Cardinals, biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch!!!
Just got back home from Phoenix and I think my emotional state has returned to normal. What an insane game. I expect it will be replayed on NFL Network and discussed for years to come. GG, Packers GAF! The two most insane games I've been to have both been playoff matches against the Packers so I'll assume any future matches between us will be extremely entertaining. Carson Palmer gets his first playoff win, Arians his first as our HC and we are one game away from returning to the Super Bowl. Also, with a playoff win, you were officially wrong FMT, eat that crow!
As for the game itself, we largely played like shit outside of Larry Legend. I was 99 percent sure before and during the game but now 100 percent after seeing some Arians interviews that it was due to some serious jitters on Palmer's part. Several days before the game was to take place Arians commented on Palmer being over excited and needing to calm him down. The guy had a huge monkey on his back from never having won a playoff game and I fully expected him to be sloppy and make bad calls for the first half of the game. It just unfortunately went beyond the half. Arians has before stated that he lets Palmer go through the playbook for any given game and select what plays he wants to run and is comfortable with, at least to start the game. Arians commented after this one that Palmer chose all safe, short plays, far more conservative than he has all season and Arians didn't really like it but allowed it. The playoff monkey was seriously in his head, it's not the finger. I expect a complete 180 this week but I'll save the CAR matchup for later.
Kudos to the Packer D, their game plan to largely take David Johnson out of the game was a success. Thankfully, Larry shred them to pieces in his place. Larry carried us all game long and made huge play after play before the insane OT finish. Once GB tied the game, Palmer and Larry were pissed and it showed, they were ready to rock and roll. Palmer deserves more credit than I've seen him get online for his awesome escape out of the pocket but even more impressive, to see Larry across the field in less than a second. What's ironic is that while that play would have given us an easy 30 yds and been a huge play, there's pretty much zero chance it would have been the monstrous one it was if Palmer didn't get pressured to that degree and take so long to throw it off. John Brown and Floyd were supposed to draw their men deep to free up Larry but because of how long it took the play to unfold, they were far further down the field so Larry was far more open then he'd have otherwise been allow him to gain steam before encountering Packer defenders. Then it was a play for the playoff history books as he eluded 5? 6? defenders on that 75 yd juke and scramble. What a bad ass stiff arm without even looking at #42...if it wasn't a shoe in that he'd be a future HOFer before (it was) it sure as hell is now. Then the shovel play...a perfect play call that GB did not see coming at all. It was beautiful and I was so glad it was to Fitz because he deserved to punch it in and damn near single handily willed us to win.
Reffing was shite, GB got screwed on a no-call DPI against us and we got screwed on the Hail marry 4th and 20 play as Campbell was big time held, that play should never have happened. I was livid but it all worked out in the end. Man was it frustrating having Peterson's 100 yard TAINT returned thanks to Rucker being a dumb ass. What's lame is that Campbell was hit in the face the same damn way on that hail marry play.
Rodgers is a pleasure to watch and GB fans are lucky to have him. Likewise, I'm lucky to have Larry to root for. I've seen Rodgers do many amazing things on the field but to see the level of accuracy and perfect amount of power he had in those bomb throws to tie the game and off his freaking back foot too as we chased him that way to throw off his accuracy...just insane. He is too fucking good. With Jordy back and the improvement of your defense, you should have a damn good team next year that doesn't struggle as much as this season. A shame that Cobb was injured by the way but glad he's alright. Saw a tweet that he checked out of an AZ hospital last night.
Also, Peterson deserves a lot of shit for that game tie-ing TD and I know it was a blow to his pride so he'll be out for something to prove this week. That terrible play aside, he did fantastic as usual prior to it. Cobb didn't get a single catch before he was injured. Bethel however, he was completely exposed last night and that's a genuine concern going forward. At least we don't face a QB as good as Rodgers but we will face a QB quite capable of exploiting Bethel nonetheless if he doesn't get better, quick. I don't want to get down on him, he wasn't ready for this level yet and I expect him to improve next year but we don't have that luxury right now. At least CAR has the same issue. I'll save the CAR talk for the next post as this one is long enough already. One last comment here, good god Lacy is a fat fuck. I can't believe he's a RB in this league at that size though obviously he's talented. I had a nickname, tug boat but I saw someone post Feast Mode earlier and I couldn't stop laughing (it was late) so that's what I'll call him now ;P