Defying all Odds

Today the Arizona Cardinals punched their ticket to Tampa Bay as in two weeks they will represent the NFC in SuperBowl XLIII.  No that is not a typo.  The Arizona Cardinals will be playing in the SuperBowl.  Going into this season if you told me that the Cardinals would be going to the SuperBowl I would have told you to put the pipe down and seek some help.  An aging Kurt Warner, no running game to speak of, and a defense with no real identity are not ingredients in a winning recipe.  Yet the Cardinals have been proving the naysayers wrong all season.

While the Cardinals did finish 8-8 last season, just their third non-losing record since moving to Arizona in 1987, most experts felt that the only reason they finished .500 was because of their weak division where they beat up on the Rams. Seahwajs, and 49ers.  Still the Cards came into the season with low expectations but got off to a hot start as after week 10 they were 7-3 and there were talks of Kurt Warner winning the MVP.

The Cards cooled off however as they would finish the season 9-7 going 2-4 the rest of way.  Their one win was a 34-10 win over the St. Louis Rams which would also allow them to clinch the division for the first time 1975 and their first playoff appearance since 1998.

Going into the playoffs they were touted as the worst team of all 16 and no one expected them to go very far.  The Cardinals took this as a direct challenge and went on to beat the Falcons in the Wildcard round and then decimated the Carolina Panthers the next week 33-13.  

Throughout the playoffs the Cardinals have been winning by stopping the run and having Larry Fitzgerald play out of his mind.  Going into the playoffs the Falcons and the Panthers were the number 1 and 2 rushing attacks in the NFL and yet the Cardinals held their ground.  

Speaking of Fitzgerald he is having a post-season for the ages.  He already has more receiving yards in one postseason than any player in history. He became only the sixth player to score three touchdowns in a conference championship game and the first to accomplish the feat since the Cowboys' Preston Pearson in 1975.  All this while having the best attitude of any reciever in the NFL.  Fitzgerald is all class and though the spotlight is on him he doesn't bask in it.  He is pure class and you can tell that he really enjoys playing the game when you see him jumping around after first downs and always having a smile on his face.

However Fitzgerald's play and attitude was not the most impressive thing that I saw on Sunday.  After giving up 19 unanswered points and letting the Eagles back into the game and eventually go ahead the Cardinals either had to step up or go home.  In the face of adversity and having just surrendered the lead Kurt Warner marched his team down the field and scored the eventual winning touchdown.  This showed me that the Cardinals are for real and that Kurt Warner's 8-2 lifetime post-season record is no fluke.

If the Cards can keep up this strong play and good attitude there will be no stopping them in Tampa.