If the Seattle Seahawks win, they play here – for the second time this month.
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Another short pass – this time, a little flip – from Palmer to Fitzgerald, sent L.F. skipping into the end zone, notching the touchdown, winning the contest, and earning the Cardinals a berth in the NFC Championship Game.
After one penalty and two incompletions, the clock was down to 5 seconds and the Packers were 41 yards from the end zone.
This one didn’t come with the same magical ending.
The Packers and Cardinals had a very close playoff game with Green Bay showing much more than I thought they had.
Ultimately, it was Arizona that earned the coveted bid to next week’s bout, outlasting Green Bay, 26-20, late Saturday night. As he did in a game-winning play against the Detroit Lions, Rodgers sent a Hail Mary pass high into the air. Green Bay would take the ball and respond with a touchdown drive.
Janis leaped between Arizona’s Patrick Peterson and Rashad Johnson to pull down the pass, injuring himself on the play but holding onto the ball by pinning it to his hip.
After an officials review, “Hail Mary”, the sequel, was confirmed.
After the kick-off Rodgers had 1:50 to go 86 yards to try and tie the game at 20. Although there is no rule requiring the coin to flip during a legal coin toss, the league said Blakeman acted out of “basic fairness” rather than a misinterpretation of protocol.
After Catanzaro’s field goal, the Packers still had a chance. Carson Palmer takes the snap and drops back, after narrowly avoiding a sack he was able to find Larry Fitzgerald wide open on the left side of the field and once he caught the ball he was determined to end the game.
Carson Palmer threw for 349 yards, 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
I was waiting on Larry Fitzgerald to get going, and at halftime when he only had one catch for 6 yards I was anxious.
It was Green Bay’s second straight disheartening exit from the playoffs, too.
Packers captain Aaron Rodgers called “tails” just before the coin hit the turf without ever flipping.
“I can’t say we played our best game”, Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy said.
The Packers had hoped for this rematch after being embarrassed 38-8 by the Cardinals two days after Christmas. Palmer put the Cardinals ahead 17-13 on a pass that looked to be an interception when it was deflected by Green Bay’s Randall Damarious and ricocheted into the hands of Michael Floyd. At least twice, he relied on him to a fault; arguably two of the most ill-advised throws Palmer made were to Fitzgerald, in the fourth quarter. That scoring play closed the game and gave the Cardinals a scary 26-20 victory.
The Cardinals responded with a field goal, closing the gap to 13-10, and then regained the lead midway through the fourth quarter with a TD drive covering 80 yards. The only problem is that the coin never flipped. “But the referee used his judgment to determine that basic fairness dictated that the coin should flip for the toss to be valid”.
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It was a coin flip that Rodgers called a “debacle”.
