Carolina Panthers players celebrate with fans after the NFL football NFC Championship game against the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2016, in Charlotte, N.C. The Panthers won 49-15 to advance to the Super Bowl.
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The Arizona Cardinals were hoping to at least put up a good fight in the NFC championship game against the Carolina Panthers.
Harper, a 10-year pro, said he had some vision problems after he was hit from behind by teammate Luke Kuechly. Davis has never played in a Super Bowl. He makes a lot of impact plays, but to me it is also about the unit more so than anything else.
“Probably to me the play of the game was the missed throw that Cam Newton made to Ed Dickson going up the seam”, coach Ron Rivera said.
Newton threw a long touchdown pass on third down in the first quarter and scored on a 1-yard dive over the pile in the second as the Panthers powered to a 24-7 halftime lead. Palmer was charged with six of Arizona’s seven turnovers, twice intercepted by safety Kurt Coleman. Newton matured under the tutelage of Ken Dorsey and Mike Shula and now find themselves one win away from the franchise’s first Lombardi Trophy.
But he may have saved his best game for Sunday.
Palmer was 23 of 40 for 235 yards with four interceptions.
It will be Newton’s first trip to the Super Bowl and the second trip to the big game for the Panthers (17-1), who lost to New England 12 years ago.
Ginn, who set up the touchdown with a 33-yard punt return, took a pitch from Newton and ran around the left end, then cut back across the field and eluded tacklers to reach the end zone. “The doctors feel real comfortable about it and we’ll see how he is once he gets here tomorrow and the trainers get a chance to look at it”. “I kept digging us a hole that we just couldn’t come out of”.
This wasn’t what anyone could have expected from the Cardinals, whose 13 regular-season wins allowed them to dethrone the two-time NFC champion Seattle Seahawks as NFC West champions. After a Cardinal’s punt, the Panthers capitalized once again by capping off the drive with a 22 yard touchdown pass from Cam Newton to Ten Ginn Jr.
“Carson is an older guy”, defensive back Jerraud Powers said.
Palmer said so much work went into the season that the conclusion was hard.
While fingers of blame can be pointed in various directions for the Cardinals, they were simply out played in every aspect of the game. The win over the Cardinals may have been the most complete game played by the Panthers defense this season.
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It was almost a repeat of the strong start for Carolina in the divisional playoffs.
