Monday, January 2, 2012

Cardinals finish the season with an OT win against the Seahawks, 23-20

Fitzgerald left his best for last and started 2012 off with a bang. The Japanese Fighting Fish snagged two of the greatest catches this NFL season in a 9 catch 149 yard performance against the Seattle Seahawks. The Cards pushed out first to a Get a comfortable 20-10 4th quarter lead, however the Seahawks were the team that forced OT with a late comeback. In OT, Fitzgerald made a great one-handed catch to set up a 28-yard Jay Feely game winning FG. The Cardinals finish the season with an 8-8 record and 2nd place in the NFC West. Arizona showed vast improvement in close games as they were 1-6 in the first 7 games, but finished 7-2 with an improved defense and some fourth quarter/OT magic from Skelton. If Skelton can improve his accuracy, he'll give Kolb a run for his money in the off-season. If Kolb can stay healthy, the offense will improve. If the Cards can keep most of their roster and coaches and get a few offensive linemen, they should really improve next year.

Packers top Lions in a shoot-out without Rodgers, 45-41

Matt Flynn had a better game than any single performance by Aaron Rodgers this year as the 4-year, former 7th round back-up from LSU filled in for the regular season finale. Flynn passed for 480 yards and 6 TDs. If Rodgers had a performance like that, he would've been only the 5th QB to ever hit 5000 yards in a season and throw 51 TDs, which would be a new record. Rodgers didn't get the chance at that record, but Matthew Stafford was able to hit 5000 yards on the season as he threw for 520 yards, but the Packers proved too much. The Pack will have the first overall seed in NFC and the Lions will have the 6th seed in the NFC.