NFL Playoffs RD1, Day 1 Wrap-Up; Cardinals top Falcons, Colts fall to Chargers
Day 1 of the NFL Playoffs, Wars, Finals, and Road to the Big Show has ended in spectacular fashion. One thing that was not a surprised are which players stepped up to win the game for their respective team. Phillip Rivers, Darren Sproles, Kurt Warner, and Larry Fitzgerald all pushed their teams over the top along with great play from the Chargers and Cardinals Defenses. I, however, am starting off this playoff season 0-2 on my picks but I can’t say that I am totally surprised.
Cardinals - 30 Falcons - 24
What a match up. The Cardinals have been the team with the saying of “this is their year” since Moses parted the Red Sea and the Falcons go from having PETA’s Most Wanted to a class-act of a Rookie in Matty “Ice” Ryan. How often would does this happen? Hell, how often do the Cardinals make the playoffs? Oh yeah, never!
The story of the day started very early with Warner connecting with Larry Fitzgerald for a deep touchdown pass and then again to Anquan Boldin for a great run after catch touchdown. Arizona should be happy that Edgerrin James showed up like he wanted to be on the team and forced the Falcons to respect the run. James numbers were not great but there really is a such thing as “setting up the pass” and the Cardinals proved it.
Matty Ice looked solid but his offense just did not seem to have the extra little something. Michael Jenkins early mistake to stretch the ball out towards the first down marker (setting up 4 and 1) instead of diving for what would have been a first and goal is a great example. It’s the playoffs, dive for that shit! Atlanta was able to get into the end zone in the first half with a Michael Turner run and a bootleg to the tight end but those were more because of Arizona’s lack of play recognition. Too many drops, too little intensity, and losing the game plan too early in the game was killer.
One thing I will say as a negative for Matt Ryan is that he really needs change up his snap counts. The entire game the Cardinals defense was DEMOLISHING the Falcons offensive line at the snap. Antrel Rolle started off the second half with a fumble recovery when a Cardinals d-Tackle busted into the backfield to break up a hand off. Michael Turner was also a big negative on the day for the blackbirds. Turner had a good season but he came up with jack shit on the day. He was the ultimate reason that Rolle recovered that fumble with arms shorter than a baby t-rex and he couldn’t break any kind of tackle since he continually stopped his legs on first contact.
Ultimately the Cardinals just out played the Falcons and made fewer mistakes. One player that will be totally forgotten by the masses is the Cardinals punter, Ben Graham. Graham was a HUGE reason the Cardinals pulled this game out. Punt after punt landed inside the 10 yard line and setup the safety in the 4th quarter. Really an impressive day from an often forgotten position.
Arizona will play the Giants if the Vikings win or the Panthers if the Eagles win.
Random Thoughts…
- Cardinals Offensive Linemen need to get a hat on someone instead of standing around
- Really bad time for a drop, Roddy White
- End around with a little over 2 left in the game, are you fucking kidding me, Arizona?
- Work the middle…work the middle
- Breaston, man, you’re a weapon but you can’t take so many chances fielding kicks in a playoff game like that
- Jerious Norwood would have been my back on the day
Chargers - 23 Colts - 17
Norv Turner is on the hot seat…not! Remember 3 wins 5 loses? Remember writing these guys off? Remember LT is “washed up?” Certainly Indianapolis and the league MVP were just going to roll over these wannabes, well, maybe not. Yes, that’s right, my Super Bowl pick is already done but it was one heck of a game at least.
How many times have you heard John Madden say “Run the ball and stop the run?” Okay, probably more than is ever going to be productive in your life but nothing could have been more true in this game. The Chargers combined for almost 200 yards rushing, without LT, and the Colts couldn’t even break 100. Darren Sproles was the fastest man on the field at all times and the guy handing him ball, Rivers, was easily the craftiest.
Indy got on the board first and finished the first half with 10 pts to San Diego’s 14. The second half was when the game really got interesting. Manning and company did their best to keep the Chargers D off guard going no huddle early and boy did it ever work. Reggie Wayne was able to sprint down the field while the entire Chargers defense watched and couldn’t even get set. Pathetic isn’t even the word here. It was one of only a few mistakes in an excellent effort by the Chargers D that kept Manning under pressure all day and caused the Colts to really work for anything they got. Hopefully next week the Chargers learn to focus while changing personnel.
Honestly, this was less of a game than even the 6 point win. With about 2 minutes left in the 3rd quarter San Diego fumbled away having the ball on about the one yard line and then turn over the next position as well. Fortunately, the defense answered the call and forced a punt that was very short. Indy just couldn’t get anything going on offense and were actually lucky the Chargers D apparently has the worst hands in the history of world who dropped several would be interceptions. There was some more back and forth between the teams with some great Mike Scifes (Chargers) punting but the Chargers would ultimately pull out with a victory. I was ready to bitch about the refs calling too many penalties at the end of the game that kept the Chargers drive going but the Colts had waaay too many chances to win this game to rant and rave. San Diego was the better team on the day and that’s that.
The Chargers will play the Titans if the Dolphins win or the Steelers if the Ravens win tomorrow.
Random Thoughts…
- 7 dislocated fingers for Reggie Wayne on the year? Holy ouch
- Dallas Clark is either an H back or a big slot receiver. I just can’t call him a tight end anymore with how he’s always lining up
- Tough day for Manning but he’s still he MVP without question
- Excellent play calling by Norv Turner
- A bigger more powerful defense will rip Sproles to pieces without proper rest
- Welcome back Michael Bennet
- Crazy good punting by Mike Scifes
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4 Responses to “NFL Playoffs RD1, Day 1 Wrap-Up; Cardinals top Falcons, Colts fall to Chargers”
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January 4th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Lots of lessons learned today. One is proving Madden was right. As I mentioned in the forums he made the incredibly astute observation about the Colts 3rd down offense:
AL: They led the league in 3rd down coversions this year at over 50%
MADDEN: Ya, uh, they had what you call “a bunch”
Second, as obvious as it as, as you mentioned: run the ball, stop the run. The two things the Colts have been terrible at all year. The loss of Edge to the Cardinals 2 seasons ago is starting to show for the Colts. Right now it’s unclear if Addai isn’t just the same after the injury or if Joe’s first season was still a matter of defenses being so afraid of Manning’s passing game that the that run was still open. In any case, they need to look at what needs to be done, if they can’t get a runner that can explode off the line and have a chance at short yardage, Manning’s life is going to be hell for the next few seasons. It’s one thing to go down by a couple of touchdowns and abandon the run in a catch up contest, but to go away from the run in the 3rd quarter when you’re up 3 or 7 is insanity. The Colt’s ability to create turnovers kept them in the game. Not that Colts really deserved to win, but the other sad thing was that the ref crew pretty much took the game over at the end calling penalty after penalty. A defensive holding penalty called on the colts while one of the SD O-lineman pretty much yanked Freeney’s head all the away Excorcist style by the face mask…
In any case, Dungy is out now so it will be a new start. Colts will always be a force as long as they hang on to their core offense and Tom Moore, but Dungy has nothing left to achieve and nothing left to prove.
The Cards, nice to see them win a playoff game, but that’s probably all she wrote.
January 5th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Awesome Madden quote haha. I really feel that in critical games you have to let the teams play a lot more than what the refs did. I’m not sure Addai was really healthy at all this year and I think the Colts needed to trust Rhodes more but they just kept on throwing and doing draws which I wasn’t a big fan of.
Dungy has officially said to give him a week so we will see.
UPDATE:
Funny about that snap count, Bertrand Berry talked about it on the Dan Patrick show…
Cardinals defensive end Bertrand Berry joined the show. Dan was curious how the Cardinals got off the line so quickly against the Falcons.
– Berry said that Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan didn’t change his snap count all game. Berry said that the defense got a really good idea of when the ball would be snapped, and that’s why they got off the ball so quickly.
– Berry said he didn’t time it perfectly — he had a couple of off-sides calls go against him.
– Berry said Anquan Boldin would be “probable” if he had an amputated leg.
– Dan asked Berry why one would pick the Cardinals. Berry said the Cardinals really want it and don’t care what people say about them.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/danpatrick/blog/37862/index.html?eref=fromSI
January 5th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
[...] Arizona should be happy that Edgerrin James showed up like he wanted to be on the team and forced the Falcons to respect the run. James numbers were not great but there really is a such thing as “setting up the pass” and the Cardinals …[Continue Reading] [...]
January 5th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
[...] Day 1 of the NFL Playoffs , Wars, Finals, and Road to the Big Show has ended in spectacular fashion. One thing that was not a surprised are which players.[Continue Reading] [...]