeling good. 13 years without a playoff victory was harsh.

I don't buy them winning a superbowl, but they sure are peaking at the right time.

Jice from 2008:

6) Cards are done- They got a long way on emotion, but the Cards folded in the end (sorry bad joke). Problem with a team living on emotion is that a major crushing loss like this one pretty much pops the bubble, especially if the vet QB who was sustaining that emotional high isn't around anymore (see Greenbay this year vs last), which it is rumored that Warner is going to retire or be traded. They had a good run, but it is over now and no one will overlook them.

Jice from July 2009:

I stand behind my prediction for the Cardinals. They are getting to keep Warner and their division is still a shithouse that makes the NFC North look good, in comparison. But they got through the playoffs on emotional charge and teams looking past them. No one looks past a Superbowl team and the way the Steelers won is going to take a heavy toll on them. Again, look at the 07 Packers vs last years results. I do think they will win their division with 9 or 10 wins, but that is as far as they will go. Mind you, I would have liked to see them win over the Steekers (I believe I said so at the time) because the thing I love most about Pro Football is the parity that exists, so Cinderella teams are good for the game.

Jice August 2009:

South- Saints will win it and go down in round one of the playoffs. They have the offense to get in, but not the Defense to go the distance.

Lets hope you're right! (it will be their first round next week)

I'm not knocking your predictions too much but everyone was wrong on the Super Bowl losers folding like most Super Bowl losing teams do. This year, it was the winners that imploded. The Steelers were lucky to get that Super Bowl win as that was their peak for some time to come while the Cardinals coach Whisenhunt doesn't get nearly enough credit for what he's done in AZ. People were quick to shout doomsday when Offensive Coordinator Todd Haley jumped ship to the Chiefs but look at the 51 points scored last game with Whisenhunt calling the plays. At this point, what team wouldn't seriously consider Whisenhunt for their head coaching job if he was available?

The Cardinals have a great coach, have managed to make the right decisions in resigning key players and have had very productive drafts the past few years. That's a solid combination. (of course, we're fucked if Warner leaves, I admit that. We'd have to outside the organization to grab a QB)

BTW, if Carlos Dansby was on his game after taking the turnover into the end zone for the win yesterday, he would have done the Aaron Rogers "hip thrust" move...although the wing flapping celebration wasn't bad.

Maybe I am reaching here, but nearly blowing a three score lead when your offense took as much time to score as it took them to walk up the fucking field is pretty close to folding. They are still inconsistant. Their defense is hurt and it wasn't exactly good when they were healthy, outside of one game against the Vikings then Childress was fucking around with the team chemistry. They also got broomed by the 49ers. My opinion of the current Packer team (particularly the coaching and management) is well known, so obviously the shootout win against the packers does not impress me as much as it seems to be impressing everyone else.

That said, I do think they will beat the Saints, because the Saints are the same style of team and are in a low point right now. This is certainly further than I felt they would fo, but they had a division title handed to them just by being in the NFC West and the playoff matchups to this point have favored them, including the upcomming Saints game. I do not think they will win against either Dallas or the Vikings (free of Childress stupidity), because they are not physical enough. I think the Saints will have some problems too if they somehow get their heads out of their asses and beat the Cards, but they are not as beat up and one win may ignite them. Unfortunately, there is no cure for inconsistancy and that is the biggest thing looming over AZ's head.

Jice Virago wrote: Unfortunately, there is no cure for inconsistancy and that is the biggest thing looming over AZ's head.

What inconsistency? They've won every playoff game the past two years except for the Super Bowl which they lost in the last few seconds. How many wins does it take before it's not luck? They haven't had a bad playoff game yet. They're 4-1 in the playoffs the past two years. That's better than any other team except the Steelers but they're eliminated at 4-0 and fail big time if you are questioning consistency.

If the playoffs are what matters, the Cardinals are the most consistent team over the past two years. When it matters, the Cardinals have shown up.

The Saints are favored by 7 over the Cardinals next week. I'd call it more of a pick em game.

The Ravens look like the best team in the NFL right now. They've been resting their starters halfway though the third quarter the last two weeks of the regular season due to blowouts and rested Ray Rice again in the 4th this week. I hope they beat the Colts.

The Vikings are definitely beatable. It wasn't just vs the Cardinals that they looked like ass against. If you're questioning consistency, they should be at the top of your list and even worse with prima donna Favre ready to start chucking hail mary bombs and fruity shuffle passes at any moment.

The Saints are also near the top of the inconsistent teams. 13-0 and then 0-3

San Diego better not take the Jets lightly but should win that game.

Arizona's beaten the Vikings and is easily capable of beating Dallas and New Orleans. How many times did New Orleans have to make monster comebacks against crappy teams this year? Their magic has run out.

I like the Cardinals chances and only see the Colts as a guaranteed loss.

I like the Cardinals chances against the Saints, especially if they get the same officiating crew from last week.

I said it in the other thread, I'll just repeat my thoughts here...the Cardinals proved why they lost last years super bowl...they can't put a team away, because their defense just isn't there yet. I still really want to see Whisenhunt win the super bowl this year (Steelers fan so couldn't root for him last year). They are a good team. Great offense, average defense. Granted, they were playing against one of the best qb's in the game with rogers (statistically speaking), and did get very luck in the overtime with the no calls...but I still think the cards probably would have won that game regardless.

And you can mock the steelers as much as you want to. 2 rings in a decade is fine by me, and keeps me content with bad years like this one. Not many teams can feel that way.

Bubba Grizz wrote:I like the Cardinals chances against the Saints, especially if they get the same officiating crew from last week.

Not going to say that the refs handed the game to the Cards... Aaron Rodgers did that.
But there were an awful lot of missed and bad calls.

Both sides had some bad calls. How many times was Warner hit in the helmet? I saw at least three no calls. I'll dig up the list of ref calls from that game if needed. No way Green Bay people should whine. They were behind the whole game. Aaron Rogers cost them that game with his crappy first throw of the game.

This discussion of officiating sounds like some people did after last years super bowl...hrmmmm

Every team should go into a game expecting the officiating to be real shitty. To counter shitty officiating, just kick the opposing team's ass. Problem solved.

The Saints opposition was a combined 30 games under .500 this year. The Saints had the easiest schedule in the NFL in many years. They racked up their defensive stats against a gaggle of rookie QBs that they faced. Most of their defensive stats rank in the 20's in the NFL.

This sound promising. Their #1 defense ranking sounds like it's artificial.

Ken Whisenhunt has the second highest playoff winning percentage in NFL history behind Vince Lombardi:

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/ ... s-precious

Can't wait for the game! I hope it's close. Blowouts aren't fun for anyone in the 4th quarter.

I'm worried about the Cardinals falling behind early. They've shown the ability to come from behind in the playoffs (down 7 to Carlina on the road last year int he playoffs) but considering what happened last week, there's no need to give the Saints confidence early.

well fuck.

Both DRC and Rolle are out of the game.

I don't mind if the Cardinals lose but the Saints cocksucking by these crap announcers is annoying. This is the playoffs. How did this crew get assigned to a game? The Saints' field turf looks horrible in high definition as well. (and Fox's HD broadcasts suck ass compared to the clear picture CBS puts out)

doh, Warner got rocked after that pick.

That wraps it up for the Saints with 6+ mins to go in the 2nd quarter.

Green Bay would have given the Saints a much better game. Don't put much stock in New Orlean's point total. With Rolle and DRC out early, the questionable Az secondary became absolutely horrible.

Curious what Arizona will do in the draft next year. They need a QB and DBs. I'm thinking if the right QB is there they'll take him, if not, a few cornerbacks will go with their first and second round picks.

There's talk of McNabb to Az. Not sure how I feel about that yet.

Where is there talk of McNabb to AZ? Reid has made it very clear he isn't getting rid of McNabb last I saw.

Spang wrote:

Winnow wrote:Well the #2 defense didn't do very well in the playoffs.

The point is, the Cardinals gave up 45 points. If the same Cardinal defense shows up next week, they're out.

I rest my case.

Spang wrote: I rest my case.

Rest what case? You're wrong again. You're original comment was "defense wins championships" because you read it somewhere in the Idiots Guide to the NFL. The best defenses lost again this week. (Arizona #20, Saints #25) #18 Colts beat #3 ranked Baltimore Defense. You have no case at all. In fact, you're case has been made worse.

You'll be wrong yet again when #1 Jets Defense loses today.

Again, here are your top 5 defenses for the 2009 season:

1. New York Jets
2. Green Bay Packers OUT 1st round
3. Baltimore Ravens OUT 2nd round
4. Cincinnati Bengals OUT 1st round
5. Pittsburgh Steelers Didn't even make the playoffs

Jets only won because Cincinnati sucks ass. If they somehow manage to make it by San Diego, they will be annihilated by the Colts who rank in the bottom half in defense yet almost had a perfect season.

I rest my case.

Now, lets look at the best offenses in the playoffs:

1 New Orleans Saints still in the playoffs
2 Dallas Cowboys still in the playoffs
3 New England Patriots out first round
4 Houston Texans didn't make playoffs
5 Minnesota Vikings still in the playoffs

hmmm 3 of the top 5 offenses still alive vs 1 of the top 5 defenses with 1 team ranked in neither top 5 offense or defense (colts)

Winnow wrote:You'll be wrong yet again when #1 Jets Defense loses today.

What was that? You fucking idiot.

The Jets defense really stepped it up today. They deserve respect. That was fun to watch.

Spang wrote:

Winnow wrote:You'll be wrong yet again when #1 Jets Defense loses today.

What was that? You fucking idiot.

Reread my whole post moron. You can call me a fucking idiot if they beat the Colts. Otherwise, it's all Offense.

Winnow wrote:If they somehow manage to make it by San Diego, they will be annihilated by the Colts who rank in the bottom half in defense yet almost had a perfect season.

Winnow wrote:Reread my whole post moron. You can call me a fucking idiot if they beat the Colts. Otherwise, it's all Offense.

I read your entire post, asshole. You seem to think that just because you have the #1 defense during the regular season, you automatically make it into and win the Super Bowl. Here's a news flash for you, you need to bring that #1 defense into the postseason with you, or you'll be going fishing like the fucking Cardinals. The Cardinals had no fucking defense in game 1. Luckily for them, neither did Green Bay. In game 2, again, no defense. However, this time the Saints had some defense and almost killed Kurt Warner.

What? You don't get to pick and choose who has the best defense. The teams have 16 games during the regular season to establish their defensive ranking. What happens in the playoffs is a small sample. The rankings stand. My sample is 16 games.

You can look at the past and say "Defense won championships" but the NFL game evolves.

I will eat my words if the Jets take down the Colts. Otherwise, you have the #1 (defense wins championships) Jets that will lose to a team with a defense that ranks in the bottom half of the NFL.

Balance wins championships and that's what the Colts have. They aren't a top five offense or defense yet they'll be Super Bowl champs IMO this year.

well, now that the Cardinals, Ravens and Cowboys are out, I don't have anyone left that I really didn't want to see win. I was a little surprised at how lopsided the Arizona-New Orleans and the Dallas-Minnesota games were but I wasn't a true believer in either of the losers either.

Don't feel too bad though Winnow: from the choking sound in San Diego, Warner isn't the only one who couldn't find Jesus this weekend

I'm not sure about the match up for the AFC, as I think the Colts are gonna steamroll the Jets, but I like the potential for the New Orleans-Minnesota match up.

And Spang, don't waste your time explaining shit to Winnow: its like trying to point out the positives of western civilization to an Fundamental Islamist... they don't want to hear the truth unless its slanted their way.

Somebody posted this on the FoH NFL thread, I thought it was pretty damn funny.

With the Cowboys out of the playoffs my hope is Minnesota wins so Brett Favre can go away forever.

Psyloche wrote:Somebody posted this on the FoH NFL thread, I thought it was pretty damn funny.

lol @ "Canadian Tuxedo"

Sabek wrote:With the Cowboys out of the playoffs my hope is Minnesota loses so Brett Favre can go away forever.

Fixed

You know he'll be back...

Winnow wrote:
You can look at the past and say "Defense won championships" but the NFL game evolves.

I will eat my words if the Jets take down the Colts. Otherwise, you have the #1 (defense wins championships) Jets that will lose to a team with a defense that ranks in the bottom half of the NFL.

Balance wins championships and that's what the Colts have. They aren't a top five offense or defense yet they'll be Super Bowl champs IMO this year.

You are still an Arizonatard.

Top 10 defenses of all time (according to ESPN poll):

1. 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers (lost in playoffs...only won 4 others with same team)
2. 1985 Chicago Bears - won SB
3. 2000 Baltimore Ravens - won SB
4. 1971 Minnesota Vikings - lost in playoffs
5. 1962 Green Bay Packers - won NFL championship
6. 1990 New York Giants - won SB
7. 1969 Kansas City Chiefs - won SB
8. 1973 Miami Dolphins - won SB
9. 1963 Chicago Bears - won NFL championship
10. 1975 Los Angeles Rams - lost in playoffs

That is 7 of 10 winning it all. Now lets see their 10 greatest offenses of all time:

1. St. Louis Rams (2000) - won SB
2. Washington Redskins (1983) - lost SB
3. Minnesota Vikings (1998) - lost in playoffs
4. Miami Dolphins (1984) - lost SB
5. San Diego Chargers (1981) - lost in playoffs
6. Los Angeles Rams (1950) - lost NFL champ game
7. San Francisco 49ers (1994) - won SB
8. New York Giants (1963) - lost NFL champ game
9. Chicago Bears (1941) - won NFL champ
10. Green Bay Packers (1962) - won NFL champ

That looks like 4 teams...only 2 in the SB era from their list. Not sure I agree with all their way back crap as being the best offenses....so lets look at the last 10 years.

2000 Rams 23 - Titans 16
2001 Ravens 34 -NY Giants 7
2002 Patriots 20 - Rams 17
2003 Bucs 48 - Raiders 21
2004 Pats 32 - Panthers 29
2005 Pats 24 - Eagles 21
2006 Steelers 21 - Seahawks 10
2007 Colts 29 - Bears 17
2008 Giants 17 - Pats 14
2009 Steelers 27 - Cards 23

Do you notice a recurring theme? How many of those teams that won the SB were extremely pass heavy offensive powerhouses? The Rams and Colts would be the only winners who had that type of team. Now how about ball control offenses that played great defense? Ravens...Bucs...Patriots (except 2008 where they went pass only)...Steelers....Giants. It would seem to me that a good ball control team with a great defense wins a shit ton more championships than pass happy teams.