It’s been seven long years, but the Arizona Cardinals are finally on the verge of finishing what they started in 2008-09.
On Sunday, the Cards (14-3) will take on the NFL’s best regular-season team, the Carolina Panthers (16-1), with a trip to Super Bowl 50 on the line.
The Cards have only made one Super Bowl trip in team history. That game ended in a last-minute 27-23 defeat at the hands of the Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII.
Can the Cards get themselves a second chance at a world title? Here are three questions and a prediction for Sunday’s showdown in Charlotte, which begins at 4:40 p.m. Arizona time.
1. Will weather and field conditions play a role?
The Cardinals are 7-1 on the road this season, and that includes victories at the Seahawks and Eagles when temperatures were barely above freezing at kickoff. But the temperature (which is forecasted to be 34 degrees at kickoff) isn’t the only intangible factor heading into Sunday night’s game.
While the current forecast calls for clear skies Sunday, the fact remains that Bank of America Stadium has been subjected to snowy, icy conditions during the past several days. That could create some dicey, slippery field conditions for both teams.
In last weekend’s divisional playoff game in Charlotte, Seahawks players changed their cleats early in the game after having difficulty maintaining their footing on that field. One can only imagine how much worse off the turf will be when the Cards take the field – but will those conditions have an impact on of the outcome one way or the other?
2. Can the Cards contain Cam?
Panthers quarterback Cam Newton will be this year’s NFL MVP – and while he may not be the best all-around quarterback in the league, he is, without a doubt, the scariest. The 6-foot-5, 245-pounder can throw (35 passing touchdowns), he can run (10 rushing touchdowns), and he can bowl opponents over and smile while doing so.
The Cardinals love to send pressure after opposing quarterbacks. They led the league in percentage of plays in which they blitzed during the regular season. Heck, they blitzed Aaron Rodgers on that Hail Mary pass that sent last weekend’s playoff game to overtime. But Newton is adept at handling pressure: His 80.4 total quarterback rating against the blitz this season is a career-best.
So, here’s your two-part question: Will the Cards send as much pressure on Sunday as they usually do – and if so, will Newton make big plays in spite of it, through the air and/or on the ground?
3. Will Carson pull it together?
On Monday, Cards coach Bruce Arians said quarterback Carson Palmer’s struggles against Green Bay were due to nerves and the desire to get that first-playoff-win monkey off his back. Now that it’s out of the way, Arians expects Palmer will be back to the QB who had the best regular-season of his 13-year NFL career.
We’ll see about that. Palmer looked shaky, to say the least, during the majority of Saturday’s game, and he was fortunate to throw just two interceptions on the day. Enter the Carolina Panthers, who led the NFL in opponent passer rating (73.5) and interceptions (24) during the regular season.
The Panthers can be beaten deep, and starting cornerback Charles Tillman is out for the season with a knee injury. Nonetheless, Pro Bowl cornerback Josh Norman and linebacker Luke Kuechly are likely to rattle Palmer’s cage a bit on Sunday. How much success will they have in doing so?
Prediction:
As a Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals fan since they arrived in the Valley in 1988, it’s often difficult to navigate through the thick fog of my own bias and make these predictions based purely on facts and reason.
But here’s my best shot at doing so…
The Panthers are at home, where they’re 9-0 this season. The weather doesn’t favor the visiting team. Carolina has the likely league MVP on its side. The Cards haven’t run the ball well lately. Injured Cards safety Tyrann Mathieu could be dearly missed against Panthers star tight end Greg Olsen.
But there’s one stat I can’t seem to get out of my mind, courtesy of ESPN’s Trey Wingo.
NFC Title game: Since week 8 no team has given up more 4th qtr points than Carolina. Arizona scored most 2nd half points all year.
— trey wingo (@wingoz) January 18, 2016
Combine that fact with this one: The Cards have actually been better on the road than at home. Against all reason, they have a better overall record and have scored more points away from home that at University of Phoenix Stadium this season.
Call me a homer. Call me a hack. But when Sunday comes to a close, I hope the only thing people call me is right.
Cardinals 32, Panthers 24
