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| ESPN.com |
Mike Tirico and Chucky on the call for ESPN; Ed Hochuli refereeing.
FIRST QUARTER
Good sign to hear that Hochuli somehow messed up the coin toss. Arizona won and received. Ryan Lindley overthrows Rob Housler on 1st down. Bene Benwikere shuts down Stepfan Taylor for a couple. 3rd-8, Lindley nearly gets sacked by just a 4-man rush and dumps off to somebody called Robert Hughes for about 6. One of my keys today for Arizona was that a punt would be better than an interception. So Drew Butler biffs his first kick. 123-out and a 20 yard punt not exactly the start Arizona was looking for.
Carolina starts the game in Arizona territory at the 48. Dan Williams blows up a middle handoff to Jonathan Stewart for no gain. Cam Newton hits Kelvin Benjamin for 7 on a quick slant, beating Patrick Peterson. Quick out to Benjamin for another 8. Stewart up the middle for 3, frosted by Frostee Rucker. 2nd down, Ed Dickson got a step on Tony Jefferson on a post route but Newton overthrew him. Should have been first-and-goal there. What was one of my other keys for Arizona? Their DBs jumping routes. Antonio Cromartie jumps a quick slant and breaks it up to send in the FG team. Graham Gano hits from 47. Carolina 3, Arizona 0 Newton got the ball out too quickly that drive for the Arizona pass rush to really get to him. We'll see how that develops.
Lindley tees it up at the 20 again. Panther fans go far too crazy about Luke Kuechly tackling Ask Kerwynn Williams after a 5-yard gain. Williams paints his way through the middle for another 4. Offensive genius Arians then goes to the upback Hughes and Colin Cole stuffs him to create 4th down. Butler follows his 20-yard kick with a 29-yard kick and may have already won the NFL Postseason Least Valuable Player award. Johnny Hekker can kick 29 yards left-footed.
Arizona better stop Newton here or this game may be over quickly. Carolina at their 42. Double bubble (2 lead blockers) screen to Benjamin for 6. Pitchout. Is. Jerricho! Cotchery around left end for 5. Gruden cracks that Carolina is running the Auburn offense. Stewart up the middle for 3. Defensive holding on Jefferson puts the ball at the ARZ38. Waka, waka, waka, it's Fozzy Whitaker around right end for 4. To correct something Tirico just said, Arizona has struggled to cover tight ends not named Jared Cook. Throwback screen to Cotchery loses a yard thanks to Cromartie being all over it. Pivotal early 3rd-and-7. Blitz does not get there and Newton hits Philly Brown on the sideline for 8. SWEET blitz pickup by Stewart. Newton drills one to Olsen through a double-team down to the 13. Sweep to Stewart, Sam Acho whiffs on the cutback, Rashad Johnson whiffs at the goal line, GAME OVER. Carolina 10, Arizona 0. Looks like it's going to be another epic weekend for my playoff predictions. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Third straight touchback by Gano - anybody think Greg Zuerlein would do that in the dreaded outdoors in the dreaded rain? Thomas Davis all over a screen to John Brown that gets only 2. A 3-man rush panics Lindley into throwing a backward pass to Williams for no gain. Michael Floyd saves the game for now with a tough 9-yard sideline catch for the 1st. Flanker screen to Larry Fitzgerald for 5. Kawann Short and Star Lotuleilei stuff Williams for 1. With Charles Johnson - gee, Arians, you offensive genius, you might want to block HIM - with a free run on Lindley, he fires a bad quick out for Jaron Brown that wouldn't have gotten the first down anyway. Arians was a double genius on that play.
Future unemployed punt returner Brenton Bursin sees Arians' genius and raises him by attempting to field a 33-yard bomb from Butler by sliding on his knees like a soccer player celebrating a goal. Wrong football, dumbass. He boots it to Cardinal special teams maven Justin Bethel. Arizona's big play of the day so far puts them at the CAR30.
Davis blitzes and cans Williams for another loss. Hochuli then drops a roughing-the-passer penalty on Johnson that I am completely unable to explain. Tirico's suggestion he threw Lindley down late is probably the closest guess. That simply is not roughing. Either way, Carolina has given Arizona more yards than the Cardinals have gained for themselves. Arians' precision offense has trouble getting the next play called and they use their first timeout. Arizona's determined to run and still getting nowhere as Taylor gets stuffed for no gain. Lindley again gets scared out of his life by a 3-man rush and overthrows a very open Fitzgerald in the back of the end zone by three feet. The Cardinals end the quarter on a high note, though. Lindley fires behind Fitzgerald, who probably took an INT away from Kuechly and fought down inside the 1.
SECOND QUARTER
Hee! Knowing he can't run, Arians opens the quarter with the classic goal-line play-action TE pass to Darren Fells (former Ram TE Daniel's brother) all alone in the back of the end zone. Mr. Blowout, can I put you on hold, please? Carolina 10, Arizona 7
We'll see what Carolina does with just-average field position now. We start with Cromartie getting an illegal contact call that is completely unseeable on replay. He simply didn't do anything. Newton hard-counts Calais Campbell offside for another 5. Stewart sweeps left for 10 behind outstanding lead-blocking by Dixon and rookie guard Andrew Norwell. Next play, the Cardinal D looks completely confused and a bunch of them overshift right, so Newton goes to a sweep right to Stewart for another 18. Big letdown by Arizona's defense here after the TD. Now Arizona can't get the right people on the field; Newton keeps a read option and takes off around right end for another 12. Well, it's not like Arizona sees this attack 2 to 4 times a season or anything. Panthers are at the ARZ30 now but false start. Newton goes deep down the Panther sideline for Dickson - so he's the feature receiver? - but incomplete. Another developing story today is that defensive genius Todd Bowles has gotten almost no pressure on Newton so far. Oh, here's the Panthers' feature receiver, Y2J Cotchery, making a neat one-handed grab for 10. Newton tries to force one to Benjamin on 3rd-and-5, but he lets it go off his hands, and Gano is wide left on the 43-yard FG attempt. Not a lot of clutch football being played so far.
Arizona from their 33. Dwan Edwards pushes Paul Fanaika back into Lindley for a sack. Lindley had plenty of time to get rid of that. Bubble screen to John Brown gets 6, leaves 3rd-and-12. Lindley muffs the snap and throws away a screen for another 123-kick.
52 yards for Butler with a roll on the punt this time, getting the Cardinal D another golden opportunity to pin the Panthers deep. Bubble screen to Philly Brown (if you don't know the name of a WR tonight, guess "Brown"!) for 7 to the 24. Stewart runs through Dan Williams for 4 and a 1st. With another 4-man rush picked up with ease in front of him, Newton threads an out route to Olsen for 16. Stewart patiently gets 3 out of a pitchback left that would have lost yards had he rushed it. Stewart rumbles right for a couple more. Gruden calls the Powers blitz on 3rd-5 but Newton still fires a poor pass for Philly Brown, wide open on a comeback for the 1st. Todd Bowles finally gets a much-needed stop.
Newton is obviously going to blame wet conditions for his subpar performance so far. At least twice we've seen exaggerated motions from him trying to dry his hands after a poor pass. Panthers kill the punt at the 2. About 7:00 till halftime.
Taylor gets mauled after gaining 1. ESPN's pointing out that a flag was picked up on Peterson illegally contacting Benjamin while Newton still had the ball and should have been a penalty. Newton didn't look at that side of the field for a nanosecond on that play, so I don't get why that should be a big deal. Lindley gets pressured in the end zone, tiptoes along the back line and throws a pass away. Some butts were clenched on the Arizona sideline on that play. Brutal drop by John Carlson at the 12 gets Arizona their 4th 3-and-out. Will Butler's punt even get across the 40 here? NO. A TERRIBLE PUNT goes 31 yards and starts the Panthers in long FG position.
Newton back-foots a sideline pass Benjamin can't quite haul in. Acho and Frostee are all over a screen to Stewart for a loss. On 3rd-and-13, Carolina not only squanders their great field position, we have a total game-changer. Arizona blitzes 3 stacked outside the LT. Cotchery, running a drag route, isn't even looking when Newton throws, I believe with Campbell in his face, and it's Cromartie JUMPING THE ROUTE for the pick and return into the red zone. Newton makes the tackle to save the TD for now.
Williams rolls right for 4. Inside handoff to Williams for another 3. Love how Carolina ignorantly bellows "LUUUKE" on EVERY Kuechly tackle. How about saving that for meaningful stops? The tables have turned now, and Arizona's beating Carolina with read option. Williams takes another inside handoff, goes down to one hand and still leans his way down inside the 1. LUUUKE! got pancaked by Jared Veldheer there.
First and goal at the 1, and ooooh, we've got a tricky play here. Marion Grice gets stuffed in the backfield, keeps driving and dives for the goal line. The ball comes out and Roman Harper comes up with it for Carolina. Hochuli calls a fumble, Carolina ball. Arizona wants a TD. The goal line camera shows Kawann Short swatting the ball free, but after Grice has extended across the goal line. The play, originally called a fumble, is reversed to correctly give Arizona the TD and their fans can thank their stars for instant replay. Arizona 14, Carolina 10
The Cardinals have 65 yards of total offense and two TDs. Carolina has 2:44 to answer from their 20. Stewart breaks a Campbell tackle in the backfield and bounces right for 11. Newton keeps an inside handoff, gives Olsen about a five-yard shove downfield and gains 8. After the 2:00 warning, Mike Tolbert charges off left tackle for 4. Newton gets plenty of time and goes crossfield to Olson on an out route for 7. Blitz is picked up next and Philly Brown draws a DPI from Cromartie at the ARZ 37. Gruden says he doesn't see it but Cromartie had his arm wrapped around him. Completely non-clutch defense by Arizona continues as a double-A-gap blitz gets picked up with ease and future Hall of Famer Philly F. Brown burns Cromartie on a deep post for 23. Timeout Carolina at 1:05. Philly Brown had some of the ugliest drops I saw during the NFL Combine broadcast and I had him on the do-not-draft list. (And, actually, he wasn't. He's a UDFA.) Stewart drives for 3. Newton fires high and wide and incomplete for Brown in the end zone, and he hurts his shoulder on the landing. Just saw Mike Remmers at RT for Carolina; they signed him off the Rams' practice squad in October. Yet the Rams couldn't find anybody anywhere who could do better than Davin Joseph at RG. 3rd-and-7, Johnson blitzes and hits Newton as he throws to force an incomplete and a FG attempt. Gano hits from 29, but Carolina was called for holding, forcing him to hit from 39. Arizona 14, Carolina 13
After Ted Ginn pulls off an exciting, weaving kickoff return out to the 40, Arians gamely goes for a Hail Mary to close out the half, but Carolina knocks it down.
HALFTIME SHOW
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| Panthers.com. Trivia fact: the Carolina cheerleaders are called the TopCats. |
Arians is calling a very Brian Schottenheimer game on offense for Arizona. I'd like to see them work more to run outside, maybe even get the speedy John Brown - who has been a-mouldering in his grave all this game so far - going on an end-around or two. And how about a quick pass or two to Fitzgerald? That's his bread-and-butter. Has Arians forgotten he has #11? Carolina doesn't need to change a thing on defense. If they quit turning over the ball, they're good. The let-them-turn-the-ball-over strategy is working like a charm for Arians so far, as I guessed it might. Let's see if it stands up.
THIRD QUARTER
We start the half down a Brown: Philly is out the rest of the game due to a shoulder injury. After a penalty for too many men, Rucker blows up a read option and drops Newton for a big loss, but he scrambles for 9 and a 1st the next play with his line getting away with at least two obvious holds. Another back-foot throw misses Olsen breaking to the Panther sideline badly. Alex Okafor shuts down the edge and Matt Shaughnessy blows up a Stewart sweep for another loss. Arizona nearly has Newton sacked on a blitz by Justin Bethel, but he runs away again and crashes through Deone Bucannon for another 1st down. Cardinals are foiling my halftime adjustments so far by shutting Stewart down and force 3rd-and-6 at midfield. Newton converts that, too, hitting Benjamin for 11 before Marcus Benard cam drag him down. Larry Foote blows up a read option to create ANOTHER 3rd-and-long. Mike Shula's brilliant call here is a bubble screen that comes up way short, and Riverboat Ron is punting.
Took Carolina 7:30 to get nothing. Cardinals start at their 8. Williams goes nowhere on two carries thanks to a run blitz and Arians not changing a thing from the first half. Michael Floyd wants a flag because Josh Norman grabbed him on a go route, and he has a point, but not with the Hochuli crew. Another terrible punt by Postseason LVP lock Butler doesn't even make it to the ARZ 40.
And, WAKA WAKA WAKA, here's how you take advantage of great field position! The big play of the night is a screen pass to Fozzy Whitaker, who cuts back from the right flat, runs through a terrible tackle by Rashad Johnson and sprints up the left sideline for a 39-yard TD. That not only gives Carolina the lead back, it feels like it could be a dagger play. Carolina 20, Arizona 14
OH THE SPECIAL TEAMS IDIOCY OF THIS GAME.
WHAT THE HELL IS TED GINN DOING RETURNING THE KICK FROM THE VERY BACK OF HIS END ZONE? He barely gets to the 10, LOSES THE BALL when Melvin White puts his helmet on it, and former Ram practice squadder Kevin Reddick falls on it inside the 5. Fork, you know what to do; the Cardinals are done. Also, the Arizona Cardinals wish Ted Ginn Jr. all the best in his future endeavors.
Oh, and RamView naturally is about to pull an 0-for-3 on my first damn prediction of the postseason. That post isn't going to make it to the second Saturday game!
Larry Foote stuffs Newton on 1st down and Tolbert on 2nd down, but the Hochuli crew bails Carolina out on 3rd down with a BRUTAL DPI call on Jefferson vs. Greg Olsen. The hand on Olsen's shoulder pad ends Arizona's season with Tolbert sneaking out all alone in the flat for a 1-yard TD catch. Carolina 27, Arizona 14. Arizona's not coming back from this. Congrats to everyone who took Carolina and the over.
QUIT RUNNING UP THE MIDDLE SCHOTTENHEIMER! Davis drops Williams for a loss off RT. Lindley bails on a screen left and screens right to Williams for another loss. Good Lord. Does Arizona even have a 13-yard play in its offense? Long sideline incomplete, 123-out down 13. Let's switch to screw-this-game mode.
Carolina ran into Butler for a 5-yard penalty. He boomed a 37-yard punt there, Arizona should have declined. The next punt is also 37; Carolina will start another drive near midfield.
Dickson beats Foote off the line for a 34-yard gain, but Carolina spends most of this possession killing itself with holding penalties. They punt to start the 4th.
FOURTH QUARTER
After Kawann Short sacks Lindley on 2nd down and they come up a couple of yards short on 3rd, I don't know why the hell Arians isn't going for it on 4th-2 from the ARZ28, and I'm sure TMQ doesn't, either. Butler does actually crack 40 yards with the clutch, season-saving punt, though.
Well, Arizona may not be quite dead yet. Acho hits Newton on a blitz, which gets the ball out of his hand and Cam sort of tomahawks it downfield 20 yards. Johnson fields that and returns it inside the 10.
And Lindley immediately throws an IDIOTIC interception to LUUUUKE inside the 5. LUUUUKE was already in front of Fitzgerald with idiot Lindley threw the ball.
We in St. Louis thought we had it bad with Shaun Hill.
Stewart runs through a pathetic arm tackle by Johnson and gets into the Arizona secondary for 35. DeAngelo Williams (!) then gets taken down 5 yards out of bounds without a flag. He got 5 that run and about 8 off RT the next, and Arizona's D looks done. They do get the Panthers slowed down, but not before Honey Badger about kills Peterson on a crossing route. And Ginn tried his best to muff away the punt.
Back-to-back sacks for Charles Johnson punch Carolina's ticket to the divisional round. He beat Bobby Massie both times on simple 4-man rushes with a simple punch move.
MORE SPECIAL TEAMS BUFFOONERY as Carolina's punter fumbles a snap at midfield to briefly give Arizona life. John Brown even comes out of witness protection for a 25-yard pass. But Lindley tries to force an end zone pass to Fitzgerald in triple coverage, and LUUUKE deflects the pass to Tre Boston for the coups de grace. Arians pointlessly uses up his timeouts with Carolina trying to run out the clock backed up on their goal line, but it does pay off in a safety after punter Nortman runs out the back of the end zone to end the game.
Final score: Carolina 27, Arizona 16
POSTGAME SHOW
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| ESPN.com |
RamView's first POTG this postseason has to be LUUUKE. He had 10 tackles, some of which were even meaningful, a big goal line INT and a big deflection to set up another goal line INT. He was terrific in pass coverage all game and basically was the guy assigned to Fitzgerald (a meager 3-31) a lot of the time. LUUUKE, I am not your father but congratulations on a terrific game.
The real MVPs of this game, though, were Mark Barron (ended Carson Palmer's season week 9) and Aaron Donald (ended Drew Stanton's season week 14). It wasn't the most brilliant prediction, but I was damn right about turnovers turning this thing. Arizona won the first half 2-0 and led 14-13; they lost the 2nd half 3-1. Who knows where they would have been with a competent NFL QB. Surely better than 78 total yards of offense. They will probably start next season with Stanton but should at least have a decent veteran backup in tow until Palmer returns. May RamView recommend Shaun Hill? Arizona needs to get deeper at RB this offseason as well; woe to the NFC West should Todd Gurley fall to them. They will be in the thick of everything again next season, at least until the Rams knock Stanton out again.
I fully expect Seattle to whoomp the Panthers next weekend. Carolina got away with a pretty sloppy game against probably the only other playoff team capable of out-misplaying them. They've got a fighter's chance if they can pound Stewart successfully again, but I don't see it.
And we're never to speak of my postseason predictions for 2014 again. On to Pittsburgh!
-$-
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