St. Louis Cardinals give me hope

[Bizwah]

December has been a pretty painful month for me to watch. Our promising team has pretty much crapped away every opportunity they had. We're cold as ice playing as poorly as can be. We just had 39 points hung on us by the worst team in the NFL.

Yet, there's still hope.

Look no further than the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Cardinals were cold as ice entering the postseason. They lost something like seven of their last nine games, and very nearly had the worst September collapse in the history of MLB. They backed into the playoffs, and were pretty much written off. Their pitching staff was ailing, their two best hitters were slumping....

But everything came together in October. It wasn't pretty, they didn't have a dominating team, they will never be confused as one of the greatest teams of all time.

They won....and I'm sure Cardinal fans will take it....Heck, my wife's family are all HUGE Cardinal fans. After sulking for the better part of two weeks, my wife reminded me of how close the Cardinals were to cashing in and going home.

Could lightning strike twice?

Think about it....

We play at Seattle. This is always a tough task, but the Seahawks are far from unbeatable at home. We beat them with Vinny Intercepteverde for crying out loud. We very nearly beat them last year with a beat up team. They're beat up, and playing about as bad as we are.

If we win there, odds are that we play the Bears next. This is the team that many consider to be the class of the NFC. But they're weak offensively. Their strength is their defense, but they've taken hits there with injury. It's a tall order, but I think we can beat them. Remember, the offensively challenged Bucs nearly beat them.....and the hapless Lions (yeah, I know) took them to the very last play.

If we win that game, we'll either take on the Eagles or Saints. I think both teams are well-rounded, but anything's possible. And if we beat Seattle, then beat the Bears, then maybe we'll start to actually hit our stride.

A Super Bowl matchup against any AFC team would likely end with a lopsided score. But if you can just make it there, then you never know.....

Just ask the Cardinals.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Good post.

Anything is possible. (they had worst record of all playoff teams)

It was unbelievable that they won... but they did.

I will take it any way I can get it.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

We just had 39 points hung on us by the worst team in the NFL.

Keep in mind that we gave them MORE opportunities to score than they should have. Our offense gave them those EXTRA opp's. Came out to 17 points.

 

[Bizwah]

Keep in mind that we gave them MORE opportunities to score than they should have. Our offense gave them those EXTRA opp's. Came out to 17 points.

True...but they were like 8 of 13 on third down.

That's called "owning" a defense. We could not stop them.

Simply put though, this is a new season. Our players shouldn't despair. Now is the time for them to "circle the wagons" and "Cowboy up".

Sorry for the cliche's

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

True...but they were like 8 of 13 on third down.

That's called "owning" a defense. We could not stop them.

Simply put though, this is a new season. Our players shouldn't despair. Now is the time for them to "circle the wagons" and "Cowboy up".

Sorry for the cliche's

I hear ya... but dont give ANY teams extra chances... esp as many as we did... they will get good at that 3rd down stuff LOL

Hey... cliche' you say.... Cowboy Up... just fits! Ok by me

 

[zeromaster]

Having seen this repeated in a few news stories, there are a couple of things to consider:

Baseball has a very different team dynamic. Foremost of which you can lose the first game and still be in the post season.

Detroit was coming off a sweep and had plenty of time to cut ...er... eat the cheese going into the Series.

 

[Chuck 54]

ummm...did you steal JFE's article without siting it?

 

[dbair1967]

what super bowl number is this now? 41?

Discounting the strike shortened years of 1982 & 1987, only two teams have ever made the Super Bowl with less than 10 wins...the last was the LA Rams in 1979 (for those that remember, a Vince Ferragamo led Rams team eliminated the Cowboys at Texas Stadum, turned out to be Staubach's last NFL game)...the Rams were 9-7 that year...Green Bay won Super Bowl II with a 9-4-1 record

Since the league went to the 16 game schedule, I think only the Rams and Niners have even made the Super Bowl with less than 11 wins...the Niners won the Super Bowl after the 88 season after going 10-6

David

 

[vicjagger]

We don't have the pitching.

 

[Bizwah]

ummm...did you steal JFE's article without siting it?

No....did she really write one like this?

Sorry....I didn't know.

I usually stay away from the media after painful losses.

My wife just pointed out how she was bummed at the end of the regular baseball season.

I guess I need to apologize to JFE.

 

[Bizwah]

Having seen this repeated in a few news stories, there are a couple of things to consider:

Baseball has a very different team dynamic. Foremost of which you can lose the first game and still be in the post season.

Detroit was coming off a sweep and had plenty of time to cut ...er... eat the cheese going into the Series.

Boy....I really had no idea this had been discussed. Guess I should read some articles.

I think the one shot game favors teams like ours. We've faced adversity, we've played in tough games. We're in a tough division. I'm not sure teams like the Bears can say that. There really was no one to challenge them.

Also, if we play to our talent level, then we can match up with any team in the NFL.

 

[TexasAce]

Having seen this repeated in a few news stories, there are a couple of things to consider:

Baseball has a very different team dynamic. Foremost of which you can lose the first game and still be in the post season.

Detroit was coming off a sweep and had plenty of time to cut ...er... eat the cheese going into the Series.

Indeed.

Also, momentum isn't as big a factor in baseball as it is in football, and right now the momentum is against us.

 

[GTaylor]

St. Louis' problems were due to injuries, plus they faced a Mets team that was without 2 of their best pitchers. Our problems go deeper than that.

 

[the kid 05]

We don't have the pitching.

No we just dont have Albert Pujols

 

[Rampage]

bill parcells is also very good friends with the st. louis cards manager Tony Larussa

 

[CoCo]

Boy....I really had no idea this had been discussed. Guess I should read some articles.

I think the one shot game favors teams like ours. We've faced adversity, we've played in tough games. We're in a tough division. I'm not sure teams like the Bears can say that. There really was no one to challenge them.

Also, if we play to our talent level, then we can match up with any team in the NFL.

I haven't seen this story written anywhere either. But I honestly did have the same thought myself and stated it to my sons the other day. We are all HUGE STL Cardinal fans.

But the key difference is that baseball postseason is very different from the regular season.

I had told my friends for weeks that despite the Cards mediocre regular season the post season could be a boon because Suppan & Weaver had pitched very well for most of the last two months and Carpenter, though he'd been up and down was certainly a gamer who would likely get himself straightened out. And we'd get to sit Marquis (#4) and Reyes (#5), who'd been getting hammered, down. Marquis indeed didn't throw a single postseason inning although Reyes was called upon and pitched the game of his life in game #1 of the WS.

If football postseason was like baseball postseason we'd be able to eliminate our two biggest weaknesses (free safety and pass rush) when the playoffs start. Oh how I wish it were so.

 

[CoCo]

Baseball and Cardinal comparisons aside...

This football season has had lots of ebbs & flows. The Cowboys are not alone in having a very up and down season. The Bears, Colts, Eagles, Broncos, & Giants (to name a few) also have had stretchs of Jekyl & Hyde play and only in the Giants case was it perhaps linked heavily to injuries.

Though we've struggled all season at FS we still had stretches of very good defensive play with this same group of players. The Saints uncovered a new weakness in the confusion over FB covereage but otherwise our defensive play simply fell off.

Look no further than T-New who'd had another outstanding seaon until he inexplicably fell apart vs Detroit. Snowball effect.

There is some hope in getting that snowball turned around. But its tough. And admittedly the odds are very much against us.

That said, I have lowered my expectations and will try to enjoy watching my team in action no matter the outcome because I won't get to watch them at all for another 7 months. And maybe they can catch lightning in a bottle and give us all another game next week.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Baseball and Cardinal comparisons aside...

This football season has had lots of ebbs & flows.

Very well put... I dont think that Bizwah was looking for a comparison more than he was looking for an example of what could happen based on recent events... that we could turn it around...

one little spark is all its gonna take... IMO

 

[NickZepp]

The Cards actually got things together late in the year at won the division. If the Eagles fell apart the last game of the year and Dallas beat Detroit I could see your point. But Dallas hasn't played well for months and it won't change this weekend