The biggest area for improvement from this weekend for the Cardinals will need to be the running game.
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Well, the first factor was the play of Jonathan Stewart.
“I don’t know how that’s going to go”, Seattle coach Pete Carroll said on Monday.
While a 15-1 mark was incredible, as was going to Seattle and getting a win in Week 6, the ghost of last year’s playoff loss to the Seahawks chased the Panthers into Sunday.
The NFC Championship was set Sunday when the No. 1-seeded Panthers knocked off the Seahawks, 31-24, in Carolina.
For the moment, they’re all in the same place: one win away from Super Bowl 50. On the flip side, the defense shouldn’t have any problems slowing a wideout corps led by Ted Ginn and focusing on containing Newton, much as Seattle was able to do by holding him to three yards on 11 rushes. Now they are a team still with a young and talented core, but facing important free agent decisions and an offensive transition to be based more around quarterback Russell Wilson.
The Panthers are playing host to the NFC title game for the first time in their history.
The Panthers surrendered a 28-point lead to the New York Giants, a 23-point lead to Green Bay and a 17-point lead to Indianapolis earlier this season, but hung on to win all of those games.
Newton said he, his teammates and coaches have to do a better job of handling the pressure when the opposing team begins to make a big run. “This is a complete team that we will play, as well, and we have to be on our game”.
At the very least, the Seahawks appear to be headed for a changing of the guard at running back with one of the franchise’s marquee players.
The Panthers did not score in the second half. With a big lead, Carolina didn’t need Newton as much in the second half, so that limited his need to throw the ball. This time, Hauschka’s onside kick bounded into the arms of Carolina Pro Bowl linebacker Thomas Davis.
“We appreciate the tremendous support we have seen all season and look forward to a strong home field advantage”, said Phil Youtsey, executive director of ticketing and sponsorship. They’ve got some playmakers that we saw last night and then they have an aggressive defense. Greg Olsen’s spectacular 19-yard reaching catch over double coverage made it 31-0.
Quarterback Russell Wilson threw two interceptions in the opening 30 minutes, including a 14-yard pick six to Luke Kuechly on the Seahawks’ first possession. “And we won the football game”. “I catch the ball every single shotgun snap”, says Newton, glancing down at his huge paws.
But that ended the onslaught, and the Seahawks missed a 55-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the half, then meekly trotted off the field.
“There are hard decisions we have to make and we’ll make them”, Carroll said.
That there is a next Sunday for the Panthers is a testament to their fast start against Seattle and a couple of key plays in the second half that didn’t result in touchdowns but took valuable time off the clock.
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Come to think of it, those might have been the more relevant story lines to emerge from Sunday’s game.
