2008 NFL Season Thread- The Road to Super Bowl XLIII

[Elfdart]

Very astute analysis. There is one advantage the Cards have: several of their coaches used to work for the Steelers and know their players and scheme front to back. They played last year and the Cardinals beat them.

[Havok]

The way I see it, is that the Steelers have a much better offense than the Cardinals have a defense. That is a given. So Ben making plays isn't really a factor for me, because I know it is going to happen. The questions I have, like I stated, are if the Cardinal's O-Line can give Warner the time he needs for him to keep up with the Steelers big play ability. If not, it is going to be a blow out. If so, it will be a shoot out that will come down to the last team with the ball.

[weemadando]

Well, I'm now officially a Cardinals fan for the next 2 weeks.

That game was fucking bullshit. That roughing the kicker call robbed Baltimore of a 2 minute drill drive which, gee whiz - had the potential to change the game entirely. Can't another judge over-rule another? Because seriously, that call was coming off the most blatant fucking dive I've seen in any form of football for the past year.

As for the Pass Interference calls, I have no problem with these. I'm resigned to the fact that the Peyton-rule isn't going away and teams just have to deal with it. The one PI call that I did see was unquestionable pass interference (pulling down the receivers arm while he's jumping for it). Didn't see the other, so can't comment on that.

Fuck the Steelers. That is all. Also, yeah - it's really hard to beat a team when they are so badly injured that the TE is playing on the DL, as well as special teams and on offence as well. I know I'm makign excuses, but seriously. Fuck them.


Go Cardinals!

[Medic]

Very astute analysis. There is one advantage the Cards have: several of their coaches used to work for the Steelers and know their players and scheme front to back. They played last year and the Cardinals beat them.

Yeah, I was beating my self up once I read that and connected the dots a bit. Whisenhunt (Cards' coach) was the Steelers O-coordinator in their Super Bowl year and that offense, besides their simple, unimaginative rock-pounding up the middle with Jerome Bettis et. al., were downright dynamic with their "gadget" plays. No wonder this same coach with some serious weapons in Arizona has gotten them to the Super Bowl.

That tempers my dour assessment to almost feel good about the Cardinals' chances. Last time there was a clear inside-knowledge advantage like this was Gruden in Tampa Bay facing his old Raiders. And that was a massacre, though with the rather large caveat you had a Bucs defense much better geared to the pass than the run and a Raiders team obsessed with the pass, to the exclusion of running the ball. (IIRC, they ran the ball 9 times in that game, a fact I know after all these years because that was a good day ) Let's hope it's enough of an edge for a game which on paper has the makings of a Pittsburgh bloodbath.

ps: wikipedia says the Raiders rushed 7 times but my memory says 9, feh

[Havok]

OK. So the question is, how much better is Pittsburgh's defense over Philadelphia's D? It is basically a bigger, stronger, maybe a tad slower, 3-4 version. Can the Cardinal's O-line keep them off Warner long enough? Keep in mind that Wisenhunt and Grimm have first hand knowledge of the Steelers D and will certainly have the Cardinals ready to play. Polomolu is also going to be out of the blitzing equation, as he will have to be back double covering Fitzgerald and/or Boldin, who should be at 100% with two weeks to rest, not to mention Breaston.

I think we can all agree, this is going to be Cardinal's O Vs Steeler's D, so can the O overcome the D?

*AHEM*

[The Spartan]

If the Steelers win, they will have more Super Bowl victories than any other franchise.

I can not abide this, so I will be a Cardinals fan for the next 2 weeks now.

[Darth Fanboy]

Ando, you honestly believe that the one roughing call is enough that you can claim the game was "fucking bullshit?" There's no doubt about this victory, and the Steelers got penalized for more yards on the same number of flags. Flacco threw three picks, including one that went back for a touchdownand the Ravens didn't do much to move the ball consistently. Crying about the officiating for this game is actually rather sad.

[Falkenhayn]

The news on Willis McGahee is as follows: Full movement in his arms and legs, but very severe pain in his neck. So essentially no change from last night's wire reports.

[Qwerty 42]

The news on Willis McGahee is as follows: Full movement in his arms and legs, but very severe pain in his neck. So essentially no change from last night's wire reports.

I sincerely hope he's alright.

[The Spartan]

The news on Willis McGahee is as follows: Full movement in his arms and legs, but very severe pain in his neck. So essentially no change from last night's wire reports.

I sincerely hope he's alright.

If they didn't find any fractures on the Xrays I'd speculate that it was a sprain and/or pulled muscle. He may not have any nerve damage (or relatively mild nerve damage) but with a sprained joint or pulled muscle in the neck you can have pretty severe pain that will turn into a nagging injury.

I've got the chiropractor bills to prove it...

[weemadando]

Ando, you honestly believe that the one roughing call is enough that you can claim the game was "fucking bullshit?" There's no doubt about this victory, and the Steelers got penalized for more yards on the same number of flags. Flacco threw three picks, including one that went back for a touchdownand the Ravens didn't do much to move the ball consistently. Crying about the officiating for this game is actually rather sad.

In this case, sure - the Ravens didn't do a lot to win the game when they had the ball, but being utterly robbed of final drive in the first half was complete bullshit. And are you trying to tell me that you think that the roughing the kicker call was valid?

[CarsonPalmer]

Ando, you honestly believe that the one roughing call is enough that you can claim the game was "fucking bullshit?" There's no doubt about this victory, and the Steelers got penalized for more yards on the same number of flags. Flacco threw three picks, including one that went back for a touchdownand the Ravens didn't do much to move the ball consistently. Crying about the officiating for this game is actually rather sad.

In this case, sure - the Ravens didn't do a lot to win the game when they had the ball, but being utterly robbed of final drive in the first half was complete bullshit. And are you trying to tell me that you think that the roughing the kicker call was valid?

It was indeed a bad call, but refs blow calls all the time. There weren't a series of blown calls that went against Baltimore. It wasn't like the Ravens were even going to try to do anything anyway; with that amount of time left, they probably would have just run out the clock.

[jegs2]

I'll be pulling for Phoenix, since that's where my wife grew up. Other than that, I've no dog in this fight - stopped paying any serious attention to the NFL after 1984.

[Medic]

I'll be pulling for Phoenix, since that's where my wife grew up. Other than that, I've no dog in this fight - stopped paying any serious attention to the NFL after 1984.

Was that the year of the strike? Why 1984?

[jegs2]

I'll be pulling for Phoenix, since that's where my wife grew up. Other than that, I've no dog in this fight - stopped paying any serious attention to the NFL after 1984.

Was that the year of the strike? Why 1984?

I may be off a year or so - It was the year Miami and the Redskins played in the Super Bowl. The Dolphins lost, and I lost a small monetary bet - the first and last time I bet money on anything. After that, I just lost interest in the NFL and gravitated to college football.

[Havok]

You lost money on a bet and blame the NFL? Pretty lame reason to not watch pro football, but whatever.
And yes, that was the strike season, but it was 1982, not 84 when they lost to the Redskins in the Superbowl. Miami got their asses kicked in the Superbowl in 1984 by the 49ers.

[The Spartan]

Good news: I heard on the radio this morning that Mcgahee is that they expect him to make a full recovery.

[Qwerty 42]

Good news: I heard on the radio this morning that Mcgahee is that they expect him to make a full recovery.

Excellent. Not a big fan of McGahee, but you never want anyone to sustain an injury like that.

[Bilbo]

Ando, you honestly believe that the one roughing call is enough that you can claim the game was "fucking bullshit?" There's no doubt about this victory, and the Steelers got penalized for more yards on the same number of flags. Flacco threw three picks, including one that went back for a touchdownand the Ravens didn't do much to move the ball consistently. Crying about the officiating for this game is actually rather sad.

In this case, sure - the Ravens didn't do a lot to win the game when they had the ball, but being utterly robbed of final drive in the first half was complete bullshit. And are you trying to tell me that you think that the roughing the kicker call was valid?

It was about as valid as ruling that the onside kick went out of bounds, allowing for the convenient dead-ball whistle, which means the Ravens could not challenge, thus losing the ball.

[Dark Flame]

If the Steelers win, they will have more Super Bowl victories than any other franchise.

I can not abide this, so I will be a Cardinals fan for the next 2 weeks now.

I'm with Spartan on this one. Go Birds!

I went 1-1 this week, and I figured the Cardinals was the one depending on luck with the Ravens having a really good shot at it... Damn.

What's the consensus on whether the hit on McGahee was clean? I know it's legal, but as Jim Rome pointed out, clean and legal are not the same things.

In other news, the Jets hired Rex Ryan. Good move? I think so.

[Havok]

Clean hit. Jim Rome is a pussy.

Rex is a good hire. Another offensive system though? Bye bye Brett Farve.

[The Spartan]

Clean hit. Jim Rome is a pussy.

Rex is a good hire. Another offensive system though? Bye bye Brett Farve.

Yeah it was a clean hit. Brutal, to be sure, but there was nothing dirty about it.

[Havok]

So the Niners are going to try something new at Offensive coordinator this year... NO ONE!!

[weemadando]

So the Niners are going to try something new at Offensive coordinator this year... NO ONE!!

Well, it can't get any worse can it?

[Darth Fanboy]

And are you trying to tell me that you think that the roughing the kicker call was valid?

The Raven defense held on and the Steelers got nothing out of it. It was a very weak call but ultimately cost the Ravens nothing because they started teh second half with the ball and would have been very hard pressed to score with little time left on the clock in the first half. You think Flacco would have driven the Ravens down the field with less than a minute against the Steeler defense? The fact that Pittsburgh got no points out of the bad call weakens your argument that it cost the Ravens the game.