Reliving the Arizona Cardinals’ NFC Championship loss
By Jim Koch
Another look at what went right and wrong in the Arizona Cardinals’ NFC Championship game loss to the Carolina Panthers
The Arizona Cardinals were close. 60 minutes away from Santa Clara, where the Denver Broncos would be waiting to play them. It would’ve been the Cards second Super Bowl appearance in eight seasons.
But it was not to be. That honor of representing the NFC in the Super Bowl would go to the Carolina Panthers. They dismantled the Cardinals 49 to 15 in a game every bit as lopsided as the score would indicate.
Just when it seemed the game had finally become a distant memory, Amazon’s historic “All or Nothing ” reality series brought it back for all fans to live through once again.
The game started bad and never really got any better. In no time at all Carolina was up 17 to 0. Penalties, 12 men on the field, and missed tackles all contributed to the Cards deficit. Not the way a team playing in the NFC Championship should perform.
There were some positives. A 10-play, 79-yard drive during the second quarter culminated in a one-yard TD run by rookie running back David Johnson, cutting the Panther’s lead to 17 to 7.
With momentum starting to turn their way following their scoring drive what the team needed was a defensive stop. They got it. After a seven-yard scamper by Carolina QB Cam Newton, passes on 2nd and then 3rd down fell incomplete and Arizona had gotten the three and out they so desperately needed.
With time left on the clock before halftime the Cards had finally seized momentum , things were starting to look up.
Then came the first of two game-changing plays. The punt after the three and out by the Panther’s Brad Nordman was short. Arizona return man Patrick Peterson raced up to field it, at the last second appearing to take his eyes off of it.
He muffed it. Carolina ball. The Panthers would capitalize, executing a 46-yard drive which ended with another TD. The Cards were behind by 17 once again, 24 to 7.
After a Carson Palmer fumble on the ensuing drive, Peterson attempted to make up big time for his fumbled punt. After picking off a Newton pass at the Cardinal six yard line he raced 72 yards with it, returning it all the way to the Panther 22 yard line.
What followed was game-changing play number two. After Peterson’s electrifying return Palmer made perhaps the most bone-headed error of the game.
He inexcusably threw into traffic in the center of the end zone, attempting to find WR John Brown on a post pattern. What made it most unforgiving was that it was a first-down play that was strangely reminiscent of the fourth-quarter pick he threw late in their loss at Pittsburgh.
If Palmer could’ve just shown a little patience, a TD right there before the half could’ve been huge. It would’ve cut Carolina’s lead to 24 to 14 and possibly given the momentum back to Arizona. And if there’s one thing that Bruce Arians’ teams have shown is that they play well in the second half of games.
And that was pretty much it, not alot to write positively about for the Cards in the second half. There was a meaningless TD pass from Palmer to tight end Darren Fells and the subsequent two-point conversion by J.J. Nelson on an end-around.
It’s now time to finally put this loss in the rear-view mirror. It was another step by the Cardinals in the Arians’ era and a great learning experience for every Arizona Cardinal involved. They remain two steps from the Super Bowl dream but with the roster they now have there’s no reason they shouldn’t make that leap this season.