With the Carolina Panthers’ 31-24 victory over NC State alumnus Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks, the Panthers have put themselves in the NFC title game for the first time in 10 years. With that in mind, we’ll break down what the Panthers need to do to advance to their first Super Bowl in 12 years.
To recap the weekend of both teams, the Panthers rocketed out to a 31-0 lead in the first half. In the second half, the Seahawks came screeching back to score 24 unanswered points, but just fell short of an epic comeback.
As for the Cardinals, they had one of the most memorable endings in recent playoff memory against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. After what looked like a sure-fire Cardinals win, Rodgers sent the game into overtime on a borderline-impossible Hail Mary throw to wide receiver Jeff Janis.
The tie would be short-lived, as the first play of overtime saw Cardinals’ wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald complete a long catch and run to take Arizona to the Green Bay 10-yard line. Fitzgerald would later score on a shuttle pass to win the game, 26-20.
The first thing that the Panthers must work on if they want to beat Carson Palmer and the Cardinals is play solid defense for a full 60 minutes. This season, a problem for the Panthers has been defensive breakdowns in the second half giving life to teams down big.
In games against the New York Giants in Week 15 and Seahawks in the divisional round of the playoffs, both with Super Bowl-caliber quarterbacks in Wilson and Eli Manning, the teams combined to outscore the Panthers 54-17 in the second half. Now the Panthers get to face former Heisman Trophy-winner Palmer and future Hall-of-Famer Fitzgerald.
The Cardinals will be focusing on their high-flying aerial assault. In addition to Fitzgerald, the Cardinals have plenty of depth at the wide receiver position, including second-year wideout John Brown, former first-round pick Floyd and rookie running back David Johnson.
Floyd, Brown and Fitzgerald all have more than 85 targets each this season, and the rookie sensation Johnson from the University of Northern Iowa has amassed more than 1,000 total yards of offense helping the Cardinal offense lead the NFL in total yards.
While all-pro cornerback Josh Norman will be locked up on Fitzgerald, the players to watch for in the Panthers secondary will be Courtland Finnegan and Robert McClain. McClain in particular, was brought in to replace nickel/starting cornerback Bene Benwikere, whose season was cut short during a 38-0 win over the Atlanta Falcons, when he fractured his leg.
As a result of the injuries to Benwikere and fellow cornerback Charles Tillman, the Panthers’ once-vaunted secondary has surrendered 1,242 passing yards and eight passing touchdowns to opposing quarterbacks in its last four games.
While the secondary may still be a major question mark, the Panthers’ running game has been picking it up over the last two games. While the team was second in the NFL in rush yards per game with 142.6 this season, the emergence of Cameron Artis-Payne has been the catalyst for a revamped running game.
The former Auburn standout averaged 4.1 yards per carry in the last three games of the year, so his young legs need to be utilized against a Cardinal defense that gave up 1,460 rushing yards this season, sixth fewest in the league.
One final matchup that will have everybody’s attention Sunday night will be the one between Palmer and Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. For the first time in NFL history, two former No. 1 overall picks and Heisman Trophy winners will face off in the postseason.
Each quarterback looks to lead his respective team to the Super Bowl Sunday night in Charlotte.
