Michael Manny

It took Matthew Stafford 13 years and three wild card losses to win his first playoff game before he was finally able to get over the hump in the Los Angeles Rams’ 34-11 blowout of the Arizona Cardinals. To get his second win, Stafford will have to outduel the quarterback who has the most playoff wins (35) and Super Bowl rings (seven) in NFL history in Tom Brady. The Rams and defending champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers meet for the second time this season in Tampa in the divisional round.

The day after Christmas, the Pittsburgh Steelers played one of their worst games of the season on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs, losing 36-10. The game got so ugly in the fourth quarter that CBS switched over to the Las Vegas Raiders and Denver Broncos game, only for quarterback Derek Carr to take a knee and run out the clock. With the team sitting at 7-7-1, it looked like Steelers future Hall of Fame quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s 18-year career would come to an anticlimactic end.

The old adage in the NFL has always been that “defense wins championships.” Despite that cliché, it’s obvious that today’s NFL is a quarterback-driven league. Quarterbacks are protected better and are playing into their late 30s and early 40s seemingly more than ever. If a team doesn’t have their franchise quarterback, they are trying to find them. If a team doesn’t have a Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen or Aaron Rodgers, it’s difficult to make a run at a Super Bowl. This column isn’t about them.

Denny Hamlin has had a tense week. The 40-year-old started at the back of the pack due to failing pre-race inspection twice. Despite this, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver still had the chance to win at Martinsville for the sixth time, the most by any active Cup Series driver. With seven laps to go, Hamlin was spun by Alex Bowman. After the race, as Bowman was about to do a victory burnout, Hamlin blocked him and bumped his car into Bowman’s nose, flashing two middle fingers.

The Kliff Kingsbury-era Cardinals have shown they can win a shootout against any team. But it was the defense that carried the day as Arizona beat the San Francisco 49ers 17-10 to improve to 5-0 for the first time since 1974. Besides an early eight-play drive that ended in a James Conner touchdown, the Arizona offense wasn’t its usual...

Behind a second-half offensive resurgence and a timely pick-six, the Cardinals survived a rough first half to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 31-19 and move to 3-0 for the first time since 2015. The Arizona offense came out firing the first two weeks of the season. This time around, it looked mostly sluggish for the first 30-plus minutes.

This summer, Chandler Jones requested a trade from the Cardinals, as he was unhappy with his current contract. Looks like he just earned a new one. Behind Jones’ career-high five sacks and Kyler Murray’s five total touchdowns, the Cardinals beat the Tennessee Titans 38-13 Sunday in one of the biggest statement wins of the Kliff Kingsbury era.

The best of baseball are about ready to take the field at the 2021 MLB All-Star Game at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. Like every year, the 91st edition of the Midsummer Classic is not lacking in stars. Aaron Judge, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani headline the American League starters. In the National League, Padres superstar Fernando Tatis Jr., Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman and Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado are among the notable starters.

After an eleven-year drought filled with poor lottery picks, seven different head coaches, several consecutive 25-win or lower seasons and front office dysfunction, the Phoenix Suns have returned to the NBA playoffs. But they have a brutal task ahead — taking on the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. Ironically, the Suns are facing the Lakers in the playoffs just as they did in their last series a decade ago. That year, Steve Nash, Amar’e Stoudemire and Co. lost in six games

Saying that it has been a rollercoaster of an offseason for the Houston Texans would be an understatement. Franchise quarterback Deshaun Watson requested a trade in January, and now 22 civil lawsuits alleging inappropriate sexual behavior and sexual assault have been filed against him. Texans icon J.J. Watt departed for the Arizona Cardinals, and a new head coach has been hired in former Ravens passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach David Culley.

The Arizona Cardinals came into the 2021 NFL draft with needs at cornerback, wide receiver and the defensive line. Five of their seven picks were spent on the defensive side of the ball, with hopes of improving a unit that struggled at times, though was much improved from 2019. With that being said, let’s recap each of the team’s selections. With the pick of Collins, there is hope that he and 2019 first-rounder Isaiah Simmons can form a tandem to anchor the defense for years to come.

The Cincinnati Bengals added an electric talent with the fifth pick in this year’s NFL Draft as they took LSU wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase — reuniting him with former teammate Joe Burrow. Chase could turn out to be a great player at the NFL level. However, his selection could end up doing more harm to Burrow’s career than good. By selecting him, the Bengals passed over Oregon tackle Penei Sewell, who many believed to be a no-brainer at five.