NFL Playoff Capsules: Whisenhunt sets tone for incredible Cardinals

TEMPE, Ariz. - The man who performed a football exorcism in the desert is keeping his cool with his Arizona Cardinals a win away from the Super Bowl.

Then again, Ken Whisenhunt just about always keeps his cool.

The Cardinals franchise never has been here before, but Whisenhunt has. He was offensive coordinator of the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers before taking on the formidable challenge of coaching the NFL's laughingstock of a franchise.

No one's laughing now, except maybe in disbelief. Whisenhunt brought Steelers toughness and an organized, unflappable style. He didn't get one vote for coach of the year this season. If the balloting had waited a few weeks, no doubt he would.

"You go how your leader goes," quarterback Kurt Warner said. "He deserves a tremendous amount of credit, most importantly for bringing in a belief that we could accomplish something that had never been before."

This week, Whisenhunt again is leading his team through uncharted territory. After all, Arizona's 9-7 record marked only their second winning season since 1984. They hosted Atlanta in a wild-card game that was the Cardinals' first home playoff contest since they beat Philadelphia to win the NFL title 61 years ago. As the Chicago Cardinals.

Now it's Philadelphia again on Sunday for the NFC championship and a trip to the Super Bowl in Tampa. The 45-year-old coach from Augusta, Ga., is trying to keep his players from getting too carried away with the moment.

"Anytime you get to this level, whether you're an assistant coach, whether you're a player, whether you're whatever, it's a fantastic feeling," Whisenhunt said. "But you don't want to get so wrapped up in that that you don't realize this is an important game for us and we have to keep our focus on that."

Asked what the biggest areas of concern were, Whisenhunt said "dealing with distractions."

"You also have to handle not getting too big for your britches," he said. "When the 32-team field gets down to four teams and all that attention comes to you, a lot of times guys start feeling they're a little better than they are, maybe losing that work ethic that got them to that point."

Whisenhunt had to rely on that work ethic to make it as a tight end in the NFL after being drafted in the 12th round by Atlanta out of Georgia Tech in 1985. He played from 1985 to 1993 with Atlanta, Washington and the New York Jets before turning to coaching.

He had stops as an assistant for Baltimore, Cleveland and the Jets before joining Bill Cowher's staff at Pittsburgh as tight ends coach in 2001. He moved up to offensive coordinator in 2004.

Passed over for the Steelers job, he came to Arizona and went 8-8 in his first season, then won the NFC West title in his second. Along the way, he has made some difficult decisions, most significantly making Warner the starting quarterback over Matt Leinart this season.

Whisenhunt wanted a strong staff, and the Cardinals' front office allowed him to spend some money to get one that includes his former Steelers colleague Russ Grimm as associate head coach and offensive line coach; Todd Haley as offensive coordinator; and John Lott as strength and conditioning coach. He retained defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast from Dennis Green's Arizona staff.

On the sideline, he rarely shows much emotion, studying his clipboard and talking calmly on his headset. He has let his feelings show at times as the games grew more important.

After the playoff victories at home against Atlanta and on the road at Carolina, he ran along the stadium front row slapping hands with Cardinals fans.

Whisenhunt's demeanor, and that of the ex-Super Bowl champion and MVP Warner, keep a mostly young team steady, fullback Terrelle Smith said. Whisenhunt is low-key normally, Smith said, and even more low-key when things go bad. He's got a staff that can make up for it, especially the vociferous Haley.

Whisenhunt said he learned from Cowher not to get caught up thinking about how far the team has come. As usual, he's homed in on the task at hand.

"I've had the great fortune of being in this game a number of times, in the championship game, and being in the Super Bowl and I know how special it is," Whisenhunt said. "My focus right now is really on trying to do the best job we can do this week to play well and hopefully advance."

Eagles wary of a letdown now that they're favored

PHILADELPHIA - Donovan McNabb cracked a joke last week when asked his thoughts on the Philadelphia Eagles being labeled a "dangerous" team by Sports Illustrated.

"Well, they called the Cardinals dangerous, too," McNabb said with a smile. "It's a regional copy. Everybody's dangerous."

McNabb didn't have to single out the Cardinals, so his quip came across as an unintentional diss. The quarterback and the rest of Philadelphia better respect Arizona now.

The Cardinals (11-7) upset Carolina to advance to the NFC championship for the first time since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970. They'll host the Eagles (11-6-1) on Sunday with a trip to the Super Bowl at stake. This game is nothing new for McNabb, who's led Philly this far five times in eight years. But the Eagles still haven't hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Considering the way the Eagles dominated the Cardinals in a 48-20 win on Thanksgiving, few give Arizona much of a chance. Oddsmakers list Philadelphia as a 3-point favorite on the road, a rarity in conference championships.

"Just watching their game against Carolina, and the first game they won last week, this team is continuing to gel," McNabb said. "Everyone talked about them not being able to win on the East coast, and then to be able to go down to Carolina when everyone expected them to lose by a lot, and to win by a lot, the team just continued to gel."

Eagles coach Andy Reid knows his team will be facing a formidable opponent.

"This will be a different football team that we will see out there," he said. "I've had a chance to go through the last four games of their season, and it's very obvious when you put on the film.

"Schematically, they're doing some different things, way more aggressive from the defensive standpoint. Offensively, they've always been aggressive, but they've got the run game going. The offensive line is playing better. You already know they have a good coaching staff. I mean, they have one of the finest staffs around in schemes and so on, guys that know how to win games. They're playing very good football right now."

When these teams met six weeks ago, they were going in opposite directions. The Eagles had fallen to 5-5-1 after a lopsided loss at Baltimore in which McNabb was benched for the first time in his career. They seemed headed for their third last-place finish since losing the 2005 Super Bowl to New England, and Reid and McNabb got most of the blame.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals had a comfortable lead in the NFC West and were on the verge of clinching their first division title in 33 years.

But the Eagles controlled the game right from the start, jumping to a 21-0 lead. They held the ball nearly 40 minutes, racked up 437 total yards and got four touchdown passes from McNabb and four TDs from Brian Westbrook. The defense intercepted Kurt Warner three times and held the Cardinals to 260 yards, much of it coming after the outcome was decided.

Now, the Cardinals get a second chance at success.

Arizona's defense has stepped up in the playoffs, shutting down the league's No. 2 and No. 3 rushing teams - Atlanta and Carolina. The Cardinals also have forced nine turnovers.

"We have a feeling of what they like to do, especially on the defensive side," McNabb said. "We know that they're a blitzing team, and they'll probably be blitzing more than they showed in that Thanksgiving game. Defensively, they get pressure from Bertrand Berry and Adrian Wilson and the rest of those guys who are really playing at a high level."

-- Rob Maaddi

Resilient Ravens renounce rest

OWINGS MILLS, Md. - Reaching the AFC championship game as a sixth seed is impressive. Doing it after going 5-11 last season is stunning.

And winning 13 games with a rookie coach and a first-year quarterback is unprecedented.

If that isn't enough, throw in the fact the Baltimore Ravens have played 17 straight weeks without blinking, and their accomplishments this season are downright amazing.

Maybe even Super.

Coach John Harbaugh knew unexpected problems would pop up in his effort to turn the Ravens into a contender. Yet he never could have anticipated having a bye week wiped out by hurricane, leaving Baltimore the prospect of playing the final 15 weeks of the regular season consecutively.

As a wild-card team, the Ravens (13-5) didn't get the luxury of a week off before beginning the playoffs. So their game against Pittsburgh on Sunday will be their 18th in a row without a break - a stretch that hasn't been undertaken since the bye week was instituted in 1990.

"I think we like it this way. After we lost the bye week, we understood where we were going to be," wide receiver Derrick Mason said. "We understood what we had to do. We understood the obstacles that were going to be in front of us."

After their Sept. 14 game against the Houston Texans was postponed by Hurricane Ike, that became the Ravens' bye - even though they practiced the entire week leading up to it. Baltimore's scheduled bye was Nov. 9, but that became the makeup day for the game in Houston.

"Right after it happened, we talked a little bit about it. The idea was that we were going to need to do something when the time came," Harbaugh said. "We felt good about the fact that we had an opportunity to prepare for a week and practice for a week to improve our football team, because we had a good week of practice.

"But we knew we were going to have to do something later. So when the time came, we just decided how we wanted to set it up."

Harbaugh periodically gave the Ravens a day off when the opportunity arose, and sometimes he cut short practice to keep the players fresh. There were also times when he conducted a walkthrough instead of having the players suit up in pads.

"It was nothing dramatic," Harbaugh said.

But it worked. There was a stretch in which the Ravens were forced to play five road games over a six-week span, including that makeup game in Houston. Baltimore went 4-2, and has drawn upon that experience as a wild-card team.

"We've still got a few games left, and we're on the road again," Mason said. "We haven't got a bye week. Guys are nicked up, and people on Pittsburgh's side are as well. So, we're going to keep fighting and keep fighting."

That's been the credo since the middle of September.

"I mean, our circumstances are our circumstances. People adjust," linebacker Bart Scott said. "If football was a game where we didn't have a bye week, nobody would complain. You would adjust and move on. We didn't have a bye week this year, we adjusted and moved on. No need to make a big deal about it."

One way or another, the Ravens will finally get a week off after the AFC championship. Either they'll have a break before playing in the Super Bowl on Feb. 1, or they'll be done for the year.

It won't help to lament the fact the Steelers had a bye on Oct. 12 and during the first week of the playoffs. Rather, the Ravens hope to ride the momentum created by an 11-2 run.

"I look at it as I have an opportunity, one opportunity, to get somewhere that I always dreamed about when I was a kid," Scott said. "And that's playing in the Super Bowl."

-- David Newberry

Tomlin quickly puts stamp on Steelers

PITTSBURGH - The message is delivered differently, and with no spittle accompanying it. Mike Tomlin took over Bill Cowher's team two years ago next week, yet he never promised to be just like Bill.

He hasn't been, either, even if the results are strikingly similar. The Pittsburgh Steelers changed coaches for only the third time in 38 years when Tomlin replaced Cowher, but they didn't change the way they do business.

As Tomlin related Tuesday, Steelers owner Dan Rooney wouldn't stand for that. That's why the franchise's five Super Bowl trophies line a hallway linking the practice field to the coaches' offices - not to intimidate, but to inspire.

"I love the high expectations that come with this job. I'd rather have high ones than low ones," Tomlin said. "The tradition is awesome. You can't put a price tag on it. It's inspiring. ... Those who come before us set the standards for us. We understand that when we come into the building, when we take to the field, and we hope the way we go about our business honors those guys."

Much like Cowher in 1992 and, too, Chuck Noll in 1969, Tomlin wasn't well known outside the NFL when the Steelers hired him. The job was expected to go to either offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt or assistant head coach Russ Grimm, but Tomlin beat them out in the interview process.

Whisenhunt, passed over by the Steelers, has since resurrected the Arizona Cardinals and has them in Sunday's NFC championship game. Grimm is one of his assistants.

Some Steelers players who had friends with the Vikings, where Tomlin was the defensive coordinator in 2006, or the Buccaneers, for whom he coached the defensive backs from 2001-05, called to ask about Tomlin, who was only 34 when Pittsburgh hired him.

"I think everyone's unsure about the direction of this team," safety Troy Polamalu said before Tomlin's rookie season. "He inherited a team. He didn't build it up from 13 years of being in the league, for example. Obviously, it's going to take time, as a natural product of being a new coach."

Didn't take that long. Tomlin made certain there was no time for the Rooneys to be second-guessed for choosing him, getting the Steelers off to a 9-3 start in 2007 before injuries wore them down. They were eliminated by Jacksonville in a wild-card playoff game.

Cowher's record his first season: 11-5. Tomlin's: 10-6. Cowher's record his first two seasons, counting the playoffs: 20-14, with no playoff wins. Tomlin's: 23-11, with one playoff win.

This season, the Steelers withstood a brutal schedule (the Giants, Colts, Chargers, Patriots, Cowboys, Ravens and Titans among their final 10 opponents), a slow-to-develop offensive line, numerous injuries and the free-agent departure of former All-Pro guard Alan Faneca to put together the franchise's fourth 12-win season since 1979.

"I think we're more comfortable (with Tomlin)," Hines Ward said. "He's probably more comfortable with us."

Like Cowher, Tomlin is a hands-on coach during practice. He can be seen talking to players about subject matters big and small, but he is certainly not a coach controlled by his players, no matter their salary or level of stardom.

Cowher yelled more frequently and visibly along the sidelines than Tomlin does, but that doesn't mean Tomlin's message doesn't get delivered. He'll sit a starter for weeks if he thinks it's necessary, even a Pro Bowl player, as he did with overweight lineman Casey Hampton during training camp.

While Tomlin's players occasionally offer insights into the way he coaches, Tomlin said he neither reads nor truly cares about what they say.

"I'm not interested in evaluating my performance and, particularly, I'm not interested in my players' evaluation of my performance," Tomlin said. "I'm paid to evaluate their performance."

This is a big week for Tomlin, and not only because he has a chance to do something neither of his two immediate predecessors did by coaching the Steelers to the Super Bowl in only his second season. Noll got the Steelers there four times, winning each, but needed six seasons to reach his first. Cowher required four.

Tomlin's greatest influence as a coach, Tony Dungy, retired Monday as Colts coach, and Tomlin was effusive a day later in praising his mentor.

If Tomlin gets to the Super Bowl and wins, no doubt much will be written and said about him joining Dungy as the only black coaches to win an NFL championship.

Fittingly, Tomlin got his first head coaching job with the same team, the Steelers, that Dungy played for during the 1970s and that later chose to be the youngest coordinator in NFL history at age 28.

"I don't have enough time to talk about the impact coach Dungy had on my professional life, my personal life and I'm sure there's a bunch of people that feel the same way as I do," Tomlin said. "As he walks away from football, I tend to focus on his contributions to the game. People appreciate what he is as a person ... but as we appreciate him as a person, I think we diminish somehow what he's done as a coach and what he's done for this game. He's the ultimate coach, the ultimate motivator."

In a couple of weeks, Tomlin could reach the NFL's ultimate peak, too, and at the age of 36. Currently, the youngest to win a Super Bowl was Tampa's Jon Gruden at 39, with Tomlin as one of his assistants.

"We're playing for hardware this week," Tomlin said Tuesday.

The hardware handed out Feb. 1 - the Lombardi Trophy - is much-better known than the AFC trophy, and Tomlin now is among the four coaches who could win it.

"That's what you play for, to win a championship," he said.

-- Alan Robinson