Ok, first off. Sorry for those last two picks yesterday, I was in a rush and I did not put any time into capping them. Was 8-1 in the NFL Playoffs ATS up to that point and got a little cocky by thinking I did not have to look that deeply into those games. That WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN...
Now, on to the NFC Championship Game. Sorry eagles backers, but this will not be as easy as the last time these two met. Cardinals will not be on 4 days rest traveling to the east and playing a night game in the freezing whatever... You have to throw out the regular season and cap this game based on the last two games that these teams have played.
I am a Cardinal Season ticket holder and could not be happier that not only are the Cardinals in the NFC Championship Game, but they will play it at home. Why? Not because I’m a huge fan of the Cardinals, but because everyone and their brother will be on the Eagles. One thing to point out is that even though I am a Cardinal Season Ticket Holder, I am a bigger fan of money.
The best thing about this game is that it will be played at HOME (perfect conditions), in a Dome (Roof will be closed). Both of these factors benefit the Cardinals, offensively because of perfect conditions and defensively because of crowd noise (dome). Not only have the Cardinals D line been playing very well, but now they get to have a better jump off the ball with the crowd noise making it impossible for the Eagles O line to use counts. Just ask the Falcons what affect the noise had on their O line. I was their, the Cards were off the ball before the O line was.
I love Dawkins; however, he will not be able to crowd the line of scrimmage in this game, which has been the key to the Eagles D. The last two playoff games for the Eagles, they have not had to worry about a receiver like Fitzerald. So, without an elite receiver to worry about, Dawkins was able to creep up and blitz, help stop the run, etc. And if Boldin is able to play, wow, you are talking about the best trio of WR’s in the league.
Warner at home is insane and we will not be seeing horrible passes to open receivers like we did in the Giants game this past weekend. These conditions will be perfect and the Cardinals will put up a lot of points in this one.