One of the most important aspects of the game and certainly the most overlooked aspect of the game is special teams. Special teams play dictates field position, which dictates scoring drives, which dictates the pace of the game, and on and on and on……

Trust me, special teams are critical, and they will play a big role for each team tomorrow.

Arizona Cardinals:

It might be the understatement of the year to say that Cards PK Neil Rackers has struggled a little bit this year. After setting an NFL record in 2005 making 40 out of 42 FGs (a FG% rate of 95%), Rackers has made 33 out of 60 over the past two years (a FG% rate of 55%) and has missed 3 out of 4 potential game-winning FGs going back to the Monday Night Football nightmare of last season. He has gone from Mr. Automatic to Mr. Well-at-least-he-tries-hard. In a game like this the Cards cannot afford to miss any scoring opportunities, so Rackers must convert on every chance he gets. Rookie returner Steve Breaston continues to impress week in and week out, and has had big days in the return game against Detroit, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Hopefully, he can contribute more of the same and provide the offense with great field position again. Perhaps the best news for the special teams is the expected return of Aaron Francisco to the line-up. Francisco was a full participant in practices on Thursday and Friday and is expected to contribute on both special teams and defense. He is a heavy hitter and is tough against the run. It’s unclear how much of an impact he’ll have as he has missed 6 of the last 7 games with injury, but his return should give both units a boost.

Bottom Line: Neil has to become Automatic in a hurry if we want to make the playoffs!

New Orleans Saints:

As I had written on Thursday, the Saints are without the services of their PK Olindo Mare, as he has been placed on IR. They went out and signed Martin Grammatica off of the couch in his living room. I meant what I wrote in that post on Thursday, both of the Grammatica brothers do not have strong legs. And yes, I am aware that Martin’s brother Bill Grammatica was a former Cards PK. But they are accustomed to kicking line-drive kicks and not getting enough elevation over the Offensive and Defensive Lines. This is probably due to their relative stature, as Martin is only 5′8″, thus making it a little more difficult to elevate the ball when you are already fighting gravity. He will probably be a little rusty and I don’t think the Saints will line him up for long FG tries. All of these issues are added to a team that was already lacking in the kicking department anyway. Mare was 10 out of 17 on the year with a FG% of 58.8%, the worst in the NFL. Now they bring on a cold kicker to back up an already weak unit. Not to mention they have no standout returner to speak of on this team and are very average in that department.

Bottom Line: This is a definate weakness for the Saints on Sunday.

Looks to me like we have the edge in special teams, but we’ll find out tomorrow, LETS GO CARDS!!

Mike Duggan
AZCardsfan4life