He rolled left in the end zone and heaved a 61-yard completion behind the Cardinal secondary to tall, third-string receiver Jeff Janis – who was only even playing at crunch time because of injuries to Green Bay’s regular wideouts, Randall Cobb (who left in the first half with a chest injury) and Davante Adams (who didn’t even dress with a knee injury).
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Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald ran in for the winning touchdown in overtime to give the Cardinals a 26-20 victory over Green Bay on Sunday after an extraordinary finish to an National Football League playoff game that will be remembered as one of the classics.
The biggest play was the first play from scrimmage in overtime, as future Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald found himself wide open and broke numerous tackles on a 75-yard catch and run to open overtime.
“As simple as a word as “special” is, it describes him probably the best”, Palmer said of Fitzgerald, who caught eight passes for 176 yards.
Arizona pulled within three points with a third-quarter field goal from Chandler Catanzaro.
Palmer had to wait until Saturday for his next postseason appearance, and finally got the playoff redemption he’d yearned for with a 26-20 overtime win over the Packers.
With 55 seconds to go, Green Bay was pushed back into a fourth-and-20 situation at its 4-yard line when Rodgers scrambled and threw 60 yards to Janis at the 36. Have thoughts on how the Green Bay or Arizona are performing? Referee Clete Blakeman intially flubbed the toss, as his first attempt didn’t actually flip the coin.
When the ball came down it was that man Janis in the right place to make the catch and, with Mason Crosby hitting the extra point, overtime was needed to settle the game.
Rodgers gave Green Bay’s season a kick start with a desperation heave to beat Detroit on December 3 to Richard Rodgers. On the very next play, Palmer rifled a pass over the middle that bounced off Fitzgerald’s arm and into the waiting hands of Floyd for a nine-yard touchdown and 17-13 Cardinals lead with 3:44 to play.
Because of an illegal-motion penalty, Rodgers and Janis actually covered more than 100 yards on the drive.
The Arizona Cardinals are on to the NFC Championship game next Sunday.
The Cardinals scored a field goal on that possession and had control late in the fourth until an Aaron Rodgers Hail Mary forced overtime as the clock struck zero. The Cardinals couldn’t get a running game going.
Palmer’s final numbers – 25 of 41 for 349 yards, three touchdowns and two picks – don’t tell the full story. Fitzgerald sprinted into the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown that punctuated a wild, unpredictable, inexplicable playoff game in the desert.
Let’s think about this for a second: which was the more improbable event – the coin not flipping or Rodgers completing the Hail Mary?
Fitzgerald had a quiet first half against the Packers, hauling in just one pass for six yards. “There were freakish plays made by both teams”. Rollins entered the game as part of the dime package after defensive back Micah Hyde left with a hip injury and did not return.
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This one had more bobbing and weaving and didn’t result in a touchdown, but he took care of that two plays later on a 5-yard, game-ending score.
