After surviving Green Bay in the highest scoring playoff game in NFL history, the defending NFC champion Cardinals will head to New Orleans accompanied by the highest posted postseason total since at least ’92. That number for this divisional playoff clas

2010-01-15

After surviving Green Bay in the highest scoring playoff game in NFL history, the defending NFC champion Cardinals will head to New Orleans accompanied by the highest posted postseason total since at least ’92. That number for this divisional playoff clash has been set at 57 at Sportsbook.com, with the host Saints installed as TD favorites. Not surprisingly, bettors are on the OVER at a 4-1 rate, but interestingly, 62% are actually siding with the underdogs.

The Saints are the #1 seed, but come in on a 3-game losing streak after starting 13-0. New Orleans is 11-4 SU & 9-5-1 ATS at home over the L2 seasons and has scored 32.1 PPG in those. The Cardinals have played their best football on the road this season, going 6-2 SU & 4-3-1 ATS while yielding just 17.4 PPG. They have covered five straight playoff games. These teams have only met twice since ’00, with the host team taking both SU & ATS.

After 90 points and 1,024 yards of offense, a strip/sack by Michael Adams in overtime and the ensuing fumble return by Karlos Dansby catapulted Arizona past Green Bay, 51-45, in the highest-scoring playoff game in NFL history.

As far as the Cardinals opponent, the NFC’s top-seeded New Orleans Saints are concerned, only one positive could come out of Arizona’s wild win that featured a Hall of Fame performance by Kurt Warner, who completed 29 of 33 passes for 379 yards and five touchdowns. That glimmer of light would be the switch that Arizona flicked on after a 3-3 finish in the regular season. New Orleans, like the Cardinals, enters its first playoff game on a slide, having watched a 13-0 start deteriorate into a 13-3 finish.

Drew Brees finished second to Peyton Manning in the NFL MVP voting, tying a career-high with 34 touchdown passes, while throwing a personal-low 11 interceptions in 514 attempts. No quarterback in the NFL, aside from possibly Manning and Warner, uses as extensive a collection of receivers as Brees. Regardless of who’s in the lineup, Brees will throw the ball. Seven different receivers have pulled in at least 39 passes, and the list doesn’t even include Lance Moore, who missed nine games after catching 79 balls last season.

Warner, too, makes the most of the players around him in the huddle. Steve Breaston and Early Doucet combined for 13 catches, 202 yards and three touchdowns against the Packers, taking on plenty of extra snaps due to Anquan Boldin’s absence (ankle/knee). Last season’s playoff hero, Larry Fitzgerald, scored twice on his six catches, helping Warner improve his career playoff record to 9-3. He’s also got an eye-opening touchdown-to-interception ratio of 31-to-13.

As explosive as New Orleans’ offense is, however, it’s the play of running backs Pierre Thomas, Reggie Bush and Mike Bell that often dictate the direction of a game. In the Saints’ first 11 wins, the ground attack averaged 151.4 yards per game. Beginning in Week 13, however, when things started to unravel in Washington, the Saints averaged a mere 95 yards on the ground in the final five games.

PREDICTION: The Cardinals are as live a road underdog as any after racking up a 6-2 mark away from University of Phoenix Stadium. And last week’s 51-point output had to be chilling for any Saints coach, player or fan to watch. Still, if there is one team that Arizona does not want to get into a shootout with, it’s New Orleans. NEW ORLEANS 38, ARIZONA 17

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