Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
Toughest game of the year to judge because in may ways it was played like an exhibition game. The Packers obviously pounded on the Cardinals and had every intention of doing so. The question is, come Saturday will that work for the Packers or not?
What the Cardinals saw is a team that is about as hot as any team in the NFL (save perhaps the Chargers)...and a team that really, as the FOX crew pointed out, "has no visible flaws." They have a very good offensive line, a premier RB in Ryan Grant, one of the more athletic and prolific QBs in the league in Aaron Rodgers, and a quartet of reveivers that includes 2 1,000 yard WRs in Donald Driver and Greg Jennings and a tall, mismatch exploiting TE in Jermicheal Finley. On defense they have three stud space eating DTs: Jolly, Raji and Pickett, a rookie edge rusher in Clay Matthews who is super disruptive...a trio of rangy tough LBers, and a superbly coached secondary led by All-World CB Charles Woodson. Their STs are very good as well. Best of all, IMO, they are the best coached team in the NFL right now, with HC Mike McCarthy pulling the strings on offense and DC Dom Capers calling the shots on defense. We saw this in pre-season and it has carried over in big way during the season.
All this said, as up and down as the Cardinals are, they may have one huge thing in their advantage and that is Kurt Warner's playoff experience. Notice that Warner was taking notes on the sideline and after a couple of series he got a good vision of what he's up against.
The question is, will the Packers playoff inexperience be a factor on Saturday?
My initial sense is that because of how well they are coached, the answer will be no, not much.
So, how can the Cardinals find a way to prevail over these surging Packers?
Well, we will see just how well coached the Cardinals are...and Whiz showed the Packers nothing...and Bill Davis is a Dom Capers disciple who has shown an ability to game plan very effectively.
The Cardinals should be healthy. DRC will play and should play with much more aggressiveness. Boldin will shake off his leg injury and will be hungry. And if they can wrap up Calais Campbell's thumb well enough, he'll be in there as well.
But the real key to the game will be what Russ Grimm can do with the offensive line. He's got to find a way to move those big DTs in the running game and he has to find a way to stifle the Packers' blitzing schemes which often features Clay Matthews looping straight up the middle. The good news is, the big DTs are not great pass rushers...which is why Capers has to send Matthews or one of his LBers up the middle.
If Warner has time and they focus on the mismatches...and rub Fitz off out of motion to give him a step on #21...the Cardinals will have a chance to outscore the Packers.
On the other side, Bill Davis has to prep for this game the way he did against the Vikings where (1) he stifled AP in the running game; (2) he blitzed Farve and kept him off-balance; and (3) he covered the tall pass-catching TE Shiancoe well. The one added problem to account for is Rodgers' ability to run.
As for today's game, the positives we can take from it were the play of the young secondary players Rashad Johnson, Michael Adams and Greg Toler. They got beat some, but they were close and they hit people and played aggressively. I thought Johnson in particular was impressive. Please do not blame Adams for getting beat deep middle by Jordy Nelson. The FS guessed wrong on the play and bit inside...few CBs ever can defed the whole field. And I thought that on Adams' interference penalty that it was Greg Jennings who was holding Adams' hand, not vice versa.
I also think it was classy of Whiz to play Brian St. Pierre. While St. Pierre, like Matt Leinart, struggled, he was able to complete his first pass ever and his first TD pass.
And Ben Graham's tying of the punting inside the 20 NFL record...that and Boldin's 5th 1,00 yard season were the milestones of the day.
But the play of the game was Ralph Brown's interception...and maybe that was a good tiding in the sense that it gave the Cardinals an iota of momentum heading into Saturday's game and it was Brown who came out of nowhere to lift the Cardinals up in the playoffs last year.
The negatives were playing players that should not have been on the field...like Boldin (sprained knee) and Fitz in the second half...like Calais Campbell in the second half where he fractured his thumb and now could be out for Saturday's game (likely needs screws inserted). There was absolutlely no point of playing any of the key players in that second half. Even worse they had to endure a pounding as the Packers were by far the more physical team. Actually the disparity in physicality was embarrassing especially for a home game, starting with DRC running away from the first tackle of the game on the slant pass to Donald Driver...and Levi Brown allowing his man a free path to Warner on what was a mere wrist flip move...and these guys just got Pro Bowl consideration?
What the Cardinals saw is a team that is about as hot as any team in the NFL (save perhaps the Chargers)...and a team that really, as the FOX crew pointed out, "has no visible flaws." They have a very good offensive line, a premier RB in Ryan Grant, one of the more athletic and prolific QBs in the league in Aaron Rodgers, and a quartet of reveivers that includes 2 1,000 yard WRs in Donald Driver and Greg Jennings and a tall, mismatch exploiting TE in Jermicheal Finley. On defense they have three stud space eating DTs: Jolly, Raji and Pickett, a rookie edge rusher in Clay Matthews who is super disruptive...a trio of rangy tough LBers, and a superbly coached secondary led by All-World CB Charles Woodson. Their STs are very good as well. Best of all, IMO, they are the best coached team in the NFL right now, with HC Mike McCarthy pulling the strings on offense and DC Dom Capers calling the shots on defense. We saw this in pre-season and it has carried over in big way during the season.
All this said, as up and down as the Cardinals are, they may have one huge thing in their advantage and that is Kurt Warner's playoff experience. Notice that Warner was taking notes on the sideline and after a couple of series he got a good vision of what he's up against.
The question is, will the Packers playoff inexperience be a factor on Saturday?
My initial sense is that because of how well they are coached, the answer will be no, not much.
So, how can the Cardinals find a way to prevail over these surging Packers?
Well, we will see just how well coached the Cardinals are...and Whiz showed the Packers nothing...and Bill Davis is a Dom Capers disciple who has shown an ability to game plan very effectively.
The Cardinals should be healthy. DRC will play and should play with much more aggressiveness. Boldin will shake off his leg injury and will be hungry. And if they can wrap up Calais Campbell's thumb well enough, he'll be in there as well.
But the real key to the game will be what Russ Grimm can do with the offensive line. He's got to find a way to move those big DTs in the running game and he has to find a way to stifle the Packers' blitzing schemes which often features Clay Matthews looping straight up the middle. The good news is, the big DTs are not great pass rushers...which is why Capers has to send Matthews or one of his LBers up the middle.
If Warner has time and they focus on the mismatches...and rub Fitz off out of motion to give him a step on #21...the Cardinals will have a chance to outscore the Packers.
On the other side, Bill Davis has to prep for this game the way he did against the Vikings where (1) he stifled AP in the running game; (2) he blitzed Farve and kept him off-balance; and (3) he covered the tall pass-catching TE Shiancoe well. The one added problem to account for is Rodgers' ability to run.
As for today's game, the positives we can take from it were the play of the young secondary players Rashad Johnson, Michael Adams and Greg Toler. They got beat some, but they were close and they hit people and played aggressively. I thought Johnson in particular was impressive. Please do not blame Adams for getting beat deep middle by Jordy Nelson. The FS guessed wrong on the play and bit inside...few CBs ever can defed the whole field. And I thought that on Adams' interference penalty that it was Greg Jennings who was holding Adams' hand, not vice versa.
I also think it was classy of Whiz to play Brian St. Pierre. While St. Pierre, like Matt Leinart, struggled, he was able to complete his first pass ever and his first TD pass.
And Ben Graham's tying of the punting inside the 20 NFL record...that and Boldin's 5th 1,00 yard season were the milestones of the day.
But the play of the game was Ralph Brown's interception...and maybe that was a good tiding in the sense that it gave the Cardinals an iota of momentum heading into Saturday's game and it was Brown who came out of nowhere to lift the Cardinals up in the playoffs last year.
The negatives were playing players that should not have been on the field...like Boldin (sprained knee) and Fitz in the second half...like Calais Campbell in the second half where he fractured his thumb and now could be out for Saturday's game (likely needs screws inserted). There was absolutlely no point of playing any of the key players in that second half. Even worse they had to endure a pounding as the Packers were by far the more physical team. Actually the disparity in physicality was embarrassing especially for a home game, starting with DRC running away from the first tackle of the game on the slant pass to Donald Driver...and Levi Brown allowing his man a free path to Warner on what was a mere wrist flip move...and these guys just got Pro Bowl consideration?
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