Of the 14 play, 72 yard drive that punched the Cards’ ticket to Super Bowl 43, Fox’s Howie Long called the sequence “…the exclamation point on what’s been a Hall Of Fame career.” And much like Long’s commercials that imply Ford F-150 owners are huge sissies, it’s hard to argue with his logic — though I wasn’t aware the Arena Football League had a Hall Of Fame.
All kidding aside, it’s impossible to remain unimpressed with Arizona’s playoff run, and their ability to withstand an inspired 2nd half comeback by Philadelphia in today’s 32-25 NFC Championship victory shows they’re not merely playing with (God’s) house money — as long as Warner is smart enough to let Larry Fitzgerald play jump ball with hopelessly overmatched secondaries, his team is a legit threat to scale a height many thought they’d never reach ; winning a ring for Matt Leinart.
After the game, I’m sure longtime Cardinals fans were a little choked up watching the robotic Bill Bidwell raise the George Halas Trophy aloft in celebration. While there’s no truth to the rumor said trophy is already up for auction on eBay, there’s a very good chance Ken Whisenhunt will have to pay ownership $5 to have his picture taken alongside it.
The most incredible part to me is that Arizona got there by playing three home games in which they were *underdogs* each time- that has to be unprecedented (and I was convinced they’d lose each one).
I’ve done my share of Warner bashing, but it’s hard to argue with this run. Adding to Howie’s voice, Troy Aikman asked rhetorically “has one drive ever gotten a guy into the Hall of Fame?” and he had a point.
Let’s just hope this doesn’t lead to a slew of Brenda shots in two weeks. Either she or the networks seem to have been more demure lately….
Florence Henderson and this guy want in on the Lifetime movie casting
Their game against Carolina was on the road, not at home.
Point well taken, although it’s still pretty odd for a home team to be underdog twice in playoff games, despite having both the home field advatage and having “earned” the superior seeding. At the start of the playoffs, I would have pegged Arizona as the team least likely to make the Super Bowl.
Clearly the NFL needs something like the BCS, then we could have just had Carolina/NY and Pittsburgh/Indy yesterday. Or hell, the Patriots and Cowboys might have made it in.
Peter King dismisses Warner’s HoF credentials rather concisely today (and he actually has a vote). Of course he’s assuming the Cardinals won’t win the SB too.