Today, the two QBs with similar accolades but varying styles meet when the Panthers host the Cardinals in the NFC Championship Game, with a berth in the Super Bowl at stake.
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The Panthers finished with the best record in the league in the 2015 regular season with 15 wins against a loss while the Cardinals are 13-3, second best overall in the NFL. The Panthers are entering this game after beating the Seattle Seahawks, 31-24, in a game where the Panthers at one point had a 31 point lead. The game is also airing as a live stream online.
“The two best teams in the NFC are in the championship game”, CBS analyst Phil Simms said. Instead, the Panthers found proper fill-ins and their quirky roster became a united front of colorful personalities in getting one step away from the Super Bowl.
DENVER – One team went without the services of its Hall of Fame-bound quarterback for more than a third of the season, and when he was available, he was a shell of his former self. “Everybody has a different journey”.
“I think we are the better team”, said Cardinals all-pro cornerback Patrick Peterson. After moving to St. Louis in 1960, six years prior to the first Super Bowl, the Cardinals never appeared in the league’s championship game until 2008 – their 21st season in Arizona. Newton, the All-Pro QB, threw for 35 touchdowns and ran for 10, an unprecedented number for the position. Palmer has not looked like the same quarterback since the injury, trying to play with a taped and stiff index finger on his right hand.
“Yeah”, Olsen said. “Just try to run through the coverage and try to get on top of them”.
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The team’s flight left on time and is not being delayed by the winter weather. Stewart’s 59-yard sprint on the first play against Seattle last week catapulted him toward a 106-yard performance and set the tone for a decisive first half. Larry Fitzgerald re-emerged as one of the league’s most risky receivers this season. But Fitzgerald doesn’t get intimidated. “There’s a reason he’s going to be the highest-paid free agent come this offseason. We deal with this periodically, and we’re willing to do whatever you guys need us to do to help, ‘” Paul told the team’s website. Most of the second half last week was Carolina looking to milk the clock and keep possessions, not necessarily that they couldn’t move the ball. “I would idolize the quarterbacks in this position and hope and pray that I would get an opportunity to do it. You see so many different quarterbacks have their chance but nothing happens, and I’m not promised to be in this position again”. Those three very important pieces were joined a year later by the likes of Norman and sensational linebacker Luke Kuechly.
