It was not the prettiest of games by far to watch, but in the end, the Carolina Panthers dug deep and produced a tremendous defensive effort in a cold, steady rainfall to defeat the Arizona Cardinals 27-16 to advance to the NFC Divisional Round.
Gray skies greeted both teams as they took the field for warmups, with a thick fog enveloping the Charlotte skyline.
With a weather forecast calling for temperatures in the low to mid-40s and rain, the gameplay seemed destined to be less-than-perfect, and ball control and preventing turnovers was going to be even more of a factor than usual.
Arizona got the ball first, and after a quick three-and-out, Carolina took over with great field position near midfield after a short punt from Drew Butler. After gaining about 20 yards, Graham Gano sent a 47-yard field goal through the uprights to open the scoring. An early tone was set with Cam Newton facing a strong pass rush from Arizona, forcing a couple of incompletions on that first Carolina drive.
Special teams play ended up being a recurring issue for Arizona in this game, as Butler again failed to get off a good punt on their next possession, gifting Carolina with great field position again. This drive ended up with Jonathan Stewart (#28) extended the lead for Carolina, taking a handoff to the right side for a 13-yard TD run. Pro Bowl tight end Greg Olsen (#88), who ended up with a quiet game (3 catches for 37 yards), proved his value in the running game, clearing out Arizona linebacker Larry Foote (#50) to provide Stewart with a straight path to the end zone.
Arizona was handed a lifeline by Carolina on the very next possession, however, as Brenton Bersin muffed a punt return and Arizona recovered at the Carolina 30-yard line. In spite of gaining all of 30 yards on their first 3 possessions, Arizona were all of a sudden knocking on the door, and after a 6-play drive that finally resulted in some positive yardage, Ryan Lindley found tight end Darren Fells for a touchdown on the first play of the 2nd quarter to narrow the deficit to 3 points at 10-7.
The very next drive was not the response Carolina fans preferred, as a long drive ended up empty-handed just outside the Arizona red zone following a false start penalty, a Kelvin Benjamin drop, and then Gano missing the 43-yard FG attempt. What transpired over the following possessions was ugly, as both teams combined for just 28 yards of offense and traded punts as the 2nd quarter played on.
Once again, Carolina shot themselves in the foot, as Jerrico Cotchery ran a wrong route and Newton ended up throwing an interception to Antonio Cromartie that would have been a pick-6 if not for Newton hustling back to push Cromartie out of bounds at the 17-yard line.
Kerwynn Williams took the ball from the 17 to the Carolina 1 on 3 straight carries before Marion Grice dove forward to break the plane of the goalline right before the ball got knocked out of his hands. After a review, touchdown was ruled good, and all of a sudden, Arizona found themselves leading 14-10.
Carolina’s response to close out the first half was a 9-play, 59-yard drive that ended up with Gano kicking the ball through the uprights twice, the first time nullified for a holding penalty. Arizona head coach Bruce Arians must have been confounded to go into the locker rooms with the lead at halftime, even though his team had only racked up a grand total of 80 yards of offense, compared to Carolina’s 219. The turnovers were proving to be the key factor, which was merely a portend of things to come……
The game turned entirely on its head in a span of 1:42 when first, following another poor Butler punt, Newton found Fozzy Whittaker on a short screen pass that Whittaker cut back across the field to take home from 39 yards out. Byron Bell, whose play on the offensive line has been much-maligned, sealed the touchdown run with a massive block on Patrick Peterson that left Whittaker with an easy trot to 6 points.
On the ensuing kickoff, Ted Ginn Jr. inexplicably decided to run the ball back from 9 yards deep in the end zone, and he was promptly met by Melvin White‘s helmet to knock the ball loose:
After recovering the fumble, Carolina appeared to have squandered a perfect opportunity to solidify their lead, but a pass interference penalty on 3rd down gave them the ball at the 1-yard line, and while everyone but Carolina’s offense may have been forgiven for expecting a Newton QB sneak or Mike Tolbert to barrel his way up the middle, Rivera dialed up a swing pass that caught many by surprise:
That touchdown gave Carolina the cushion of a 13-point lead, and their defense continued to put up a solid wall to prevent Arizona from moving the ball. The following stat chart of Arizona’s 2nd-half drives summed up the story:
Punt – Fumble – Punt – Punt – Interception – Punt – Interception
All told, Arizona amassed a TOTAL of 37 yards in the 2nd half, and that was before losing 20 yards on the final play of the game on a freekick return after Carolina gave up a safety on their last possession.
Arians’ chief concern coming into this game had to have been how inefficient Lindley had been in their 3 previous games and not having a dependable running game following Andre Ellington‘s season-ending injury. The 2 interceptions thrown by Lindley could not have come at worse times, with the first coming on 1st-and-goal from the Carolina 8 right after Newton had fumbled the ball, and the second in the Carolina end zone killed off any hopes of a late rally. To be fair, the late interception was not entirely Lindley’s fault, as it required a leaping effort by Luke Kuechly to tip the ball away from a wide-open Larry Fitzgerald in the end zone into Tre Boston‘s waiting hands instead.
With the final score of 27-16, Carolina now advances to the Divisional Round, where they will travel to face either of the Seattle Seahawks or Green Bay Packers. Arizona can hold their head high for a well-played season, where at one point, they were in the driver’s seat for home-field advantage in the NFC. When Carson Palmer and Ellington were ruled out for the rest of the season with their respective injuries, it would have been easy for the team to write off the rest of their season, but they still fought through the adversity to make it to the playoffs.
For their part, even though the matchup will be far from favorable no matter whom the opposition, Rivera and the Panthers served notice on both sides of the ball today (386 yards of offense, 6 yards per pass attempt, 4.6 yards per rush; 74 yards given up, 3 turnovers recovered) that they will be no easy out. They will be happy to celebrate the franchise’s first playoff win in 9 years, but will no doubt go back to work to prepare for next week with full focus.
(Feature image: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)