The Atlanta Falcons ride a three-game winning streak into Arizona on Saturday for the first round of the NFC playoffs.
They're playing well, with two tough wins over teams that were in the playoff hunt heading into the final week of the season and one, last week, over the Rams, that proved to be more difficult than originally believed.
The Arizona Cardinals, on the other hand, have lost two of their last three, including a 47-7 shellacking in Week 16 in snowy New England.
They won last week, 34-21 against the Seattle Seahawks, but they've clearly struggled down the stretch. Of their last six games, only two were victories.
While Atlanta fans are worried about the health of their team as they look to play in their first playoff game since 2004, Cardinals fans are most concerned about whether or not they will even get to see the game.
Hosting its first home playoff game in 33 years is exciting, but the recent economic woes may take its toll in Arizona. As of Thursday afternoon, approximately 3,700 tickets remained unsold for Saturday's game.
NFL league rules dictate that the home team must sell out its game before Friday at 2:30 p.m. or the game will be blacked out. A blackout would mean Cardinals fans would miss what they haven't seen in a very long time: a playoff game featuring the home-town team.
It turns out they may miss quite a game. At first glance, it's easy to understand why the road team is favored by two-and-a-half points in this one. A closer look reveals that this might not be as easy as the Falcons faithful perhaps believe.
If Atlanta can accomplish these five things, their flight back across the country on Saturday night will be filled with elation as they look to a second-round playoff game.
Get Healthy
Perhaps the most difficult thing to do for this game, the Falcons need to find health and quick. A few players were held out of last week's game, most notably safety Lawyer Milloy and defensive end Jamaal Anderson. Both players are critical pieces to the most important aspect of the game plan: stopping the Cardinals high-powered offense.
Anderson did not practice with an ankle sprain last week and so far this week he has been unavailable as well. He's listed as questionable, but as game time approaches, it looks more and more like he will not play on Saturday.
Backup Chauncey Davis will look to fill in, bringing his four sacks to the starting lineup again. One of them, incidentally, came last week when he was starting in place of Anderson.
Milloy is listed as questionable, but all indications are that he will play on Saturday.
Standout defensive end John Abraham
2 comments Last one added 6 months ago — Leave a Comment
Gray Ghost 6 months ago
Daniel my brother you aren't older than me.....sorry I couldn't resist the first line of that song with a small word change. I think I will start calling you "Money". As in $$$$. As in big bucks. Every article you write is money on the barrel-head. Cash in the bank. Anyhow, you get the message - great article from THE man on the Falcon's scene. I hope they soar tomorrow. *****POTD
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daniel cox 6 months ago
you've got song lyrics floating everywhere through your comments.
thanks gg, i really appreciate that. you know, the personal goal this year, is to make IT happen. i'm sure you know what i mean.
i can't thank you enough for all the support you've given me over the last four months or so.
today's game day. a day early so it feels a little weird, but man, this is huge. do you realize for some this will be the first time they've seen ryan? hasn't had much national tv exposure. i guess that'll change soon enough...
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