image courtesy of NFL.comWe're relaxing at home on a snowy Wisconsin Sunday soaking in some playoff football, frosty beverages, and a fine assortment of cheese. It's Wisconsin - what do you expect?
The sportswriter in me is itching for a chance to say a few things, so I'll share some observations on the game so far (currently Eagles vs. Cardinals - Steelers/Ravens to follow tonight):
The Cardinals have executed a lot better than I expected them too. Offensively they've kept the Eagles and Jim Johnson's pressure-based defense off balance, which has allowed Larry Fitzgerald to score three touchdowns in the first half. As I'm writing this the Cardinals just went up 21-3 off a little fade to Fitz in the end zone, making it look like the Eagles have no match for their passing game. I've also been really impressed with their defense thus far - they've covered all the angles and have been a much better team tackling than the Eagles to this point.
As for the Eagles, McNabb has been off, and Aikman has been calling him on it all day, and rightfully so. Had McNabb been a little more accurate on a few of the passes in the first half I think it'd be a much closer game. We'll see whether the Cardinals defense can hold up this way the entire game once the Eagles get a chance to regroup at half, but so far, it's been all Arizona.
If you're looking for some halftime tunes to get you through the worthless halftime analysis from FOX, you might want to check out the Low Slung Podcast from one of our English readers. The podcast, which creator Charlie puts out every few weeks, features a number of English bands which you might not have ever been introduced to such as Sensible Pets and Fuzzface. You can stream the podcast directly from the mp3 link below:
Low Slung Podcast
Low Slung Podcast Episode 11 features:
SENSIBLE PETS (Brisbane, AU)
FUZZFACE (Essex)
CANTERBURY (Surrey/Hampshire)
NO MAD (London)
COPY HAHO (Newhaven)
DEAR MARTIN (Stockholm, SE)
The podcast also has a Myspace page which you can check out here.