When the 10-7 Arizona Cardinals head into Charlotte to face the 12-4 Panthers on Saturday night, a trip to the NFC Championship Game will be on the line.
And just over a week ago, there was a lot of doubt that Arizona would even be in this football game. After wrapping up the NFC West in Week 14, the Cards hit cruise control and were annihilated in back to back weeks by the Vikings and Patriots.
This after getting buried by the Eagles and Giants. A noticeable thing missing from each of these games however was the lack of a running game, so the Cards finally became wise; they re-inserted disgruntled RB Edgerrin James back into the lineup and he began to give the offense balance.
And the balance paid off. They parlayed it into a first-round playoff victory over the Atlanta Falcons last weekend.
The Panthers took another route in getting here. They used a strong two-headed running game, one that saw the emergence of RB DeAngelo Williams into a star, and a stout defense to win the AFC South. And on the way the No. 2 seed in the NFC.
Earlier this season, when these two teams played, Carolina won 27-23. At one point in that game, the Panthers were on the short end of a 17-3 score before rallying to put away the Cards.
Which brings us to the rematch.
Here’s how we see this playing out.
When the Cards have the ball, look for them to use their passing game to set-up the run. Everything works through Warner and his receivers: Fitzgerald, Boldin and Breaston. It’ll be important to check back later in the week to see if Boldin will be able to go as he’s nursing a damaged hamstring. But if he can, it’ll make things interesting.
Against this stellar front seven, Warner will look to spread the ball around quickly in order to avoid sacks, and once they rack up a few fi;st downs and force Carolina to play a little closer to the line, he’ll take his shots downfield, just as he did to Fitzgerald last week.
And in order to keep the Panthers’ D-Line from pinning their ears back and going after the QB, the Cardinals will rely heavier on RB Edgerrin James to prevent the offense from becoming one dimensional.
But this won’t be easy. Regardless of what happened vs. the Giants in the Meadownlands, this Panthers’ D is stellar vs. the pass, solid vs. the run, and that much better at home, where they were 8-0.
When the Panthers have the football, look for a steady dose of RB DeAngelo Williams early in this game. And when he comes out for a breather, look for RB Jonathan Stewart to step right in.
Williams, over the past few months was the MVP of the NFL, regardless of the fact that voters chose Peyton Manning. He scored an amazing 15 TDs over the last seven weeks of the season and was the spark plug to this Panthers’ offense. And stopping him won’t be easy.
The Panthers’ offensive line has really come together and is run blocking as well as anyone in the league. To counter this, look for the Cardinals to sell out against the run—bring S Adrian Wilson to the line—and do everything they can to keep this ground game in check.
And when the Panthers do begin to find consistent success on the ground, and it’ll only be a matter of time, it’ll open up the passing game for QB Delhomme. He’ll be able to locate WR Muhsin Muhammad on the shorter routes and then go up top to WR Steve Smith, who should have a big day against rookie CB Dominque Rogers-Cromartie.
Cromartie’s a nice young player, but sorry, this is Steve Smith and no one can cover him one on one.
As this game comes to a close, look for the Panthers to advance to pull out a double digit victory, in the vicinity of 31-17, or 34-21. It should be close through the half, but once the Panthers get their ground game going, they’ll wear down the smaller Cardinals’ defense in the 3rd and 4th quarter and pull away late for the convincing victory.
So Carolina will head onto the NFC Championship Game next Sunday while the Cardinals, coming off their first division title in over thirty years, will head home for the winter.
