Jan 3rd 2009 10:15PM by Bruce Ciskie (author feed)
Filed under: AZ Cardinals, NFC West, NFL Hall of Fame, NFL Media Watch
There is no questioning the very real sacrifice made by former Cardinals safety Pat Tillman. He felt he had a duty to help defend our great country. Whether you agree or disagree with our military involvement overseas, you can’t argue that Tillman gave his life to help make our lives better, and make our country a better place.
The NFL, in my opinion, did a very nice job honoring Tillman during the season after his death in April of 2004. The Cardinals have also done the right things when it comes to Tillman’s memory.
But could the sport of football do more to honor Tillman?
NBC’s Cris Collinsworth worked Saturday’s early playoff game between Atlanta and Arizona. During the broadcast, he brought up the fact that Tillman is eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I have to admit that I hadn’t previously given much of any thought to the argument Collinsworth proceeded to make.Continue Reading
Jan 2nd 2009 12:30PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: AZ Cardinals, Chargers, Colts, Falcons, NFL Fans, NFL Playoffs
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It’s playoff time, people. Four great games this weekend, starting with the Falcons-Cards and Colts-Chargers on Saturday, followed by Ravens-Dolphins and Eagles-Vikings Sunday afternoon. And the best part: the LIons can’t lose.
In any event, we’ll be chatting it up at 1PM EST. In the meantime, you can see FanHouse “experts” pick the winners here. (”Experts,” indeed. Feel free to point, gawk, mock … we deserve it.) Back in a bit.Continue Reading
Jan 2nd 2009 1:30PM by Tom Mantzouranis (author feed)
Filed under: AZ Cardinals, Chargers, Colts, Dolphins, Eagles, Falcons, Ravens, Vikings, NFL Playoffs
It’s an interesting week to begin shaking the Magic 8 Ball here, as these games each have interesting storylines but no clear-cut favorite. Not only are, shockingly, all of the road teams favorites in Vegas, but none of the spreads venture past three points.
That indecision amongst oddsmakers and bettors is reflected in our picks; very rarely is the same four-team combination picked, there’s a nice variety in the selections. It’s hard not to imagine a myriad of possibilities in all of these contests, and that’s the way the playoffs should be — competitive and intriguing.
See who we all picked, and add your own predictions, after the jump.Continue Reading
Jan 2nd 2009 3:45PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Filed under: AZ Cardinals, Chargers, Colts, Dolphins, Eagles, Falcons, Giants, Panthers, Ravens, Steelers, Titans, Vikings, AFC East, AFC North, AFC South, AFC West, NFC East, NFC North, NFC South, NFC West, Fantasy Football, NFL Playoffs
There are several different fantasy playoffs models, so it’s difficult to accommodate everyone when doing any set of fantasy advice for the real playoffs. Most common models require you to do a bit of prognosticating as far as the actual game winners. To that, I say good luck. This isn’t like last year, where we all knew the Patriots were going to the Super Bowl. This season the playoffs are wide open, and no, I don’t think the Giants are a sure thing to make the big game. They are the surest bet, but it’s still a bet.
Anyway, we’re going to analyze some of the players.
First, here are the regular-season defensive rankings for the teams playing this postseason.
Pittsburgh Steelers (1, 2, 1, 1)
Baltimore Ravens (2, 3, 2, 3)
Philadelphia Eagles (3, 4, 3, 4)
New York Giants (5, 9, 8, 5)
Minnesota Vikings (6, 1, 18, 13)
Tennessee Titans (7, 6, 9, 2)
Indianapolis Colts (11, 24, 6, 7)
Miami Dolphins (15, 10, 25, 9)
Carolina Panthers (18, 20, 16, 12)
Arizona Cardinals (19, 16, 21, 28)
Atlanta Falcons (24, 25, 22, 11)
San Diego Chargers (25, 11, 31, 15)Continue Reading
Jan 1st 2009 6:35PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Filed under: AZ Cardinals, Falcons, NFC South, NFC West, NFL Fans, NFL Playoffs
Since moving to Phoenix, Arizona, the Cardinals have never hosted a playoff game. As a matter of fact, the franchise hasn’t played a home playoff game since December 27, 1975 when they played in St. Louis. Shockingly, people are not flocking to view the game in person, and that could end up being the only way to see the game.
With approximately 3,700 tickets remaining, the Cardinals must sell them before 2:30 Friday afternoon, or else the game will be blacked out in the greater Phoenix area, per NFL rules. “Based on the activity we’ve seen over the last couple days and particularly in the last 24 hours we’re very optimistic that this extension will get us where we need to be,” said Ron Minegar, the team’s Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer. Man, I really hope so. I know Cardinals fans are out there, and they’re having to endure a lot of talk about how much their favorite team doesn’t even deserve to be in the playoffs. Go out and support them, it’s not like a victory is out of the question. The Falcons pass defense is suspect, and the Kurt Warner to Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, and Steve Breaston connection has been stellar at home for the Cards.
It would be a shame to not sell out, especially if the Cardinals pull off the upset victory.
Jan 2nd 2009 10:00AM by JJ Cooper (author feed)
Filed under: AZ Cardinals, Falcons, NFC South, NFC West, NFL Playoffs
It’s the battle of the unlikely birds.
We have the Falcons, who are just a year away from being the league’s laughingstock with a quarterback in prison and a coach who bailed the first time things got tough, against the Cardinals, who make the playoffs about as often as Vanderbilt wins a bowl game.
The Cardinals wrapped up a playoff spot weeks ago, but they’re considered potential frauds because of their easy NFC West schedule. The Falcons had to wait a while longer, and they have to carry some skepticism because they’ve gone from being considered one of the league’s worst teams to a playoff team in the span of three months and conventional wisdom often takes longer than that to catch up.
But both of these teams are only three wins away from the Super Bowl. It doesn’t matter how they got here, as a couple of wins and fans can start dreaming of a trip to Tampa–even if there aren’t enough Cardinals fans to sell out their stadium, much less to travel to the Super Bowl.
Continue Reading
Jan 2nd 2009 10:31AM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: AZ Cardinals, NFL Playoffs
Looking at the eight teams playing in the wild card round of the NFL playoffs this weekend, I’d have to say the team least likely to win the Super Bowl is the Arizona Cardinals. The sports books agree with that assessment; the Super Bowl odds provided by Bodog say the Cardinals are the longest of long shots at 40-1.
But I’d argue that the Cardinals — and the other 11 teams in the playoffs — all have a better chance of winning the Super Bowl (based on what we know now) than the Giants had at the outset of last year’s playoffs (based on what we knew then).
If I tell you the Cardinals are going to beat the Falcons this weekend, then win at the Giants and at the Panthers, and then go to the Super Bowl and beat the Steelers, you’ll tell me I’m crazy. But not as crazy as you would have thought I was if I had told you a year ago that the Giants were going to win at Tampa Bay, at Dallas, at Green Bay and then on a neutral field against the undefeated Patriots.
The bottom line is that while it seems ridiculous to suggest that the 9-7 Cardinals would win four straight games, culminating with the Super Bowl, it’s less ridiculous than the same suggestion about the Giants would have been last year. That’s what makes these next three weekends so fun.
Dec 31st 2008 1:26PM by JJ Cooper (author feed)
Filed under: AZ Cardinals, Vikings, NFL Playoffs
In the past two days, the Minnesota Vikings have sold 9,000 tickets to Sunday’s Eagles’ playoff game. Normally that would be good news, but after nearly 45 percent of season ticket holders decided not to buy playoff tickets, the Vikings still have 11,000 tickets to sell.
If the Vikings don’t have those tickets sold by 3:30 p.m. CT tomorrow the game will be blacked out in Minnesota. Minnesota has requested an 24-hour extension, which will almost assuredly end up being approved even though it will likely go against previous NFL policy.
Earlier this year the NFL denied the Lions’ request for an extension when that team was 6,000 seats short of a sellout. It’s hard to believe that the Vikings will be dramatically closer than that by tomorrow.. There have been times in the past that the Vikings have been bailed out of a blackout by having the local television station buy the remaining tickets. It’s hard to imagine KMSP buying 5,000 or more tickets, but if the Vikings can sell a couple of more thousand, the chance to air the Vikings first playoff game in several years would be worth paying for 1,000 or 2,000 seats.
Whatever the situation, this is an embarrassment for the Vikings, especially as they continue to try to sell tickets while two other first-round games were near-instant sellouts. The Cardinals are have plenty of tickets left–6,500 at last count–but then everyone knows that Cardinals fans are some of the worst in the league, and for good reason.
Dec 31st 2008 9:00AM by JJ Cooper (author feed)
Filed under: AZ Cardinals, Falcons, NFC South, NFC West, NFL Playoffs
In doing these Between The Lines posts, it’s always interesting to see if mismatches jump out, or if there is a player that seems either underrated or overrated.
Normally it doesn’t happen. The conventional wisdom on most teams is pretty accurate, and it’s really hard to find a stud on the offensive or defensive line that hasn’t been noticed at all. But as the Falcons get ready to play the Cardinals this weekend, there is a mismatch that jumps out from paying attention to the two team’s lines: if the Falcons are wise with where they line up John Abraham, he could dominate this game.
There are a lot of factors to consider in Saturday’s game: how will Matt Ryan react to his first playoff start, can the Cardinals slow down Michael Turner and is the Cardinals’ triple-threat at receiver too much for the Falcons secondary, but as I see it, this game will first be decided by whether the Cardinals can block Abraham.Continue Reading
Dec 31st 2008 11:05AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: AZ Cardinals, NFL Police Blotter, NFL Media Watch, NFL Rumors
Larry Fitzgerald is, apparently, going to be under a little bit of scrutiny over the next few weeks. And I’m not just talking everyone finding out if the Cardinals are fo’ real. No, see, Larry’s ladyfriend has gotten a restraining order type of deal on him, following an alleged play-turned-serious fight.
Angela Nazario claims she brought the couple’s son to visit Larry at his Phoenix home last October when the former lovers began arguing.
Nazario alleges in her legal papers filed in Arizona, Fitzgerald attempted to “diffuse the situation” by raising his fist and challenging her to a play fight. Nazario admits she responded by swinging at him and “may have hit his face.”
Fitzgerald then turned from playful to enraged, allegedly pushing Nazario down to her knees. She claims he “grabbed me by my hair with both hands on the back of my head very very hard and tossed me across the room.”
I’m not entirely sure how Arizona law works, but I find it pretty odd that the female’s name in a domestic violence case was actually released. Almost as odd that this is surfacing when it happened “last October”.
And while it’s not my place to decide on what may or may not have allegedly happened, it’s quite interesting to note that Ms. Nazario started throwing punches first, before Fitzgerald actually got violent. Not saying it excuses anything, but it certainly changes the scope of what happened. Odds are that this, while potentially disruptive, doesn’t derail the Cardinals anymore than their already putrid December.
