Cardinals vs Saints – A look at the Divisional Playoff battle!!
Posted by Steve O'Reilly on January 16, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The NFC Divisional Round game between the Saints and the Cardinals could be viewed in many different ways. Some may say “it’s gonna be an offensive explosion” while others may feel “these two teams are headed in different directions.” While it’s true, both teams have great offenses and the Saints have looked very ordinary over the last 3 weeks of the season while the Cardinals are once again clicking when it matters, at the end of the season!
Let’s look at some interesting facts about these two teams as they get ready to do battle to move on the the NFC Championship game. The Kurt Warner led Cardinals are 6-1 on the road this year, 6-2 without him. The Cardinals also should be looking to shore up a defense that was torched against the Packers in the WildCard round. The Cards Defense is more improved than a year ago, giving up only 20.3 ppg as opposed to the 26.6 from last season.
Deuce is back and will lead the team onto the field!
The Saints defense finished ranked 25th overall and 20th in scoring. They were however able to score themselves quite a bit with 8 TD’s, Darren Sharper led that charge with 3. The Saints Offense finished ranked 1st in the NFL and this is an interesting tid bit of information – the Saints have re-signed Deuce McCallister and he will be leading the team out of the tunnel! That could be an emotional boost for the Saints and will definitely fire up the home crowd into a wave of emotion.
Here are some things that we see troublesome. Can you turn it back up once you’ve shut it down? The Saints, back when they faced the Patriots on Monday Night Football, looked like the best team in the league. They were clicking and they were unstoppable. Since then however they have shut it down a bit. Rested some players and set the cruise control button. Can they get it jumpstarted enough to face a team that did the same thing last year that they are trying to do this year – get hot at the right time and ride that momentum all the way to Super Bowl XLIV.
With Boldin sidelined, the Cards are gonna have to lean on Ducet once again!
In the end this game will come down to defense and who can stop who enough. Both teams are going to get their points but the question will be who can get the key turnover, who can get the key 3rd down stop and who will play with the least amount of mistakes. We know the Cardinals are ready but are the Saints? We will soon find out!