Carolina Panthers: Bring On the Cardinals

The Carolina Panthers will face another familiar foe when the Arizona Cardinals come to town for the third time in team playoff history.

The Carolina Panthers are now set to host the NFC Championship game this weekend. Their opponent will be the Arizona Cardinals after the Cardinals defeated the Green Bay Packers in overtime on Saturday. The Cardinals provide an interesting matchup for the Panthers on several levels.

First off the Cardinals have history with the Panthers. They will become the second playoff team to face the Panthers three times in the team’s playoff history. In the two previous games, the underdog has been victorious in both contests whether it was the Kurt Warner Cardinals in 2008-9 or the 7-8-1 Panthers last year.

There is some contention on who exactly would be the favorite. The Panthers own the field and the higher seed, but the Cardinals have become a trendy pick because of their more identifiable offensive weapons. Vegas has the early odds favoring the Panthers by three, which would indicate a tie on a neutral field.

The Cardinals may well remember their playoff defeat from last year, but this team is different from that one. For one they get Carson Palmer for this go round. It is unlikely that the Cardinals will be held to any playoff records for low yards. It will be interesting to see how much the Cardinals’ loss last year works into their motivations for the upcoming game.

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Both teams field Heisman quarterbacks and both also have NFL Coach of the Year winners manning the sidelines. Each team has a shutdown corner and another corner who gets picked on because of that. The Cardinals are missing their ball-hawking safety but the Panthers still have theirs. The Panthers strength is the middle of the defense with Luke Kuechly and Kawann Short. The Cardinals rely on outside pressure from Calais Campbell and Dwight Freeney.

The League’s media loves Cardinals coach Bruce Arrians and would like to see his story reach a Super Bowl conclusion. They would not mind send-offs for Larry Fitzgerald and Palmer either. Cam Newton and the Panthers are harder for the league to wrap their arms around with losing teams questioning their professionalism.

So the Panthers need to be aware that the Cardinals are not last year’s Cardinals and this game is what they have been playing for, a home game to determine who goes to the Super Bowl. The Panthers have a pretty good story of their own to tell and they want to be able to keep telling it.

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