Eagles vs. Cardinals: What They Are Saying Saturday
By Scott Allen
One more day to go. Most people have gotten down to prediction time at this point. I will detail some picks being made later. Right now, it’s another installment of what I’m reading and hearing about the Eagles and Cardinals as they are now a little more than 28 hours till kickoff.
John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News says there is no respectful way to say that the Eagles will not lose tomorrow to the Cardinals.
He goes on to say how there is no logical way the Eagles could lose this game. Well, I can tell you if these teams thought this way, they would never play the game. How can he say the Cardinals have no logical way of beating the Eagles? He says that just the mere fact that this is the NFC Championship game and because it’s the Cardinals, there is no way the Eagles lose. He may be in for a rude awakening.
Barry Wilner of the Associated Press says all you need to do these days is just get into the NFL playoffs to have a shot.
He’s right. It doesn’t matter if you are the first seed or the sixth seed these days. Home or away, it seems everyone that gets in has a shot. There has only been two games where the opposition has won by 19 or more points and both of those were road teams. Baltimore dispatched the Miami Dolphins 27-9 in Miami and Arizona defeated Carolina last week 33-13 in Charlotte. However, Arizona was the underdog in both the Atlanta and Carolina games. Philadelphia marched into Minnesota and New York, and Baltimore has defeated Miami and Tennessee. Pittsburgh, San Diego, and Arizona are the only playoff teams to win at home so far. So, anything can happen. There’s no reason to believe any different for tomorrow’s game. I’m fine with people still picking against the Cardinals because Philadelphia is a really good team, however it still amazes me to the extent people think the Cardinals will not be even competitive in this one just because they are the Cardinals.
Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times says that the Cardinals have a “Ray” of hope by looking to Tampa.
This is one story I was surprised had not come up this week. Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon is an Arizona Cardinals fan and season ticket holder. Tampa Bay also is the Major League Baseball equivalent of the Arizona Cardinals. Tampa Bay rose from the depths of the cellar to the World Series in 2008.
Maddon talks about the parallels these two teams faced in the playoffs. Arizona defeated favorites Atlanta and Carolina and Tampa defeated favorties Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox on the way to face the Philadelphia Phillies.
Last night ESPN ran a story about Phialdelphia Eagle coach Andy Reid and his relationship with Philadelphia Philly manager Charlie Manuel. They apparently text each other back and forth quite a bit. So, it is ironic in a way that now Arizona is facing another Philadelphia team trying to win the top prize in its sport.
Go Cardinals!
Scott Allen