Arizona Cardinals Knock the Glass Slipper Off of the Atlanta Falcons

Big plays and bigger mistakes knocked the glass slipper off the NFC’s Cinderella.

The Falcons had a tremendous season. Matt Ryan had a dream season. But in the end, they just didn’t have enough offense to outscore the Arizona Cardinals.

Matt Ryan wasn’t bad. His touchdown scoring drive in the fourth quarter was a thing of beauty. But he made too many mistakes. From under-thrown balls that were intercepted to an unacceptable safety, it wasn’t the rookie’s best game.

Michael Turner might have been the most valuable player in the NFL, but on Saturday he was basically a non-factor.

The Arizona defense did what we all thought they could do.They manned up and out physicalled the Atlanta Falcons.

Where was this defense all season long?

There were Cardinals in Matt Ryan’s face all afternoon. I’m not sure there was a hole for Michael Turner the entire second half.

Kurt Warner was really good, especially late in the fourth quarter. The Cardinals knew they couldn’t run out the clock, so they passed it out.

Warner showed the confidence of a former NFL MVP, making a few clutch passes and not allowing Matty Ice an opportunity to win the game.

The Cardinals even pulled Edgerrin James out of the mothballs for this one (16 rushes for 73 yards). James wasn’t his old self, but he looked better than he has in a couple of years.

The game came down to a third and long for the Cardinals, and for some reason Keith Brooking seemed to expect something underneath and let the tight-end go free up the middle.

It resulted in an easy, wide open catch for a first down. Game, set, and match.

The officials didn’t have their best day. How they missed a few of the Cardinals' offsides penalties is beyond me. But they clearly missed a couple of them.

The Cardinals must have had something on the Falcons, because they were guessing snap count all day, and most of the time correctly.

Larry Fitzgerald is super-human. That touchdown catch he made in the first quarter while being double-teamed was insane. He was the difference in this game.

The Cardinals will play either the Giants or the Panthers next week. They’ll be big underdogs no matter who they play.

As for the Falcons, as much as this loss stings, they can’t let it take away from what was a surprising and entertaining season. The Falcons found their head coach, found their running back, and found their franchise QB.

They went from a sad, sad laughingstock whose quarterback was in prison to a solid playoff team with a potentially great young quarterback.

No matter how you spin it, the Falcons had an awesome season.

Sean Crowe covers the Patriots-Examiner">New England Patriots for Examiner.com and writes a bi-weekly column for Sports-Central.org.

He is a Senior Writer and an NFL Community Leader at Bleacher Report. You can email him at [e-mail]. His archive can be found here.