NFC Divisional Playoff Open Thread: Cardinals @ Panthers
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Now, on to a possible rout or surprise of the weekend, as the KW-1300 Cybernetic QB and his army of receivers faces off against Carolina and the skill-position Voltron of Steve Smith, DeAngelo Williams, and Jonathan Stewart.
Game: NFC Divisional Playoff #1
Teams: Arizona Cardinals (9-7, NFC West Champs) vs. Carolina Panthers (12-4, NFC South Champs)
Location: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC
Start Time: 8:15 PM EST
Announcers and Network: Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, and Tony Siragusa (FOX)
Miscellany: Kurt Warner and his religious faith, Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin's top notch status, the crappiness of the NFC West, Jake Delhomme's Tommy John surgery, and Steve Smith's fisticuffs.
Favorite: Panthers (-10)
S2N's Pick: Panthers. 8-0 at home, Arizona is 3-5 on the road this year. If the Cardinals are able to stop both running backs, they deserve to win, but then Delhomme goes for Steve Smith.
The Giants Ride Derrick Ward To The Top Seed In The NFC
Monday, December 22, 2008
The Titans took care of business earlier in the day, and at around 11:30 last night in the bitter cold, the Giants did the same. Derrick Ward led a New York comeback with a career high 214 yards, and three huge runs in overtime, to setup a two yard Brandon Jacobs score....
What a great finish, and with that....the road to Super Bowl XLIII now goes through the Meadowlands.
SNF Live-Blog: Panthers @ Giants, 2nd Half
Sunday, December 21, 2008
I didn't want to re-use a photo of Abby Manning, but I couldn't find one without her dopey husband in it.
Mark Jones takes the kickoff up to the 33 yard line, as Andrea tells us about Justin Tuck suffering from the flu. DeAngelo Williams gets five yards on first down, then gets six more to move the chains, as he's flipped over. Jonathan Stewart comes back in and crosses midfield by gaining six or seven yards. Good coverage on 2nd down, as Delhomme aims for a check down, but it's incomplete. Nearly throws a pick on 3rd down as the Giants blitz, and Baker will be on to punt. R.W. McQuarters fair catches the ball at about the 10.
Jacobs gets 3 on first down. He's the recipient of the next short pass, and he has to reach down to grab it. Manning out of the shotgun, incomplete to Domenik Hixon over his back shoulder. 4th down. Feagles shanks it, and Carolina will start at the Giants' 48. Williams gets a yard after they fake the end-around to Steve Smith. Stewart gets up to the 43. 3rd down throw to Muhammad over the middle is broken up by Corey Webster. Baker to punt. McQuarters downs it at the Giant 16.
Eli goes to Kevin Boss to start, who gets up to the 20. 2nd down gets a yard, Eli gets a delay of game on 3rd and 5, turning it into 3rd and 10. Manning finds Boss, who gets more than that 10 and a first down. Next pass goes to Hixon for another 10 yards up to the 41. Jacobs gets three more on the next carry. Ward busts it to the outside once again after cutting through the line, 22 yard gain to the Carolina 33. Manning hits Amani Toomer for his first catch of the day at the 21. Manning hits the fullback Hedgecock, who gets inside the 10 yard line for a first and goal.
Jacobs gets the carry and heads to the 2 yard line, but gets hit hard behind the line of scrimmage on the next carry.
"Sinuses are cleared." - Al
"A lot of things of cleared." - John, after Chris Harris' hit on Jacobs
Manning drops back and hits Kevin Boss coming across the end zone for the touchdown. They kick the point, and it's 21-20, Panthers.
I hate this Diet Pepsi Max ad now, although it's nice to know that Chris Kattan is getting some form of employment. Mark Jones returns the kick to the 36. Delhomme looks deep for Steve Smith, but his pass is incomplete. Williams gets six yards on the carry. Delhomme spots Muhsin Muhammad at midfield and hits him to move the chains on the last play of the third quarter.
Antonio Pierce gets some nice penetration on the running play and brings Williams down for a 1-yard loss. Williams gets that yard back and one more; 3rd and 9. Delhomme hits Dwayne Jarrett, who gets airborne to bring the ball down at the 31 of New York. Williams gets the carry, gets to the outside -- and breaks it all the way for 30 yards for the score! Add the XP, it's 28-20, Carolina. Fourth TD of the day for DeAngelo Williams!
Bradshaw brings the ball out to the 23 this time. Manning's brought down by Tyler Brayton for a 9-yard sack on first down. Jacobs gets back all the way out to the 30, catching the Panthers in nickel coverage. Ward gets to the outside again and is sprung free by a block all the way to the Carolina 33 for a 37 yard carry. Jacobs up to the 31. Eli doesn't like the defense and calls time. Jacobs' hands of stone drop the pass from Manning on 2nd down and 7. On 3rd down, Manning gets shellacked by Julius Peppers from his blind side. You could hear that from miles away.
It knocks the G-men out of field goal range, so Feagles punts, and the Giants bat it out at the one-yard line to pin the Panthers in. Williams gets a yard on the next two carries. He gets up to the 4 yard line on 3rd down. Baker's punt is good; McQuarters runs out of bounds at the Carolina 44.
Hixon gets 13 yards after an initial loss on a penalty. 2nd and 2 after the catch. Derrick Ward gets stopped for a loss of a yard. Manning hits Toomer on the right side, he gets extra yardage by breaking tacklers and is down at the 22. Ward gets two yards on the carry, then grabs three more on the shotgun draw play. 3rd and 5 -- over the middle to Kevin Boss, and he runs to the five before he's brought down. First and goal.
Manning goes for Hixon in the end zone, and it's broken up -- but they call pass interference on Ken Lucas, Carolina's first PI flag all season. Resets the down to first and goal at the 1. Brandon Jacobs rumbles through the line for a touchdown, and the Giants are going for two.
Incredibly good fake to Jacobs out of the shotgun on the conversion, and Manning hits a wide-open Hixon. 28-all! Damn, this is a game we got here.
Another good return by Mark Jones, who is tackled at the Carolina 38. Delhomme to Stewart over the middle, and he crosses midfield to move the chains. Stewart gets a yard on the next play. Two minute warning.
Great break-up of the pass to Steve Smith by Corey Webster, making it 3rd and 9. But Muhammad is there on 3rd down, crossing the marker and being tackled at the 37. Delhomme drops it, but picks it up and hands it off to Williams, who gets 10 yards and a first down -- depending on this flag -- and it's a holding call on Steve Smith. That'll be coming back to the Giants 47.
"That's a good hold. That's a doggone takedown." - John, on Smith's holding penalty.
I believe Steve Smith could make a very good wrestler, even at his tiny size. Williams gets up to the 40.
Glad we got that shot of Justin Tuck being, as Al said, "sick with the flu". - Mal
Donovan McNabb understands Justin Tuck's pain. DeAngelo Williams out of the Wildcat formation, he rushes up to about the 33, getting out of bounds. 3rd and 6, Williams gets two yards, and Kasay is going to try a 50 yard FG.
Kick is up....and WIDE LEFT! We're gonna have us some OT!
Giants get the ball to start, winning the coin toss.
"Looks like Eli Manning said, 'Oh my goodness.'" - John
"Or a reasonable facsimile, when we come back." - Al
Giants' offense starts at the 20 after Bradshaw takes a knee on the kickoff. Ward starts off with a six yard carry, he's over 130 yards rushing on the night. Eli's pass is a bit high for Domenik Hixon. The pass for Toomer is also too high, and the Giants will go three and out.
Feagles punts it to Mark Jones, who's tackled after making it to the 38 yard line of the Panthers. Jonathan Stewart gets six yards on his first OT carry. They go back to Stewart for 2 more yards.
"You how you say key third down? Every third down is a key third down in overtime." - Al
Delhomme's 3rd down pass is tipped and incomplete but Kevin Dockery, and the Panthers will have to punt as well. Baker punts to McQuarters, who muffs it, but is able to fall on it at the 13 yard line. Near disaster right there.
Ward gets a massive hole through the middle and runs right through it all the way to the Carolina 36! Jacobs takes the next carry 3 yards up to the 33. Manning throws behind Hixon on the play. Another shotgun draw to Ward, who is up to 198 rushing yards after taking that play to the 19.
Ward is INSANE, getting to the outside again!
"On a windy night, it's Wind of Earth, Wind, and Fire. 216 yards!" - Al, after Derrick Ward runs another 18 to the outside. First and goal at the 1 -- and BRANDON JACOBS ICES HOMEFIELD WITH THE TOUCHDOWN! 34-28, GIANTS!
301 yards on the ground total for the Giants. Great, great game. Thanks for joining me. I'll be driving to L.A. tomorrow as I'm on vacation this week, so if I get there in time, maybe there might be a Monday Night Football live-blog.
SNF Live-Blog: Panthers @ Giants
Until Steve Smith showed me, I didn't know that Mercedes-Benz made custom golf carts. Fascinating. By the way, considering that there are two wideouts named Steve Smith playing in this game, the Panthers receiver will be Steve Smith and the Giants receiver will be TOSS (The Other Steve Smith), as I established in last week's game.John Madden's jowls are absolutely frightening in HD.
And you can write in Broncos-Chargers as the final game next Sunday night. The rest of the schedule will be announced at halftime. - James Craven
Really? God help all us viewers. Ahmad Bradshaw takes the kickoff up to the 20 to start the game. Eli Manning fakes the first handoff to Brandon Jacobs, rolls right, and hits Domenik Hixon for what looks like a first down, but it's a yard short. Jacobs gets 3 when he needs one, then picks up 2 more on first down. Jacobs hits the outside and gets four or five more on the next play.
Manning rolls out, avoids a sack, and he throws it 40 yards to Hixon, who comes down with it at the Carolina 18. Very nice play, both by Manning and Hixon to catch it with two defenders around him. Jacobs gets a yard. 2nd down goes back to the big back for three more yards and a 3rd and 6. Derrick Ward drops the screen pass, and John Carney comes out for the field goal attempt. Kick up and good, 3-0, Giants.
If the Chargers win then Ed Hochuli can breathe a sigh of relief. - SSR
Nuts to that. If anyone's gonna lose to the Colts in the first round, it's gonna be my team, dammit.
"Big Cold and Big Wind will make this a whole different ball game in the second half. To find out just how much it will infect the players, let's go to Andrea Kremer." - Jim Cantore, visiting the sidelines. (Via Anon).
Fuck, it's official. Broncos-Chargers next Sunday. I may have to change my travel plans so I'm able to watch the game, even though I should know better by now.
The Panthers will start at the 23 yard line after the returner got smashed up by Zak DeOssie. DeAngelo Williams starts with a 7 yard carry. Jake Delhomme's first check-down is to Williams, and is dropped. 3rd and 3. Steve Smith catches the lateral, and gets all the way up to the Giants 47 yard line after breaking a couple tackles. "The Playmaker, Utah" -- well, yes he is.
Williams grabs a yard on the next carry. Delhomme dips back and slings one deep for Steve Smith, who brings it in and is brought out of bounds at the 11. Williams is tackled for a loss of about 3 yards on the next play. Williams busts up the middle untouched for the TOUCHDOWN, 13 yard run for the Memphis product. Kick is up and good by John Kasay, 7-3, Carolina.
Madden probably lobbied that he couldn't afford to have to stay in New York and freeze his ass off for a week in order to do the game. He'd much rather go home for the holidays and stay there. How much do you wanna bet that the NBC Saturday Night wild card game is AFC West champ vs. the Colts. - JFein
Makes sense -- the furthest East he'd have to go is Denver.
Giants start at the 26 after the Bradshaw kick return. Jacobs grabs four yards on first down. Manning goes to TOSS for the first down completion. Jacobs runs for 10 for another first down -- he needs a better nickname than Earth. Carolina takes a time out at midfield.
Jacobs grabs four more yards on first down, heading into Panthers territory. Eli then hits TOSS for another chain movement. Two yards more for Jacobs, followed by a check-down pass to the big back for six more. 3rd and 3 at the 31. Ward gets outside on the play, and rushes all the way to the 22.
Two more rushes for Ward result in 3rd and 3 again inside the 15, and the first quarter is done. That was quick. Manning to TOSS inside the 10 for a first and goal. Jacobs rumbles all the way to the 2, and then on the next play, rumbles some more and falls on a Carolina defender in the end zone. Touchdown, Giants. Carney's kick is good, 10-7, Giants.
Panthers start at the 35 after a short kick by the Giants. Jonathan Stewart gets nothing on his first carry and 3 on the 2nd one. 3rd down checkdown to Stewart, who is wide open and gets the first down past his own 40. Delhomme throws to Jeff King, the tight end, who moves the chains again by running into Giants territory. Stewart adds six, running up to about the 31.
Stewart comes off under his own power after having trouble getting up. Williams comes back in, cuts right, then reverses to the left and hits the outside corner for another first down at the 14. Next carry gets him a yard. Steve Smith comes down with the pass inside the 5 for first and goal. Williams loses a yard on the carry. He gets the carry again, this time, he goes inside and sneaks in for the Carolina touchdown! Kasay's kick is good, 14-10, Carolina.
Giants start at the 20 after a touchback. Manning's off on his first down throw, incomplete. Ward busts a tackle and gets to the outside at the 29. For some reason, they handed off to Madison Hedgecock on 3rd down instead of the RBs, and they wind up short. Jeff Feagles punts to Mark Jones at the Carolina 35.
Jake Delhomme throws it up, it's nearly picked off by Aaron Ross, and it makes its way into the hands of Muhsin Muhammad, who rushes all the way to the 5 for a first and goal. Fade route to Muhammad gets to the 2. Screen to Steve Smith -- he grabs it, avoids stepping out of bounds, and hops into the end zone for a Carolina touchdown! Tom Coughlin's challenging whether he was out of bounds.
Wait a minute? Walt Coleman? Isn't he the guy who reversed the call on the Pittsburgh touchdown last week?
Coughlin wins the challenge; Smith is ruled down at the half-yard line. 3rd and goal now.
"Can they make it an 11 point game or a 7 point game?" - Al
"Well, they have the offensive line and running back to make it a 7 point game." - John, whom I think meant to say 11 point game.
Williams goes right in for the score, Kasay's kick is good, 21-10, Panthers. If you're playing in the fantasy football finals today, you're happy if you have Williams tonight.
Bradshaw's return is taken down at the 26. Jacobs runs it up to the 29 on first down. Manning hits tight end Kevin Boss at the 45 to move the chains. Pass to Hixon is incomplete, crowd is booing the non-call. Thomas Davis wraps up Eli and takes him to the ground on 2nd down. Ken Lucas knocks off Derrick Ward for a loss of six on a pass in the backfield; here comes a punt from Feagles. Mark Jones fair catches.
First pass is to Steve Smith for not much, and we're at the two minute warning. Williams gets taken down for not much more on 2nd down. Delhomme's pass is nearly picked by Terrell Thomas, and Jason Baker punts for the first time. Bradshaw takes the punt to the Giants' 45. Ward gets the carry, and weaves his way through a big hole on the right side, avoiding tacklers all the way to the Carolina 21. Ward picks up 4 more on the exact same play on 1st down. Manning's pass deflects off the hands of Boss at the 5. He then throws one right into the hands of Jon Beason, but the linebacker drops it. 4th down. Carney's FG try from 35 -- up and good. 21-13, Panthers.
"Right down Broadway, whether it's in East Rutherford or Manhattan." - Al
Mark Jones takes the kickoff out. Williams will rush it once, and that's halftime. 21-13, Carolina. See you in the next thread.
SNF Pre-Game Open Thread
Courtesy of Sports by Brooks, we have the highlights of Titans players stomping on a Terrible Towel after beating the Steelers in Nashville today.
Late game round-ups:
- The Jets go to the West Coast and blow it once again. Seattle wins 13-3 on a couple of field goals, good D, and a TD pass from Seneca Wallace to John Carlson....but we can't forget Favraro's two picks, including one to kill the drive near the end.
- Here's a bizarre stat line: 18/25, 236 yards, 2 TDs. That's JaMarcus Russell's passing numbers against the Houston D. 27-16, Raiders, with a minute left.
- The Skins are up 10-3 on Philly thanks to a Clinton Portis touchdown and some stereotypically bizarre Andy Reid play calling. (Short screen to Westbrook on 3rd and goal from the 6, ahoy!)
- Atlanta has just owned Minnesota today. 24-10, despite fumbling the ball four times. One TD pass for Matt Ryan, one score each for Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood. 4:30 left.
- Buffalo is up 30-23 in Denver, as the Broncos are determined to make the Bills look good and set up a showdown in San Diego for the AFC Worst title next week. Two rushing TDs for Jay Cutler, and Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson both have rushing TDs.
NBC Flexing In Week Sixteen
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
NBC has decided to use their flex option for Week Sixteen, and their choice could quite possibly be the game of the year. The NFL is moving the Chargers and Bucs from the Sunday night spot to 1pm on CBS, and the Panthers and Giants will fill that hole. From Fang's Bites via NBC....
The Week 16 Carolina Panthers-New York Giants game on Sunday, December 21 will be played at 8:15 PM ET on NBC and the San Diego Chargers-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game that day will move to 1:00 PM ET on CBS, the NFL announced today. Two other Week 16 game-time changes: the Philadelphia Eagles-Washington Redskins and Atlanta Falcons-Minnesota Vikings games on Sunday, December 21 move from 1:00 PM ET to 4:15 PM ET on FOX.Obviously that's a great decision and with the potential of home field advantage at stake, that game could be a winner for NBC. Giants and Boys are obviously still in the Week Fifteen slot, and Week Seventeen won't be decided until next week. Here's the revised schedule for that week now.... (*- changed game time)
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18 (WEEK 16)
Indy at Jacksonville (NFL-N, 8:15pm)
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20
Baltimore at Dallas (NFL-N, 8:15pm)
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21
Cincinnati at Cleveland (CBS, 1pm)
New Orleans at Detroit (FOX, 1pm)
Miami at Kansas City (CBS, 1pm)
Arizona at New England (FOX, 1pm)
San Francisco at St. Louis (FOX, 1pm)
San Diego at Tampa Bay (CBS, 1pm)*
Pittsburgh at Tennessee (CBS, 1pm)
Buffalo at Denver (CBS, 4pm)
Houston at Oakland (CBS, 4pm)
NY Jets at Seattle (CBS, 4pm)
Atlanta at Minnesota (FOX, 4pm)*
Philadelphia at Washington (FOX, 4pm)*
Carolina at NY Giants (NBC, 8:15pm)*
MONDAY, DECEMBER 22
Green Bay at Chicago (ESPN, 8:30pm)
