One for the ages
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Of all the incredible statistics from Arizona's 51-45 overtime thriller against Green Bay, the most eye-popping of all belonged to Kurt Warner.
In the highest-scoring playoff game in NFL history, the 38-year-old quarterback had more touchdown passes (five) than incomplete passes (four).
"What more is there to say about Kurt?" Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said. "He is one of the best playoff quarterbacks of all time."
Retire? This guy looked better than ever in a breathless passing duel with playoff newcomer Aaron Rodgers that was as good as any the NFL has seen.
Warner completed 29 of 33 passes for 379 yards with no interceptions on Sunday to lead his team into a second-round game at New Orleans on Saturday night. With three-time All-Pro receiver Anquan Boldin out with a left ankle sprain, Warner threw two TD passes to Larry Fitzgerald, two to Early Doucet and one to Steve Breaston.
"It was just one of those games where I felt great," Warner said. "I loved our playing. I felt like I was seeing everything well and it accumulates to 51 points."
Rodgers was 28 of 42 for a Packers postseason-record 422 yards and four touchdowns. All but two of those yards came after the first quarter.
But in a contest that had been all about offense, the Arizona defense made the winning play.
On the third play of overtime, blitzing cornerback Michael Adams knocked the ball out of Rodgers' hand. It bounced off Rodgers' foot and into the hands of Karlos Dansby, who ran 17 yards for the touchdown.
"I was just hoping he didn't release the ball," Adams said. "I mean, you can come 12 times and 11 out of those 12 times he would get that ball out. That 12th chance you get a chance to hit him and I got my 12th chance."
The Packers team that had the fewest regular-season turnovers in the NFL (16) had three on Sunday, and Dansby was in on all of them.On Green Bay's first two possessions, he broke up Rodgers' game-opening pass and teammate Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie intercepted, then he stripped the ball from Donald Driver and Alan Branch recovered for Arizona."You could see it in his eyes, he had that fire," Rodgers-Cromartie said.The Cardinals cashed in for TDs on both early miscues and Green Bay had to play catch-up."We started off nervous," Packers receiver Greg Jennings said. "We have a lot of guys without playoff experience, including myself. But once we got going I thought we settled down and started to do things we are capable of doing."After Neil Rackers missed a 34-yard field goal that would have won it for Arizona, the Packers won the coin toss to get the ball first in overtime. The way the offenses were rolling, that was bad news for the Cardinals."It was almost like we will flip the coin and whoever wins the toss wins the game. You don't have to go out and play it," Whisenhunt said. "I'm glad we did."The teams combined for 1,024 yards. Arizona had 531, including 156 rushing, against a Packers defense ranked No. 2 overall, No. 1 against the run. The 13 touchdowns was an NFL playoff record, and it was the most points scored and allowed by the Packers (11-6) in their storied 41-game playoff history.Whisenhunt called it "probably one of the best games ever played in the playoffs." To Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy, it was "clearly one of the toughest losses I've been a part of."Ravens 33, Patriots 14FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The decade of the New England Patriots is over. The Baltimore Ravens began the new one with a stunning, start-to-finish beating of the three-time Super Bowl champions.From Ray Rice's 83-yard touchdown run on the game's first offensive play to the sack of Tom Brady on the Patriots last, the underdog Ravens showed Sunday what they had known all along."Everyone expected to win," cornerback Chris Carr said. "The more we watched film, we would tell each other during the week that we felt we were better than this team."On Sunday, the Patriots provided more video evidence of that. Six minutes into the Ravens' 33-14 playoff win that sent them to Indianapolis for a game Saturday night, they led 14-0. Many fans who showed up too late to see Rice's burst up the middle booed."I'd have been booing us, too, the way we played," said Brady, who threw three interceptions and gained less than 200 yards passing for the fourth time in his last five games. "Playing the way we played today, we weren't going to beat anybody."Brady had been 7-0 in postseason games at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots were 8-0 there during the regular season. On Sunday, homefield advantage for a team that hadn't lost a home playoff game since 1978 meant nothing, especially with NFL receptions leader Wes Welker out with a knee injury.Baltimore's running trio of Rice, Willis McGahee and Le'Ron McClain overpowered and sidestepped defenders for 234 yards, 159 by Rice, not far from the Patriots season-low 196 yards of total offense. Rice ran for two touchdowns and McGahee and McClain ran for one each against a team that had allowed just six rushing touchdowns all season.The Ravens (10-7) led 24-0 after one quarter and 27-7 after Dawan Landry's interception on the Patriots second series of the third quarter led to Billy Cundiff's 23-yard field goal.An offense that the Patriots (10-7) couldn't stop — even though Joe Flacco completed just 4 of 10 passes for 34 yards — and a defense that pressured Brady should be a formidable challenge for the Colts and Peyton Manning.
