NFL Playoffs: For The Birds

Philadelphia Eagles (11-6-1)(-3) at
Arizona Cardinals (11-7)
3:00 p.m. University of Phoenix Stadium
NFC Championship Game

So raise your hand if this was your NFC Championship game at the beginning of the season. How about three weeks ago? How about last week? Not a lot of hands raised. The Eagles were left for dead (especially by yours truly) entering December, then again after they only managed three points in a loss in Washington. The Cardinals, while easily clinching the horrible NFC West, were never “left for dead”. But of the six NFC teams in the playoffs, they were considered the least likely to move on. When most people are picking a team with a rookie head coach and rookie quarterback to beat a team on the road in the playoffs, that usually doesn’t instill a lot of confidence. But the Cardinals are here anyway.

Both teams have seemingly changed the way they play football overnight. Both of these offenses, for the majority of the season, were pass-happy teams that ignored the run and too often put their defenses in bad positions. In December, the Eagles finally started giving the ball to Brian Westbrook, and their season “miraculously” turned around. The Cardinals were terrible running the ball in December. They only averaged 15 carries a game down the stretch. However, in the postseason, Ken Whisenhunt’s team has run it 72 times…or 36 carries per game. Wow. I’m sure Whisenhunt didn’t bench Edgerrin James back in November because he was saving him for the playoffs. Whether that was Whisenhunt’s intent or not, James is fresh and running like his old Indianapolis self again. Now both teams are running the ball, controlling the clock and helping their solid defenses with better field possession. You know, sort of like good NFL teams.

It’s never easy for anyone to go into the Meadowlands after Halloween and steal a game. The Eagles win in New Jersey was impressive. But it was nowhere near as impressive as the Cardinals complete domination in Carolina last week. Of the four road teams last week, I had the least faith in the Cardinals winning or even coming close to covering the spread. Not only were they not as good as the Panthers, they never won games on the East Coast. Maybe the 8:00 start helped, but their effort was impressive regardless. After the first quarter, there was no doubt that the Cardinals were going to win that game. Just a very impressive display of football. So impressive, I’m going to pick them to appear in their first ever Super Bowl.

Cardinals 27, Eagles 20


Baltimore Ravens (13-5) at
Pittsburgh Steelers (13-4)(-6)
6:30 p.m. Heinz Field
AFC Championship Game

All week we’ve been hearing about how hard it is to beat a team three times in a season. Well, how true is that? Of the 18 teams that had the opportunity to do win a third game against one team, 11 of them succeeded. Which means it’s actually harder not to lose to a team for a third time than it is to beat a team for the third time. This is good news for Pittsburgh.

Last weekend’s games showed us two things. One, when Pittsburgh wants to be dominant, they can be dominant. Like the Cardinals performance against Carolina, there was no doubt as to which team would win the Steelers-Chargers game after the end of the first quarter. The Steelers’ third quarter performance was nothing short of remarkable. Their offense had two long touchdown drives and their defense only allowed the Chargers to have one offensive play. For the whole quarter. Pittsburgh ran 22 plays, while the Chargers ran one…which was an interception. I haven’t seen anything like that before.

The second thing that last weekend proved is how fluky the Ravens really are. The Ravens were bailed out by a Tennessee team that pulled their best Redskins impression. They controlled the game, moved the ball and kept Baltimore’s offense from doing anything. But turnovers and penalties kept their offense from scoring and their defense collapsed in the final two minutes of the game. Vintage Redskins loss right there. Lose a game at the last second that you should have won by 10-14 points.

I see no reason to bet against Pittsburgh here. The Steelers utterly confused Joe Flacco in their first two wins. Pittsburgh, with the exception of Bill Cowher’s last season, has owned the Ravens. Absolutely owned them. It’s not like Pittsburgh’s been the better team this season. They have been the better team for the past five or six seasons. They don’t seem to be bothered by Baltimore’s blitzes. For the most part, they don’t seem to have trouble moving the ball. And they certainly have had no problems stopping that “vaunted” Ravens offense. Plus, at the end of games, the Steelers just seem to get all the breaks. I think all those trends continue on Sunday.

Steelers 19, Ravens 10