The 620 Sportsline producer Rod Lakin gave a guest column on being wrong about the Cardinals.
Count my 2001 Baltimore Ravens analogy as another misfire, during a playoff run that has featured many in regards to the Arizona Cardinals. Turns out the Philadelphia Eagles are not the dominating defense that some (including myself) believed them to be. And it turns out the Arizona Cardinals are the most explosive offense representing the NFC since the St. Louis Rams ala 2000, and 2002.
It doesn’t take long to find the link between those great teams. In fact, Howie Long rather quickly identified it on the Fox postgame show: Kurt Warner is going to the Hall of Fame. In the meantime Warner and the Cardinals will be going against the best defense they’ve faced all season (sorry Philly). Vegas has already chimed in with a 6 ½ point spread in favor of the Pittsburgh Steelers. This seems a little steep, especially given the swift offensive display Arizona put on during the first half of Sunday’s classic NFC Championship Game. Lost in the shuffle of that dramatic finish, were a few factors that could have had a dramatic effect on the margin of victory. These include: Aaron Francisco’s 1st quarter fumble, the second quarter fiasco involving Neil Rackers kickoff, and rare miss by Kurt Warner in the 3rd quarter, one that could have both put the game away and made Anquan Boldin happy.
Well, maybe the latter is not a possibility, but a Cardinal victory on February 1st certainly is. Just ask the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Philadelphia Eagles, Gene Wojciechowski and, yes, even me. Suffice to say, as lame analogies go, the Eagles- 01’ Ravens comparison ranks up there. But I do have revisions in mind. The Eagles? Well, they’re football’s version of the Atlanta Braves. The Cardinals? They could be this year’s version of the 2000 Rams. We’ll find out in a couple of weeks…
Comments? Email me!
Super Psyched to watch a Super Bowl with the Cardinals. Many have doubted them and sadly at times that has included me but they seem to love to prove people wrong. Lets hope they can do that once more this season and take down the hard hitting and sometimes dirty playing steelers.
Rod Rod - Your apology is excepted. Many guys jumped on the bandwagon during the past few weeks. As a loyal season ticket holder I welcome them all. (Except for the guys that tried to steal my ticket on Sunday).
So there is room for you on the bus! In fact, with all the guys going to Tampa from Phoenix, radio row at the Super Bowl will be just like last year when we had the big game in Arizona.
So if that Super Bowl game is what provided the spark and motivation for our men in red to overcome the challenges of this year - more power to us - We are Number 1!
That was actually a really good article. I came here in 92 and did not really watch football before that so the cardinals quickly became my team. I was really shocked to see so many fans of the visiting teams when I went to ASU to watch them play. It really pissed me off. But now that they are winning you can see nothing but red in the stands. Which is amazing and unreal but apart of me is like “where were you in the hard times, where the BLEEP were you?”
Makes me sick when I think about it. True cardinal fans know the hardship and pain year after year. We always had the talent and the real fans knew that. We just did not have the right coach. There is a side of me that wants to say,” screw you bandwagon fans, go back to your cowgirls,redskins and seahawks and leave the cardinals to the die hards fans!
I am a Seahawks fan from Argentina. Very nice Seahawks information.
I miss the days of Curt Warner.
I hope to be in Seattle for a game this fall.
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