If you saw the problems Alex Smith and his punchless group of skill position players gave the Patriots, you should be worried about what Cam and his better group of skill players could do.
The Chiefs did convert more third downs between the 20s but let's not act like they were putting on a clinic on the defense. Alex Smith only averaged 4.92 yards per attempt, which is awful. Their offense also had to gain 18.9 yards for every point they scored, in other words they had to travel 132.3 for the equivalent of a touchdown and an extra point (for comparison, the Patriots had to gain 12.6 yards for every point they scored, so the equivalent to a touchdown and extra point would be traveling 88.2). The Pats D was playing solid bend but don't break defense that game.
Carolina's offense will certainly be tougher than KC's. Similar to KC their best receiving option in that game will be their tight end, but we've shutting down tight end's all year. Other than Olsen their receiving corp isn't anything special at all.
Their run game is their main strength, which if we know BB this is what he'll try to take away. If Hightower is healthy, then I think we can stand a pretty good chance of limiting it. Maybe put Jaimie Collins as a spy on Cam because he really could take off at anytime.
It would certainly be interesting to see the game plan that BB and Patricia would come up with.
If you saw the problems that Fitzy, Brandon Marshall and Decker gave the Patriots, you should be worried about what Palmer and his group of big receivers could do.
This doesn't hold as much water really. One team is a division rival during the regular season and the other is a team in another conference in the playoffs.
Not to mention Palmer was looking extremely nervous in his playoff game this season. If the Cardinals win, it'll be interesting to see how Carson looked for further evaluation.
To me matchups are more important than historical data involving different players and teams. Of these two, I think I prefer the matchup against the Cards since I think Palmer is more likely to make mistakes than Cam.
Matchups are certainly important and they can be complimented well with historical data. And I like the matchup with the Cards better too. Historically BB does better in the playoffs against the type of offenses like the Cards.
