Cardinals Win!

My roommate stumbled out of his room at 2:30pm yesterday, for the first time after a long night of drinking (two words: Party Bus), right as the Cardinals playoff game was starting and simply stated, "I've waited 10 years for this". It made me laugh, but it was also true: We have all waited 10 years for this.

I was a little nervous at first, but that went away quickly. You could tell the way the Cards were playing that if they were going to lose the game, it was not going to be from lack of effort. That is all you can really ask for. What we got yesterday was an effort from the defense that had not really shown anything the past few weeks. When the Cardinals are attacking, using their playmakers and athleticism, their defense becomes a strength and not just something in between offensive possessions. Everyone talks about the Cardinals passing game, but when they were winning games they were getting big plays from their defense.

We also saw the second consecutive week of the return of Edgerrin James. He looks like vintage Edge right now, finding the hole, breaking the first tackle and always getting positive yards on every play. Edge's resurgence gives all fans a glimmer of hope that the Cardinals can do a little more in these playoffs.

Can the Cards win another playoff game? We are going to spend all week hearing how they can't, but then again we spent all last week hearing about how they were going to roll over for the Falcons. The defense is playing well, the running game is good enough to take pressure off the passing game and everyone seems to be playing with focus and energy, so it is possible. Just remember that when the Cards take the field next week their offense will feature four possible future Hall of Famers at the key skill positions, hard to count that out.

Random Thoughts

• Mike Smith beat out Tony Sparano by one single vote for coach of the year. I don't see how the award doesn't go to Sparano. I also see how the award doesn't go to Smith. Would Co-Coaches of the year really been that bad?
• How long as Matt Ryan been called "Matty Ice?" I first heard about it in the middle of the game yesterday and all of the sudden I hear everyone calling him that. I must say, sweet nickname.
• Antrel Rolle returning that fumble for a touchdown then doing the Dirty Bird was one of the top 10 moments of life. Whether that says something about how awesome the play was or the state of my life, that is for you to decide. The best part is Rod Hood jumps on him while he is doing it, disrupting the dance, but Rolle moves away from him and continues it!
  

• For the record, I've been on the Darren Sproles bandwagon ever since he and Ell Roberson were tearing up the Big 12 in 2003.
• Thank goodness Peyton Manning won a Super Bowl, or else people would be looking at back to back playoff losses to a Norv Turner led team much differently.
  
• Speaking of Norv Turner, he gets criticized a ton for not winning in the regular season. He has been much more successful in the postseason though then the man he replaced, Marty Schottenheimer. Isn't that exactly why Marty was fired and Norv was brought in? Also remember that Norv has not really had LT the past two years in the playoffs because he has been hurt.
• We are about a year away from LT leaving the Chargers, signing a huge deal with the Cardinals and averaging 3.3 yards a carry for the length of his contract.
• Baltimore's defense looks as good as it has in a long time. It does help when you play an offense that has a QB that cant throw the ball 20 yards downfield and runs a gimmick formation, lets see how they do in round two.
• Philly vs New York in round two is going to be awesome, it is probably the worst matchup the Giants could hope for. There are no ties in the playoffs, should play to McNabb's benefit.