Good point from King: Last year vs this year

[sportznutt]

The Cardinals return much of the same lineup that came within a 78-yard drive by Ben Roethlisberger of winning the Super Bowl last year, and if Kurt Warner gets the hot hand, they could go places. The difference between this year and last year, though, is last year they faced Jake Delhomme, rookie Matt Ryan and Donovan McNabb on the road to the Super Bowl. This year, the passers could be Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Tony Romo or Brett Favre. A little better caliber of thrower.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/01/03/mmqb/1.html

 

[sportznutt]

Then again, he contradicts himself here in his rankings:

4. Green Bay (11-5). I can almost say the same thing about Green Bay as I said about Dallas. Past three games: 36, 48, 33 points. Arizona's wary.

9. Arizona (10-6). Totally meaningless game for the Cards, because they could gain nothing and lose nothing by the time the Vikings won. I wouldn't read much into the Cards playing vanilla and getting rolled over.

So, Green Bay scoring 33 on a vanilla team makes the Packers look awesome, yet doesn't make Arizona look bad?
​

 

[SuperSpck]

Then again, he contradicts himself here in his rankings:

So, Green Bay scoring 33 on a vanilla team makes the Packers look awesome, yet doesn't make Arizona look bad?
​

3 large point differentials, regardless of opponents or scheme, is bound to give any team confidence.
If this was the margin the Cards' last three was won by, I'd be feeling pretty snug.

 

[Gee!]

3 large point differentials, regardless of opponents or scheme, is bound to give any team confidence.
If this was the margin the Cards' last three was won by, I'd be feeling pretty snug.

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[splitsecond]

The only QB in that bunch that has proven he is better is Brees. Last year Ryan, Delhomme and McNabb were playing better than most of the QB's in the league. King once again proves he is an idiot.

 

[ActingWild]

The only QB in that bunch that has proven he is better is Brees. Last year Ryan, Delhomme and McNabb were playing better than most of the QB's in the league. King once again proves he is an idiot.

 

[82CardsGrad]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/01/03/mmqb/1.html

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb...team-cards-faced-last-post-season-146145.html

 

[82CardsGrad]

The only QB in that bunch that has proven he is better is Brees. Last year Ryan, Delhomme and McNabb were playing better than most of the QB's in the league. King once again proves he is an idiot.

No way... Rogers and Favre have had much better years than did Delhomme and Ryan. They are 100x better Qb's than those two... And you can make a very strong case that both are far better than McNabb when W's really matter... particularly Favre.

 

[Russ Smith]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/01/03/mmqb/1.html

OK but his point is only valid in hindsight because of how bad Delhomme and Ryan looked. Delhomme is a veteran QB, Ryan was the ROY, and McNabb has been in a lot of pressure games.

This year we're looking at Rodgers who is terrific, but has never played in a playoff game(?). Romo has a history of choking in big games. Brees is again outstanding but not really playoff tested and they have lost 3 in a row coming into the playoffs. The 2 QB's in the NFC playoffs who have the best history in playoff games are Favre and Warner.

 

[Russ Smith]

No way... Rogers and Favre have had much better years than did Delhomme and Ryan. They are 100x better Qb's than those two... And you can make a very strong case that both are far better than McNabb when W's really matter... particularly Favre.

You can make that case about Favre but not Rodgers. Rodgers has never played in a playoff game.

Now he did play extremely well in the 4th quarter this year, something he was criticized for last year (got much better at the end of last year).

Rodgers is a good QB but right now he's as unproven as Romo was his first year in the playoffs, great regular season, no playoff experience. I don't think he'll fold the way Romo did/has, but you never know how a young QB will respond in the playoffs.

 

[JeffGollin]

A lot of those downgraded QB evaluations were done after those guys failed to do well in the playoffs.

Coming into the playoffs, they were all rated highly (until after we beat them).

Looking toward GB - the one really scary thing is when you match up the stats comparing our O to their D and vice versa. With all but 3 exceptions, the edge clearly favors the Pack.

(Note - the 3 exceptions were:

• GB Sacks Allowed vs. Cardinal sacks made
  
• Passing TD's scored by AZ vs. Passing TD's allowed by GB
  
• Cardinal sacks allowed vs. GB sacks made.

Other than those three, it was all Packers.

 

[82CardsGrad]

You can make that case about Favre but not Rodgers. Rodgers has never played in a playoff game.

Now he did play extremely well in the 4th quarter this year, something he was criticized for last year (got much better at the end of last year).

Rodgers is a good QB but right now he's as unproven as Romo was his first year in the playoffs, great regular season, no playoff experience. I don't think he'll fold the way Romo did/has, but you never know how a young QB will respond in the playoffs.

Rogers has put up over 4,000 yards in back to back seasons. Playing in Green Bay, that's quite an accomplishment. He could of course completely collapse in the post season, but from my perspective I just don't see that happening. He seems extremely poised, well-coached and in total control. Romo never, ever comes across that way... at least to me. I would not at all bank on the prospects of Rogers playing badly come Sunday. We will need to do whatever we can to keep him off the field as much as possible. And when he is on the field, we have to find some way, somehow to put him on his arse...

 

[Brighteyes]

Brees is a great quarterback.

But, seriously -- is anybody that scared of the Saints right now?

 

[Russ Smith]

Rogers has put up over 4,000 yards in back to back seasons. Playing in Green Bay, that's quite an accomplishment. He could of course completely collapse in the post season, but from my perspective I just don't see that happening. He seems extremely poised, well-coached and in total control. Romo never, ever comes across that way... at least to me. I would not at all bank on the prospects of Rogers playing badly come Sunday. We will need to do whatever we can to keep him off the field as much as possible. And when he is on the field, we have to find some way, somehow to put him on his arse...

Rodgers with a D. He threw for 4000 yards on a 6-10 team last year that lost a lot of games in the 4th quarter in part because he struggled at times in the 4th quarter in some of the losses. It's actually easier to throw for 4000 on a losing team because you're always behind.

I think he's terrific, I wanted us to draft him I said so here, I said the 49ers should have picked him instead of Smith. He might be the most accurate deep passing QB in the NFL, and he's mobile and good in the short game too.

But he's never played in a playoff game and until he does it's impossible to know how he'll do. All the "Matty Ice" talk before the Atlanta game was over by halftime as it was clear he got rattled.

Rodgers will be playing a full stadium with a VERY loud crowd, he might play great he might not. If i had to guess I'd say it's a lot more likely Rodgers comes out nervous than it is Warner does. We've all seen Kurt turn the ball over in bunches but he had 4 total turnovers in 4 playoff games last year.

I wouldn't be surprised if both have great games, we do matchup better with Minnesota because they have a weak pass defense but I think people don't realize Green Bay gave up 3 more TD passes this year than Minnesota did. The Packers rep on pass defense is based on them having 30 INT's this season, which led the NFL. They gave up 28 less points than we did for the season, which means before the throw away game last sunday, we had allowed TWO more points than they had for the season.

They have a terrific offense but playing on the road in a loud stadium we will see how they play. Won't surprise me at all if Rodgers plays well, but it won't surprise me at all if he doesn't either.

 

[lauraw]

Warner needs to start fast in the game this week.. he's gotten rattled by pressure and coverage the first 2 games so I would come out in the 2minute offense no huddle to mix the Pickers up..