There is a popular saying in life about how all great things must eventually come to an end. When the Arizona Cardinals and the Philadelphia Eagles were set to square off against each other to determine who would represent the NFC in Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa Bay on Feb. 1, we knew that one team's great late season run would have to come to an end. Lucky for the Cardinals, their magical run will continue.
In one of the most unexpected Conference Championships we have seen in a long time, the Arizona Cardinals defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 32-25. The Cardinals will play against the Pittsburgh Steelers to determine who will be crowned Super Bowl XLIII champions.
Each playoff game for the Cardinals over the last couple of weeks has been like the last couple of minutes of an episode of Fox's hit show 24; it always leaves the audience in complete shock anticipating what could happen the following week.
After the way the Cardinals played during the last couple of weeks of the regular season, there weren't many of us who expected them to advance far in the playoffs. They were seen as the team that was only playing in the playoffs because of the weaker NFC West division they played in.
The Cardinals found themselves with an opening round match up against Matt Ryan and the red-hot Atlanta Falcons. This appeared to be an interesting matchup considering the Falcons were winners of seven of their last nine.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals finished the season with a disappointing 2-4 record after starting the season 7-3. The Falcons gave it all they had, but it was the Cardinals who finished victorious 30-24 and a divisional round match up against the Carolina Panthers.
After the way the Cardinals played towards the end of the season, there are a lot of things that could be said about their wild card round win against the Falcons. Call it a fluke. Call it luck. Call it an playoff experienced quarterback against an inexperienced quarterback. No matter what people want to call it, the Cardinals won that game and found themselves playing against the No. 2 seeded Carolina Panthers.
When we look at statistics from the 2008 season, there was every reason to believe that the Panthers should have no trouble against the Cardinals. One of the best duos at running back thanks to the emergence of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, who rushed for more than 2,200 yards and 28 touchdowns combined in the regular season. The Panthers were 8-0 at home this year while the Cardinals were 2-6 when they played in the eastern time zone. It seemed as if the Panthers would be advancing to their second NFC Championship game in franchise history.
Even though the Panthers-Cardinals game was played on a Saturday night, the popular phrase "any given Sunday" was applied towards this game. On any given Sunday, any team has the opportunity to shock the world and beat a team nobody expected them to beat. The Cardinals just did it on a Saturday night.
That night, the Cardinals went into Carolina and simply dominated the Panthers by defeating them 33-13. Not only did the Cardinals offense perform well but the defense stepped it up for the second straight week, forcing six turnovers by Panther's quarterback Jake Delhomme.
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