Birds fly to center stage in NFC title matchup
An NFC championship game featuring the fourth and sixth seeds?
That's one for the birds - the fourth-seeded Cardinals and the No. 6 Eagles.
No one expected this, and it should be a much better game than the turkey these two played on Thanksgiving, when the Eagles destroyed the Cardinals 48-20 in Philadelphia. The rematch will be in the Arizona desert at 2 p.m. Sunday.
The Cards lost four of their last six in the regular season but have regrouped well enough to advance to their first NFC title game since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970. They defeated the Falcons despite being an underdog at home in the wild-card weekend. Then they pulled off the biggest upset of the playoffs - a 33-13 routing of the Panthers, who were 10-point favorites and undefeated at home.
The Eagles only made it to the postseason because the Bears couldn't defeat the Texans in the regular-season finale. Then they made the most of the opportunity, winning back to back on the road, first whipping the Vikings in Minnesota as 3-point underdogs and the defending Super Bowl-champion Giants, who were favored by 4 at The Meadowlands.
The Cardinals have managed in January to demonstrate the characteristics of a championship team they were unable to show in December. They have played outstanding defense and found a running game to complement the league's No. 2 passing attack.
The Cardinals' underrated defense played much better than expected, allowing the high-scoring Panthers just 14 points and 269 total yards, including just 75 yards on the ground to the NFL's No. 3 rushing team. A week earlier the Cards allowed the Falcons just 250 total yards, when they held the NFL's No. 2 rushing attacks to 60 yards on 24 carries.
Being able to stop the run is great, but that's not how the Eagles' offense rolls.
Brian Westbrook is, along with quarterback Donovan McNabb, the key to the offense, but he's as much a threat as a receiver than a runner. But McNabb is just 1-3 in NFC title games.
The Cardinals have run more often than in the regular season, when they were dead last in rushing yards and second-to-last in average gain per rush, but they're still averaging just 3.2 yards per carry in the postseason. And the Cardinals are unlikely to have the same success on the ground against Philly's No. 4 run defense.
What the Cards do best is let it fly. They didn't miss Pro Bowl wide receiver Anquan Boldin (hamstring) last week because their other Pro Bowl wideout, Larry Fitzgerald, caught 8 passes for 166 yards. The matchup this week between Fitzgerald and Eagles Pro Bowl cornerback Assante Samuel is the most interesting of the game. Samuel has a pick in each of Philly's playoff wins, returning 1 for a TD in wild-card week and Sunday taking a pick inside the Giants' 2-yard line to set up a TD.
On a bigger scale, Kurt Warner's aerial circus will be challenged by an Eagles defense that made Eli Manning look awful. The Eagles' pass defense was No. 3 in the regular season.
AFC championship
Ravens at Steelers: Fans of old-time, smash-mouth, 3-yards-and-a-chunk-of-turf football will love this one at Pittsburgh's Heinz Field at 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
The AFC North foes finished the regular season No. 1 (Steelers) and No. 2 (Ravens) in yards allowed. Neither team demands much from its offense, although both are capable of putting up impressive numbers and big point totals. The Steelers have scored 66 points in their last two games; the Ravens scored 27 or more in five of their last seven regular-season games.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has a big arm, and he gets solid production from wide receivers Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes. But the Steelers' offense is more balanced and effective with a healthy Willie Parker at running back, and Parker looked 100 percent healthy in Sunday's victory over the Chargers with 146 yards on 27 carries. Parker was slowed by injuries for much of the regular season, but he rushed for 116 yards in the regular-season finale.
The Ravens rely even more heavily on the run, asking quarterback Joe Flacco just to manage the game, although he frequently goes deep in search of Derrick Mason and Mark Clayton. Flacco also has a strong arm and has played much better than expected for a rookie. He has not been intercepted or sacked in either of the Ravens' postseason games.
While the Steelers dominated the Chargers on Sunday, especially on the ground, with a 165-15 advantage, the Ravens survived a brutally physical slugfest against the top-seeded Titans.
The Ravens were outgained nearly 2-1 by Tennessee (391-211), but they managed to stay close because of a plus-3 turnover differential.
The Ravens had just 9 first downs and converted only 3 of 13 third-down plays and had just 50 yards on 30 rushing plays, none longer than 11 yards.
The Steelers won both regular-season meetings, 23-20 in overtime at home Sept. 29, and 13-9 at Baltimore on Dec. 14 on a TD pass from Roethlisberger to Holmes with 43 seconds left to clinch the AFC North.