NFL Wild Card weekend. All aboard, last call for bandwagoners! NO MORE COWBOYS TALK...WEEEEEEE

[Soa]

This is the first week this season that I took a really good look at each match up and frankly I'm not suprised at all the Cards are gonna win.

[Flarega]

wow I don't think anyone thought Atl's defense just wouldn't show up on third downs. terrible disappointment. Carolina has a easy road to nfc championship

And who thought arizona would come out with a legit running game?

[Deejay]

I love how everyone predicted that Turner was going to rip the Cardinals a new one. Bill Simmons couldn't have foreseen this win any better. GG Cardinals.

Spoiler: show

CARDINALS (+1.5) over Falcons


One of my favorite rewatchable cable movies is "Cast Away," although one scene has recently started to bug me: After Tom Hanks' character gets rescued, he goes on a whim to see his former fiancee (Helen Hunt) late at night. They catch up for a few minutes, say their goodbyes, then she lends him one of their cars and he starts driving away. Suddenly, Hunt screams after him and runs down the driveway to catch him ... and even though it's a thunderstorm, he somehow hears her, puts the car in reverse and they make out in the pouring rain before deciding that this can't work and she needs to go back in the house. This all happens in about 90 seconds. He's nice enough to give her a lift back to the garage. She gets out and walks into her house completely drenched. And Hanks drives off, presumably closing that chapter of his life.

One problem: Are we really expected to believe that her husband never woke up during any of this?

Imagine you're married to the lady who was engaged to someone who was stranded on a deserted island for four years, dramatically escaped, became a worldwide celebrity and now was back in your town. Imagine your wife is an emotional wreck about the whole thing. Imagine your dining room is covered in maps and sketches as she spent the last few days trying to figure out exactly how Hanks escaped. Aren't you waking up every time she gets out of bed for a glass of water? Aren't you jumping at the sound of every car door slam? Wouldn't the noise of your wife screaming "Chuck!" outside your house in the wee hours send you outside wielding a shotgun? HOW THE HELL DID HE SLEEP THROUGH THIS? How? She made Hanks coffee, gave him their car, opened their garage, screamed his name, made out with him on their street ... and he was just catching some Z's the whole time? I can't handle it.

Here's the point: You wouldn't notice this mistake the first time you watched the movie, or the 10th, or maybe not even the 20th. Eventually? You would notice it. And that's how I feel about this Falcons-Cards game. The Falcons couldn't look like an easier pick until you start tossing it around for the 20th time. My turning point happened in Monday's "BS Report," when our friend Mike Lombardi confessed that, as crazy as it sounded, he loved the matchup for the Cards. What??? How could that be?

I started picking the game apart. Atlanta has a rookie QB (Matt Ryan); Arizona has an experienced QB (Kurt Warner). Arizona is 6-2 at home; Atlanta is 4-4 on the road with three double-digit losses. Atlanta's running game has been significantly less effective on the road (check out Michael Turner's splits); if that trend continues this Saturday, that puts the game in Ryan's hands ... and, again, the history of rookie QBs in the playoffs isn't good. And if that's not enough, everyone on the planet loves Atlanta. Why? Why is it so obvious that a 4-4 road team is going to beat a 6-2 home team? What about the crowd? What about the nerves of a rookie QB in a playoff game? What if the Cards can throw on them and turn the game into a shootout? What if they get anything from Edge James, who showed a pulse for the first time in three years against the Seahawks last week?

He was so fucking right about this game that it's almost scary.

[Mertron]

I read his article yesterday, the Cast Away part is hilarious.

He better be wrong about the Eagles though. :/

[Belkin]

Which raises the question...Why does a 11-5 Falcons team have to play a 9-7 Cardinals team IN Arizona. The team with the better record should be at home. Period. Stupid setup.

[Soa]

I started picking the game apart. Atlanta has a rookie QB (Matt Ryan); Arizona has an experienced QB (Kurt Warner). Arizona is 6-2 at home; Atlanta is 4-4 on the road with three double-digit losses. Atlanta's running game has been significantly less effective on the road (check out Michael Turner's splits); if that trend continues this Saturday, that puts the game in Ryan's hands ... and, again, the history of rookie QBs in the playoffs isn't good. And if that's not enough, everyone on the planet loves Atlanta. Why? Why is it so obvious that a 4-4 road team is going to beat a 6-2 home team? What about the crowd? What about the nerves of a rookie QB in a playoff game? What if the Cards can throw on them and turn the game into a shootout? What if they get anything from Edge James, who showed a pulse for the first time in three years against the Seahawks last week?

This is pretty much what happened to me after I made my initial prediction earlier this week. I thought the Falcons would win easily at first, but as I looked really closely at the match up I changed my mind about the pick. I even posted something about it yesterday.

[Roranora]

Time for 12-4 Colts @ 8-8 Chargers :D

I totally agree though; I don't even think division winners should be guaranteed a playoff spot if 3 wild card slots can be filled by superior teams, determined by record, then conference record, then common game record, then common game point differential. It's crap San Diego and Arizona have it so easy while New England watches from home.

[Kyo]

Well kudo's to those who chose card's to win, I thought it was going to be pretty easy, but however, they wont beat the panthers or giants.

[Devolver]

Well kudo's to those who chose card's to win, I thought it was going to be pretty easy, but however, they wont beat the panthers or giants.

This

Also, I dont know about anyone else, but I'm happy to see some FITZGERALD IN THE PLAYOFFS

He's a beast, etc etc

[Devolver]

Also a random question, why would they put the 2 west coast playoff games in one night and the 2 east coast-ish games on another night?

Seems like they would put 1/1 on each night? or maybe I'm missing something.

[Churchill]

I don't need them to beat the panther's or the giants, I just needed them to get me easy points this week. I'm just mad I changed my edge pick for RB...but oh well.

[Conrad]

God, that Simmons article describes my Eagles perfectly, and his friend's email is the attitude of everyone in this city.

Not surprised about the Cards winning though, hopefully Simmons will be wrong though :/

[Kyo]

Come the fuck on wayne, you gotta catch that shit, perfect throw.

[Akiyama]

Great drive by Indy. SD needs to answer now.

[Mertron]

Fuck the game, keep showing the Chargers cheerleaders.

[Andarvi]

Friggin Al Michaels, who I usually like. LT runs it in from 3 yards out through a hole clear enough my grandmother could have done the same which makes Michaels shit himself saying "WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW." We get it, LT is playing hurt, he didn't just juke 5 guys and dive into the endzone.

I'm just bitter from having to listen to Collinsworth all afternoon.

[tyven]

i love a good tight end reverse with a whitey.

[sekaran]

TD Sproles! :D

[Akiyama]

Nice fumble there Colts. Don't even give Manning a shot before the half.

[Deejay]

Fuck the game, keep showing the Chargers cheerleaders.

holy god this man is speaking truth. someone says this almost every week but god damn the titties on one of those cheerleaders is nothing short of amazing

and lolfumble