Cards roll into NFC Championship game

When will the guys who get paid to do this get it through their thick heads? The regular season means nothing come playoff time. For a young man like myself to have such wisdom beyond my years must mean something. Even if I was ridiculed for the first 28 years of my life for being a fan of the Red Birds. On Saturday evening the Arizona Cardinals left no doubt in any football fans mind that they are a team to be reckoned with after a thorough dismantling of the Carolina Panthers 33-13. Many players could be called out as the star of this game, but one man stands(or should I say leaps)above all the rest. Larry Fitzgerald followed up his playoff debut 6 catch-101 yard-1TD performance against the Falcons with an awesome 8 catch-166 yard-1TD mockery of the Panthers secondary. With Anquan Boldin inactive due to a cranky hamstring the expectations were that double teams on Fitz would leave one of Arizona's younger receivers open. Fugeddaboutit. Kurt Warner(21-32-220 yards, 2TD) had the confidence to heave it deep into a double covered Fitzgerald for the second week in a row and for the second week in a row Fitz came down with it. While Edgerrin James and Tim Hightower combined for 133 yards on the ground Warner used 8 different receivers to place the Cardinals in their first ever NFC Championship game. While the 33 points are the sexy number that will probably catch most peoples eye don't forget about the even bigger number of 5. As in five interceptions thrown by Jake Delhomme on his 34th birthday. I guess in ol' Jakes mind it's better to give than receive. Adding to his turnover nightmare was a fumble recovered by Antonio Smith setting up Arizona in the red zone while the score was 7-7. After that it must be a blur for folks wearing blue because by the score was 30-7 and Steve Smith still didn't have a reception. Adding to his already blossoming resume was another playoff interception for rookie CB Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie. For a secondary that only snagged 13 interceptions on the regular season that makes 7 in two playoff games. Praise needs to be heaped on Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt for coming up with a game plan that has tripped up two teams thus far in the playoffs. In this contest the telling numbers are the Time of Possession 39:50-20:10 in favor of Arizona. Also causing confusion on Carolina's sideline was the split of 43 rushes to only 32 pass attempts by the Cardinals. Also enjoyed the week long bullshit spewing by the so-called "experts" about how the Panthers were Super Bowl bound. How's that crow taste? Yeah I'm talking to the entire FOX pre-game crew. Wish you could take back those words of doom for the Cards? Hell no! No take backs when it comes to the NFL's version of a whipping boy. You doubted their right to be in the playoffs and they are 1 win away from a berth on the biggest sporting stage in the world. As I said last week if you weren't with us from the beginning there is no room on the band wagon. Now exit stage left.