ESPN analyst Jaworski: Arizona Cardinals vs. Seahawks will be a ‘prizefight’
Dec 19, 2014, 4:15 AM | Updated: 5:58 pm
Call in Ali; ESPN NFL analyst Ron Jaworski says the Arizona Cardinals’ game against conference opponent Seattle Seahawks “will be a prizefight.”
“They’ll just slug it out,” he said to Burns and Gambo on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Thursday.
“This is not going to be one of those ‘pretty games,'” he said. “This is a little bit of an old-school throwback kind of football game with a lot at stake.”
Like home field advantage and a bye week, for example.
There’s a lot of pressure on the Cardinals, but Jaworski has some advice for the team as they prepare for Sunday.
“I’ve never bought into that ‘it’s just another game,'” he said. “I know that’s the way coaches try to sell it, and you prepare your team for 16 games…but every player knows when there’s a big game. They can’t go anywhere without people wanting to talk about it.
“My feeling is always to embrace it, but don’t be distracted by the magnitude of the game.”
The 11-3 Cardinals have had a season that’s the stuff of fairytales (or famous movies about boxers) with plenty of adversity to overcome along the way. Jaworski says to give credit where its due.
“You gotta give Bruce Arians and his staff a lot of credit,” he said. “He is the coach of the year in my opinion — to hold this team together and keep instilling confidence when everyone else would doubt the direction they were going, you know, he held to his guns and got the job done.