Super Bowl Sunday is fast approaching between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts, and if we know anything, it's that the Cardinals faced both of these teams in 2009.

Not that long ago the Cardinals were in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs and were given a shellacking at the hands of the Saints. The loss essentially sealed the fate of the Cardinals' season and Kurt Warner's career.

Week three of the regular season featured a Sunday night match up between the Cardinals and the Colts, in which Peyton Manning had his way with the secondary throwing for 379 yards and 4 touchdowns. The Cardinals lost 31-10 and limped into their bye week.

Both losses were viewed in front of a national audience and left a sour taste in the mouths of Cardinal fans.

As the grill is fired up and the alcohol is consumed, we'll sit down to watch the biggest sports spectacle in the world this Sunday. But as Cardinals fans, who do we root for?

It's a difficult choice considering both teams left the Cardinals battered and embarrassed, but there is a sliver of reason behind choosing one of the teams.

The Saints have been blundered with bad luck/play/and overall production in their existence and feature a history very similar to the Cardinals. They brought in Drew Brees and gave him a chance to lead their team, and now he's a hero to the city of New Orleans(how could you not like the guy?). They have a savvy vet in safety Darren Sharper, who's yearning for his last hoorah. Jeremy Shockey can only anticipate hoisting the Lombardi Trophy above his head just to stick it to the Giants. Then you have Reggie Bush, who surely can't wait for his chance at redemption.

On the other side of the field you have the Colts, who feature the best quarterback in the league in Peyton Manning. He manages to always say and do the right thing, despite the amount of media attention that's on him 24/7. They have two very young rookie receivers in Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie, who have played their hearts out during the season and in the playoffs. First year coach Jim Caldwell, is dying to prove those wrong who doubted his decision to rest the starters instead of aiming for the perfect season. Obviously the biggest argument against the Colts is that they won the big game three years ago, and they're clearly not the underdog.

So being Cardinal fans, we've seen each team up, close, and personal, so who will you be rooting for and why?

The Cardinals looked poised for another playoff run before the postseason ever began. They won ten games, featured a more complete offense, and finally had the solid defense they lacked in 2008.

They also won the division and hosted a home playoff game for the second year in a row. In the opening round, Kurt Warner and the offense looked unstoppable, but the defense clearly had its question marks. Nevertheless, our team took part in one of the greatest postseason games in NFL history and prevailed.

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Ouch. That one hurt. In a game where most of us at least expected a shootout till the end, the Arizona Cardinals were pounded 45-14 on Saturday. The game started off perfect for the Cardinals, when Tim Hightower ran the first play of the game 70 yards to stun the Saints crowd and put the Cardinals up 7-0. Then the fun happened.

After the Saints tied the game 7-7, Kurt Warner hit Jerheme Urban in stride, who was hacked by Randall Gay to force the fumble and suck any momentum out of the Cardinals offense at that point. The Saints added two more scores and the Cardinals eventually saw them selves in a 21-7 hole.

Darren Sharper would've had his 10th interception of the year, but a blow to Kurt Warner's face recalled the turnover. The Cardinals drove 80 yards before Beanie Wells ran in a 4 yard touchdown. That would be the closest the Cardinals would ever get.

Kurt Warner was knocked out of the game temporary after throwing a pick to Will Smith and injuring his chest on a blind slide hit.

Reggie Bush played one of the best games of his career, scoring on a 46 yard touchdown scamper and also returning a punt 83 yards in the 3rd quarter. That was the last score of the game and it would also propel the Saints into the NFC Championship game.

The only Cardinals that had remotely close good games were the running backs. Tim Hightower is COTW in my book, and Wells touchdown was big at the time. LaRod Stephens-Howling was productive with kick returns.

I don't want to give props to anyone on defense. They couldn't force a turnover or a sack and the score would've ballooned even larger had the Cardinals actually been in the game.

Personally I want to congratulate the Saints. They were the better team today and found ways to exploit the Cardinals' weaknesses. Losing Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Antrel Rollecertainly hurt, but that's no excuse for the lack of production on offense. The Cardinals can now enter offseason mode and so will we here at ROTB. Good luck to the Saints and represent the NFC well in the Super Bowl.

PS. I hate Jerheme Urban.

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The Arizona Cardinals head off to face the #1 seeded New Orleans Saints on Saturday. They won't play another game at University of Phoenix Stadium but the Cardinals went 6-2 on the road this year and haven't skipped a beat playing in opposing team's stadiums. They will have their hands full as they are coming off an overtime thriller against the Packers just six days ago. Do the Cardinals have what it takes to knock of the top Saints?

The Cardinals

We all know that the Cardinals were a good regular season team, quite possibly better then their 2008 counterpart. They won 10 games for the first time since arriving to Arizona two decades ago, and were a much more balanced team on offense. Last week they narrowly beat a very good Green Bay Packers team, and now face the number one ranked scoring offense this week. They couldn't pull out the Super Bowl victory last year, but destiny could be on their side Saturday as they make another run for a Super Bowl title.

The Saints

The Saints were one of the best regular season teams, beginning 13-0. Their offense was 1st in scoring, and they featured an MVP candidate at quarterback in Drew Brees, three very good wide receivers, and a valid rushing attack. Their defense was underrated, keeping them in games when the offense couldn't score against opposing teams. They spent their last three weeks of the season falling to their opponents, but were still able to clinch the #1 seed and skipped the first round of the playoffs. They too, are gunning for their first ever Super Bowl.

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The Cardinals are set to face the Saints tomorrow to determine who will head to the NFC Championship game, and here at Revenge of the Birds we'll dive into something a little different. One frequent question we ask here is who we'd take from the opposing team. Don't take anything personnel either Saints fans, just some friendly discussion about who we'd nab from your team. It can be a young or older player, a starter or a back up, etc. You can also take their current contract status into consideration, as if we were actually signing the player. Also look at who may be leaving our team after this season. Here are some of my picks.

Drew Brees, QB: With the Warner retirement talks surfacing already it's becoming more and more of a reality that Warner will no longer be in the NFL in the next year or so. With that being said, adding one of the top quarterbacks in the league who still has many years in the NFL ahead of him would be a no-brainer. Brees is the captain of the offense and brings accurate passing and deep throws to every game. Giving him Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Steve Breaston and now Early Doucet would make the Cardinals extremely dangerous and one of the best offenses in the league for years to come.

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In a nutshell - first round byes can propell teams to a Super Bowl victory, but if they're not ready, they'll get knocked out of the playoffs early.  As we know, the New Orleans Saints are coming off the bye week, and haven't won a game in a month. There are arguments on whether or not it's good for a team, but in the end, it's landed several teams in a championship game. Here are some stats since 2002:

• Teams that have had the first round bye have a combined record of 17-11. That's 60% of the teams with first round byes that have advanced to the next round.
• More specifically, teams in the NFC with first round byes have a combined record of 9-5, but in the last two years NFC teams with first round byes are 1-3.
• In 2006, the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints were the last NFC teams to win with a first round bye, advancing to the NFC Championship game where the Bears won 39-14.
• Of the 17 teams that made it to the Championship game, 9 moved on to the Super Bowl. Of the 9, 4 won it all. The only NFC team to win the Super Bowl was the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Most will tell you that a first round bye is benefitial to any team. You get an added week of rest, and you get the advantage of automatically moving on to the divisional round of the playoffs. Then you could make the case that teams who get the added week of rest lose chemistry and aren't in sync upon returning to the field.

The case can be made for both sides.

So I ask you - how effective is the first round bye?

The New Orleans Saints ended 2009 with a 13-3 record. Let me say that 13 wins in a season is never easy to reach, let alone 13 in a row. This year, the Saints proved that they were one of the upper echelon teams of the NFL. 

However, glancing over the schedule, I noticed something that I couldn't keep to myself - the Saints schedule has featured less-then-stellar competition. Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to make the same arguement that you always here: "They haven't played anybody good!" But I will say that the Cardinals and ROTB faithful shouldn't be that worried.

This year, New Orleans' opponents have a combined record of 109-147, and of the 16 teams they've faced, four had winning records; the Eagles, Patriots, Falcons, and Jets. Let's think about this for a moment.

• The Eagles only win against a team with a winning record was the Falcons, who didn't make the playoffs.
• The Patriots and the Eagles were both badly knocked out of the playoffs just last week.
• The Falcons didn't make the playoffs but did manage to hang with the Saints down to the wire in both games they played.
• That leaves the Jets, who are a good team that won in the wild card round last week. The Saints also beat the Jets after they started the season 3-0.

Again, I'm not making the arguement that the Saints are a product of a weak schedule, but that the Cardinals aren't in as much danger as we may think. Yes, the Saints held the second-best record in the league, were the #1 seed for the NFC, featured five pro bowlers on the roster, and were the highest scoring team in the NFL - they earned it. But as you can see, they have a lot riding on their shoulders and many will be counting on the Saints to win - no pressure.