Arizona Cardinals: What a difference a year makes
By Scott Allen
The Arizona Cardinals had a fantastic finish in the the playoffs one year ago today
The Arizona Cardinals players today are sitting at home or have already started their vacations. One year ago today, they played not their best game ever but it certainly was the best ending since coming to the desert.
After giving up a lead to the Green Bay Packers in the 2015 NFC Divisional Playoff, the Cardinals found a way to take the lead and put the Packers on the ropes. Or so we thought.
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw two amazing passes to send the game to overtime. The second pass was a Hail Mary to virtual unknown receiver Jeff Janis.
The coin toss was flubbed by the officials but it went in the Cardinals favor. A couple of plays into overtime, it was over.
Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer, who didn’t play particularly well, at least not as well as he had in the regular season, made maybe his best play of the entire season.
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He scrambled out of a sack going to his right and found receiver Larry Fitzgerald all the way across the field wide open. Fitz grabbed the ball and ended up 75-yards down the field. It had appeared he would score on the long catch and run.
He ended up on the five-yard line. Two plays later the shovel pass heard around the world was completed to Fitz and the rest was history.
In a game that had Green Bay down to its final play on 4th and 20 at the Green Bay four-yard line to the Hail Mary to the overtime craziness, it truly was an amazing ending. It soon will not be forgotten. It is hard to believe that was already one-year ago.
The 2016 season may have put a sour taste in our mouths with the Cardinals finishing 7-8-1 but it is endings like that one that keeps the hope alive for 2017. Hopefully Fitz will come around and play at least one more year.