Ah, yup.
As stated, the win against the Cardinals was the crown jewel and the Pats split with the Fish. That was in the post. They lost to every other playoff team. Also in the post. They beat a bunch of tomato cans down the stretch (also in the post with records). One of those tomato cans was, in fact, the Cardinals.
I gave you the records and statistics. You counter with your opinion and what's in your mind. I'm not going to argue what's going on there. I believe contemporaneous articles and box stores that support your point.
As a history refresher, the Cardinals were playing like trash when the Pats played them. They had lost 3 of the last 5 games before the Pats destroyed them. Warner, in discussing the Super Bowl run in the Super Bowl video (no, I don't have the video so you can search for that if you like) and/or his
A Football Life (same) interviews, stated the beatdown at the hands of the Pats was the turning point for that season. The Pats did not play the Super Bowl caliber team motivated by that loss. They played the chump team that went 2-4 in that stretch. The Pats were the Cardinals' "On to Cincinnati" moment.
And a win against the Super Bowl loser does not translate to playoff success, which is true of any NFL matchup. Patriots beat the Dolphins in the playoffs in '85. Dolphins beat the Bears. I don't recall the Pats beating the Bears in '85. Maybe you recall that game differently and the Pats had the Bears by the throat and let them slip away in losing the championship game. The box score would disagree.
This is an
article from 1/1/2009 (note the contemporaneous article) describing the improbable run and good fortune of the Cardinals to close out as they did. This is
Wikipedia's summary as a bonus: "Under Whisenhunt's first season as head coach, the Cardinals finished with an 8–8 record
in 2007. Arizona then started out the 2008 season strong, winning 7 of their first 10 games. But then things fell apart as the team lost 4 of their last 6, hitting a low point with a brutal 47–7 loss to the
New England Patriots in week 16. Arizona's 34–21 win over the
Seattle Seahawks in the following week was just enough for them to finish with a 9–7 record and earn the #4 seed in the playoffs . . . ."
And the Pats beat the Fish 48-28 in Miami in week 12 after losing at home in Week 2 38-13. My memory may be a tad hazy, but wasn't that bad loss the
wildcat gimmick game that worked once? After BB saw it once, he studied it, designed a defense for it, and then ended it in the second game (as did other teams with that blueprint). The Fish then got squished by Baltimore in the playoffs in Miami 27-9 by that Ravens team you believe was so beatable. The Ravens, unlike the Fish, were not running a gimmick offense, and dropped that Dolphins team when it counted and on the road. Again, actual history rather than unsupported conjecture. Rose-colored glasses, as previously stated.