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Cardinals-Saints divisional playoff preview
USAToday
January 16, 2010
BREAKING DOWN THE MATCHUPS
When the Cardinals pass
The Saints rank 26th against the pass. Bad news against Kurt Warner and Co., especially since they've unearthed yet another toy in second-year WR Early Doucet. The Saints really need playmaking FS Darren Sharper to be a presence. Otherwise, they're in for a long day against, perhaps, Anquan Boldin, Steve Breaston and Larry Fitzgerald, who has nine touchdowns in five playoff games.
When the Saints pass
Drew Brees has established himself among the best in the game over the last four years. He's accurate, gets the ball out quickly and almost always makes the right read. He has to exploit the Cardinals' lack of depth behind CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, which will be easier if TE Jeremy Shockey and WR Lance Moore are back from injuries.
When the Cardinals run
Lost amid last week's air show was the fact that Arizona rushed for 156 yards, 6.8 yards per attempt, against the Green Bay Packers' top-ranked run defense. The Saints will offer far less resistance.
When the Saints run
New Orleans really strayed from the run, to its detriment, late in the season. If RB Pierre Thomas' ribs continue to be an issue against a solid Arizona front seven, expect the Saints to be one-dimensional in a hurry.
Special teams
Cards P Ben Graham led the NFL with 42 kicks landing inside the 20-yard line. More bad news for the Saints? Reggie Bush has been quiet in the return game. But kickoff returner Courtney Roby is excellent, though he will be tested by a good coverage unit. Ks Neil Rackers and Garrett Hartley have missed big kicks in recent weeks.
Coaching
Arizona's Ken Whisenhunt called quite an offensive game in shredding the Packers' second-ranked defense. But few offensive minds are as fertile as Sean Payton's. The coach who can maintain better balance is likely the guy who will advance.
The X factor
The Saints haven't played a real high-quality game since they beat the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football seven weeks ago. The scuffling offense should find its way against Arizona's middling secondary, but the Cardinals are using the improved threat from their ground game to look virtually unstoppable offensively. And the Cardinals are more battle-tested than a New Orleans team that features many new players since it last made the postseason in 2006.
Prediction: CARDINALS WIN
•Keys to the game: The first quarter is key for the Saints, who closed the season on a three-game losing streak in which their high-powered offense was held to an average of 14.7 points. Meanwhile, the Cardinals are coming in with a red-hot offense. That attack has been bolstered by the ever-increasing threat of the ground game. It has helped the pass protection and created more single coverage downfield, which is why QB Kurt Warner was able to throw for 379 yards and five touchdowns even without WR Anquan Boldin last Sunday. The Saints have an opportunistic defense that gave the team a plus-11 turnover margin, but opponents had plenty of success attacking on the ground during the second half of the season. The Saints know they'll have to reignite their passing game to keep pace. Cardinals CB Michael Adams has been a popular target the past two weeks, and Arizona struggled against Green Bay's array of receivers, a problem the Saints will try to replicate. Arizona also had difficulty keeping tabs on Packers TE Jermichael Finley, and the Saints expect TE Jeremy Shockey (toe) to be at full strength after missing three games.
•Matchup to watch — Cardinals LT Jeremy Bridges vs. Saints DE Bobby McCray: After receiving shaky pass protection down the stretch during the regular season, Warner was sacked once and hit three times by Green Bay. Bridges has been inconsistent at best since replacing injured Mike Gandy but was solid against Packers OLB Clay Matthews Jr. The Saints suffered a big blow when Charles Grant, second on the team in sacks, went down with a season-ending triceps injury in Week 17. His backup, McCray, has been slowed most of the season by a sore back. Jeff Charleston, who had surgery last week on a fractured hand, and Anthony Hargrove, who was moved inside during training camp, could see significant snaps along with recently signed Paul Spicer. That group must combine to pressure from the blind side to force the ball out of Warner's hand.
•Fast facts: The Saints have averaged 391.8 yards in 64 regular-season games under coach Sean Payton. … The Cardinals are 4-6 all time in New Orleans.
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Lewis named coach of year
Associated Press
January 16, 2010
NEW YORK, NY — Marvin Lewis had much more than game plans to deal with this season.
Lewis won The Associated Press 2009 NFL Coach of the Year award for guiding his team to the playoffs during a season marked by tragedy.
The Cincinnati Bengals won the AFC North with a 10-6 record, just their second division title since 1990, both under Lewis. They did so despite the deaths of wide receiver Chris Henry and Vikki Zimmer, the wife of defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer. Several players' families also were directly affected by the tsunami in the Samoan Islands.
For holding his team together under such circumstances and leading a turnaround from a 4-11-1 record in 2008, Lewis earned 20 votes Saturday from a nationwide panel of 50 sportswriters and broadcasters who cover the league. He beat Sean Payton of New Orleans (11?), Norv Turner of San Diego (9) and Jim Caldwell of Indianapolis (7). Andy Reid of Philadelphia and Ken Whisenhunt of Arizona had a single vote each.
"I'm flattered," said Lewis, whose seventh season as Bengals coach ended with a 24-14 home loss to the Jets in the wild-card round. "I never took any credibility to it, that it could occur, but I am flattered. I would trade it to still be playing.
"To me, this is more a recognition of the organization, for the coaching staff and the hard work they've done, and for the players."
Few coaches have dealt with such a season of grief. Vikki Zimmer, who used to bake treats for the players, died unexpectedly in October. Two weeks earlier, defensive linemen Jonathan Fanene and Domata Peko and rookie linebacker Rey Maualuga struggled to contact family in American Samoa after a tsunami devastated the region.
In December, Henry, on injured reserve with a broken left forearm, fell from the back of a pickup truck after an argument with his fiancée and was killed.
So Lewis was as much a therapist and psychologist for his team as he was a strategist.
"Just look at that load right there he's beared," veteran guard Bobbie Williams said. "With Chris, Vikki Zimmer, the Samoan Islands. ... There's been a lot of weight on his shoulders, and through the not-so-good seasons when it seemed like the world might have been crashing down, he's been that rock for the team and for the city. ... When you look at it, you're like, 'Dang, that's a lot, that's a lot.' But you know what? He's still there and he's still rolling and he's still coach."
He is the Bengals' first AP Coach of the Year winner since the team's founder, Paul Brown, won the award in 1970.
"Our coaches did a great job of helping through those times and being there in support of Mike and his family, support of the players through the tsunami, and then with Chris' death and how that affected certain guys," Lewis said. "All that being said, I think again the credit should come to the entire group because they did this. I think we had a good group of leadership."
Those team leaders credit Lewis for changing the environment in Cincinnati. There were far fewer unchecked egos this season, and the influx of youth worked well.
"Marvin's really gotten better with gauging our team, and a lot of it is because he knows our individual players," quarterback Carson Palmer said. "He knows when to back off, he knows when to put shoulder pads on, he knows when to hold us longer for meetings, he knows when to get us out of practice earlier. And that's a head coach's main job, to get his team ready to play on Sundays."
The Bengals certainly were ready in the first half of the schedule, going 7-2 and sweeping Pittsburgh and Baltimore to take command of the division. They faltered down the stretch, losing three of their final four -- all against playoff teams.
But how many teams wouldn't have struggled under all of the adversity handed the Bengals?
"He knows real life," Peko said. "He was able to not only be our coach but a father and mentor to some of us."
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