I just got out of the car after listening to a fantastic rant about the current state of Philadelphia. Here's what Philly is feeling right now:
"I have the same feeling I had when Shane Victorino hit that bomb off of C.C.
The same feeling I had when Chase turned that double play against L.A.
The same feeling I had when freakin Matt Stairs hit that home run.
No one thought, with two weeks left in the season and the Phillies down by four games that they had a shot.
No one thought, with the Eagles sitting at 5-5-1 and at the bottom of the NFC East that they had a shot either.
I got that feelin man and it's gonna happen."
This city, right now, is in World Series state of mind when talking about the Eagles...and rightfully so.
The Eagles are playing the best football I've seen in at least few seasons and more importantly they've been in playoff football mode for well over seven weeks now. That's a HUGE deal when you're talking about what teams are going to the big dance.
So NFC Championship prediction...
Eagles are beating the Cardinals.
Yeah, I'm biased, but I really think they are going to beat this team. Here's a few reasons why:
1) Kurt Warner - He is a statue in the pocket. What the hell was Carolina thinking by not blitzing him? It's a given fact that when Warner feels pressure, he turns the ball over. I don't know where to find the stats for it, but there has to be some sort of 7:1 ratio for blitzes : Warner gifts. He fumbles more than any QB in the league and that is not good news when you're playing against Jim Johnson's Defense. Expect Jim to blitz the crap out of Kurt and give the Eagles a few turnovers because of it.
2) Cardinals Offense - Arizona is still a one dimensional team. They pass the football. That's it. Don't let their recent push to run the ball in the past few weeks fool you, they are still one dimensional. If you blitz Kurt and rush the passer effectively you will win. This is what people figured out at the end of the season and the main reason the Cardinals went 2-4 in their last 6 games of the season. I'm going to continue to bring this up...the fact that Carolina didn't try to pressure their offense boggles my mind.
3) Eagles Defense - On three separate game-changing occasions last week the Eagles D stuffed one of the best running attacks in the NFL on fourth down. The Giants needed 2 yards or less on THREE OCCASIONS and they couldn't get it? How hard is it to give the ball to Jacobs and keep the drive going?
The Eagles defense is playing OUT OF IT'S MIND right now. They have dominated since the drubbing they took in Baltimore, only giving up a stout 12 points per game in their last 7 games. If you look at their last three games they've played even better allowing a little over 10 points per game and amassing 10 turnovers in the same time period. Read that again...10 turnovers in three games.
I think I need to also note the emergence of one Asante Samuel. He is finally playing like he deserves a $60 million dollar contract. In the past two weeks he has returned one (HUGE) INT for a TD against Minnesota and another one last week to the Giants two. He's finally ball hawking and on the other side of the field, Sheldon Brown hasn't let up a TD all season long (knock on wood). This is going to be an interesting matchup in Arizona.
3) False Confidence - Carolina's defense over their last three games gave up over thirty points in each occasion. The fact that they played the Saints and they played the Giants is a valid point but given the Cards offense and the reeling defense of Carolina, I'm surprised they didn't score 50.Something has to be going on with their defensive coordinator. When someone hands you a blueprint of how to beat the Cardinals the first chapter is one sentence: Blitz Kurt Warner. Apparently this genius thought he didn't need to read the book and his team paid the price.
The Panthers also gave up in that game. They drove down the field with four monster runs on their first drive and had the demeanor "wow, this is going to be easy."
Then Arizona answered with two straight TD drives and the team couldn't find a rythmn again (this wasn't helped by the fact that Jake Delhomme played like a high school quarterback).
That being said, I know Arizona is a LOT better than when the Eagles kicked the crap out of them in Philly in week 13. I just can't see Kurt Warner playing well against a Jim Johnson defense, the last time he did he threw three interceptions and Asante didn't even play. It just defies logic for me to think any differently.
AFC will be coming up sometime soon...
No comments:
Post a Comment