NFL Playoffs Schedule for Saturday, January 3: Atlanta Falcons Travel to Arizona Cardinals

The 2008 NFL playoffs get under way on Saturday with the NFC and AFC each fielding teams and the early game will feature Atlanta Falcons (11-5) traveling to face the Arizona Cardinals (9-7) with a 4:30 p.m. ET kickoff set.

Atlanta has made a remarkable turnaround from a 4-12 record a year ago to an 11-5 mark this year and Saturday’s game against Arizona could be determined by how well the Cardinals handle the balanced offensive attack of the Falcons. While quarterback Matt Ryan has received a lot of praise for his rookie campaign and much has been made about the resurgence of wide receiver Roddy White the true heart of the Atlanta offense is their ground attack and more specifically Michael Turner.

After coming over from the Chargers in the offseason Turner has put together an outstanding year in which he finished second in the NFL in rushing yards while wearing down defenses with his bruising runs. Turner was complemented by Jerious Norwood who has provided bursts of speed out of the backfield and been a big part of the Falcons kick return unit.

Heading into the game Arizona knows they will have to do something about stopping the run, something they have struggled with throughout the season. That being said the defense has been hit hard over the final six weeks of the season as they finished 2-4 with all four of those losses coming against teams with winning records. In those losses Brian Westbrook rushed for 110 yards for the Philadelphia Eagles, Adrian Peterson rushed for 165 yards for the Minnesota Vikings and the New England Patriots rolled up 183 yards on the ground.

That Arizona defense will have to figure out how to stop Turner who has rushed for more than 100 yards in eight games this year and twice topped 200 yards. If Turner is running, the passing game for Ryan will open and he’ll be looking to his favorite target Roddy White as well as Michael Jenkins who has seen his star rise in 2008.

Of course Arizona is in the playoffs for a reason and that has been their high-powered offensive attack that features Kurt Warner at QB along with his receiving corps of Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald. Both Boldin and Fitzgerald have topped 1,000 yards receiving and have combined for 23 touchdowns, a significant portion of Warner’s 30 TD tosses this year.

That passing game is about the only offense the Cardinals have as their running game is nearly nonexistent. Warner will have his chances on Saturday as the Falcons secondary has been picked on by big receivers when their line can’t get to the quarterback. If the offensive line for the Cardinals can hold off the push of John Abraham and the rest of Atlanta’s defensive line it could be a long day for the Falcons secondary.

Despite a 6-2 mark at home the Arizona Cardinals are currently a 2.5 point underdog to the Atlanta Falcons who posted a 4-4 record on the road.

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