Next up for Carolina: a No. 1-ranked Broncos defense last seen making life miserable Sunday for some guy named Tom Brady.
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Wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. caught a touchdown and saved another one by running down cornerback Patrick Peterson on Newton’s lone mistake – a second-quarter pass that he floated over tight end Ed Dickson and into Peterson’s arms.
But that’s about where the similarities end.
Of course, the Panthers are interdivisional rivals with the Atlanta Falcons, but Cam is an Atlanta hero these days, and two of the city’s chief luminaries had to fly up to Charlotte and usher Newton into the most important game of his career, out of which he and his team emerged victorious, besting the Cardinals 49-15. It’s the first time two Heisman-winning quarterbacks have met in a postseason game.
“He’s throwing the ball unbelievable right now”.
Newton enters his first NFC title game with thoughts of keeping his foot on the gas.
“This is as low as you can feel”, Palmer said. What was Bruce Arians thinking with that pass play that left time on the clock for Green Bay? Doesn’t matter, because the now 17-1 Panthershave beaten every team they’ve faced, but they lost to the Falcons in Week 16.
“I was like, ‘Bro, go do it. I’m going to be ready for next year, ‘” Benjamin said. “That’s not my style”. It was another great coaching job by defensive coordinator Sean McDermott, who probably should have gotten a head-coaching job for 2016 but – luckily for the Panthers – appears to be sticking around. We all saw that coming, right?
You might suggest that I’m being salty or petty or just plain small-minded to fixate on this win, but the fact is that the Falcons showed us the Panthers were beatable, that the Falcons were not an abjectly bad football team, and reminded us just how hard it is to go undefeated in today’s NFL. “He’s got playmakers at all the positions”.
Ginn has had his best year, and against Arizona he had one of his best games.
One thing for certain is Arizona won’t back off on its aggression on defense. “I think everybody knew who his go-to guy was in that game and that’s just the way it is”.
But Newton has proved time and again – in the national championship game at Auburn, Sunday against the overmatched Cardinals – he’s at his best in a big game.
The Cardinals’ focus will be on stopping Newton, the most dynamic player in the league. They lost to the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 and lost in the NFC Championship Game in 1997 and 2006.
“I did what I always do”, Ginn said.
Last week, Newton and the Panthers hung on to beat the Seattle Seahawks after storming out to a 31-0 lead. He said the Panthers got too conservative – something the team can not afford to do against the NFL’s top-ranked offense. “You put so much in and you come in here with such high expectations, and to leave the way we’re leaving just hurts”. “We’ve been known to take our foot off the throttle”. “We are trying to finish this thing off”. Arizona and Carolina play… “It’s not over, yet”, Newton said on a stage at Bank of America Stadium while the crowd serenaded him with “MVP!” chants.
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Then we have the Cardinals.
