QBREES9

Even though it seemed like it took forever, the New Orleans Saints finally have a playoff opponent lined up for Saturday.


Because they are the No. 1 seed for the NFC playoffs, the Saints earned a first-round bye, and waited and waited over the weekend to see who they would get in the Superdome on Saturday.


As the conference’s top seed, they would draw the lowest remaining seed from the wild-card weekend. When they finally learned Sunday night that they would take on the Arizona Cardinals in an NFC Divisional playoff game, there was a little irony attached to the matchup.


As it turns out, the Saints are going to try to take a similar path to Super Bowl XLIV that the Cardinals took just one year ago. The only difference, it seems, is the Saints won’t have to travel in order to set up a Feb. 7 date with the AFC champions in Miami.


The two teams that will meet Saturday have much in common, the most obvious being they have two of the best quarterbacks in the game in Drew Brees and Kurt Warner, who lead potent offenses that can pile up lots and lots of yards and points.


Aside from that, the Saints would love nothing more than to borrow the Cardinals’ blueprint for success in 2008.


If you recall, the Cardinals didn’t exactly take the league by storm on their way to their first playoff appearance in a decade. Then, they weren’t given much of a chance in the playoffs after losing four of their last six games down the stretch.


What’s more, they gave up almost 42 points a game in their last four setbacks — turning a 7-3 start into a mediocre 9-7 regular-season finish.


That’s certainly not the way you want to go into the postseason.


But it worked out for them. They got on a roll at the right time, defeating the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers before reaching the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history when they beat the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship game.


Until that day, the Cardinals had long been regarded as one of the worst franchises in the NFL. But with the victory against the Eagles, the Cardinals reduced the list of clubs that had never reached the Super Bowl to five — a group that includes … the Saints.


Fast forward to this season. The Saints won their first 13 games and had their sights set on becoming only the second team to finish the regular season with a 16-0 record. But they fell to the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Bucs, then lost to Carolina in a game that meant nothing as far as their playoff seeding was concerned.


Like the Cardinals of last season, it’s not the way you want to go into the playoffs.

www.sportsshooter.com/johnjcoleman

" Anyone can take a picture Only a Photographer can take a photograph "

UK_WhoDat

Hear ya'. But despite the last 3 regular season games, we did take the league by storm on their way to the playoffs. How about if we start fast like the Cards did yesterday (but not give it all up the rest of the way)?

foreverfan

This is a short week for the Cardinals and the are coming off a huge emotional win and are coming into a hostile environment. The Saints on the other hand are locked and loaded.

Saints 38-33

JoanieNTX

The one thing that bothers me is that at this point, you can't coast into the playoffs on your past performances. It's do or die this time. I hope that we are emotionally ready. I was listening to how Harbaugh motivated his team this past weekend by hammering into them just how good they really are. Hope our guys remember that, bring their best, and pray for even better!

QBREES9

The SAINTS have to go out there like they did at the start of the year and KICK BUTT from the kick off.