May the Better Team Lose

[Harry]

After rewatching the games I'm willing to accept that the Panthers are the better team. That said, in the NFL the better team doesn't always win.

So how do I think the Cards can pull this off? Much of it is about doing the unexpected. In the NFL the expected path to success is establishing the run or at the least having a balanced offense. Plus everyone knows Palmer's specialty is play action.

I'm saying forget history. The Panthers have a better lines and a QB who's the biggest handful in the league. They also have an excellent running back. The Cards have no pass rush and seem to be getting weaker against the run. The Panthers will score points and possibly quite a few points. The Cards must score and score and then score some more. I don't see a game where the Cards score a few points and the defense holds on for a win.

I'm keeping Johnson in to get the extra blocker. He looked great earlier at picking up rushers. An occasional screen is okay, but for play after play the object is to give Palmer the time to throw. There is one place the Cards have the edge on offense; it's their receivers against the Carolina secondary. All year Palmer has thrown into double coverage and for the most part he's survived. So let him throw. He doesn't scare easily and I'm speculating even if the Panthers know what's coming I'm betting they can't stop it. They should rotate in JJ and Jaron and run their secondary into the ground.

In the second half the Panthers should be dropping everyone back. Now mix in some runs and short passes to the running backs. Get Ellington free in the secondary and let them chase him. As Mickey would say, "Don't let them breathe." The Cards have to make them question their will to win. IMO, it's their best chance to win.

 

[MadCardDisease]

Harry, do you think the poor condition of the field will help or hurt the Cardinals WRs? Seems like a lot of players were slipping on the field yesterday.

 

[oaken1]

After rewatching the games I'm willing to accept that the Panthers are the better team. That said, in the NFL the better team doesn't always win.

So how do I think the Cards can pull this off? Much of it is about doing the unexpected. In the NFL the expected path to success is establishing the run or at the least having a balanced offense. Plus everyone knows Palmer's specialty is play action.

I'm saying forget history. The Panthers have a better lines and a QB who's the biggest handful in the league. They also have an excellent running back. The Cards have no pass rush and seem to be getting weaker against the run. The Panthers will score points and possibly quite a few points. The Cards must score and score and then score some more. I don't see a game where the Cards score a few points and the defense holds on for a win.

I'm keeping Johnson in to get the extra blocker. He looked great earlier at picking up rushers. An occasional screen is okay, but for play after play the object is to give Palmer the time to throw. There is one place the Cards have the edge on offense; it's their receivers against the Carolina secondary. All year Palmer has thrown into double coverage and for the most part he's survived. So let him throw. He doesn't scare easily and I'm speculating even if the Panthers know what's coming I'm betting they can't stop it. They should rotate in JJ and Jaron and run their secondary into the ground.

In the second half the Panthers should be dropping everyone back. Now mix in some runs and short passes to the running backs. Get Ellington free in the secondary and let them chase him. As Mickey would say, "Don't let them breathe." The Cards have to make them question their will to win. IMO, it's their best chance to win.

and turnovers...we need to take the ball away from them a few times.

 

[Cardiac]

After rewatching the games I'm willing to accept that the Panthers are the better team. That said, in the NFL the better team doesn't always win.

So how do I think the Cards can pull this off? Much of it is about doing the unexpected. In the NFL the expected path to success is establishing the run or at the least having a balanced offense. Plus everyone knows Palmer's specialty is play action.

I'm saying forget history. The Panthers have a better lines and a QB who's the biggest handful in the league. They also have an excellent running back. The Cards have no pass rush and seem to be getting weaker against the run. The Panthers will score points and possibly quite a few points. The Cards must score and score and then score some more. I don't see a game where the Cards score a few points and the defense holds on for a win.

I'm keeping Johnson in to get the extra blocker. He looked great earlier at picking up rushers. An occasional screen is okay, but for play after play the object is to give Palmer the time to throw. There is one place the Cards have the edge on offense; it's their receivers against the Carolina secondary. All year Palmer has thrown into double coverage and for the most part he's survived. So let him throw. He doesn't scare easily and I'm speculating even if the Panthers know what's coming I'm betting they can't stop it. They should rotate in JJ and Jaron and run their secondary into the ground.

In the second half the Panthers should be dropping everyone back. Now mix in some runs and short passes to the running backs. Get Ellington free in the secondary and let them chase him. As Mickey would say, "Don't let them breathe." The Cards have to make them question their will to win. IMO, it's their best chance to win.

Tale of the tape time Harry:

QB edge Panthers
WR's huge advantage Cards
OL Push
TE's edge Panthers
RB's Push

Dline Edge Panthers
LBers advantage Panthers
DB's Advantage Cards

St's Not sure

Coaches edge Cards because we have more

So yes the Panthers appear to be the better team but I think it's very close.

Still picking the Cards because I'm betting on Bettcher to limit Cam.

 

[nashman]

I think the line is 3 so even Vegas has it as a push. These two teams match up very even IMO but we have the edge in WR which could mean huge plays which gives us an edge IMO.

 

[Dude]

I see them as a bad match up for us. We will need our A game to their B.

 

[Shaggy]

The offense has to play better. If they play have as good as they played against gb the first time, they can win. This game is all about scoring and the offense needs to do a lot of it.

 

[nashman]

Couldn't disagree more dude if we play our A game we beat anyone! The panthers had an easy schedule or they would have lost more than just to Atlanta! They give up leads all year long go check how many games they had to hang on for the win in the final moments. Our A game beats any NFL team IMO period!

 

[PACardsFan]

The Panthers front 7 is better than ours & that's it. This game comes down to whether or not we can give Palmer enough time to destroy Carolina's weak secondary. If we succeed at that, then Carolina's D will look similar to the one we embarrassed back in January 2009. I don't think Newton will have as much success against our D as some think. Back a couple of years ago, we made life miserable for him. I think we will neutralize their run game & force Cam to beat us with his arm. We will blitz him just enough to force him into at least 2 turnovers. Bottom line, if we can keep Palmer upright, we will win.

 

[Shaggy]

Another thing is if the offense is playing well, the defense feeds off that and dominates to. It's all mental!

 

[PACardsFan]

I see them as a bad match up for us. We will need our A game to their B.

Why would you think this? Carolina's Achilles heel is their secondary. It's borderline awful. Our strength is how deep we are at the receiver position. If we protect Palmer, he will SHRED their secondary. They have a very good front 7, but our OLine will hold their own. Arian's will have plays that Carolina will not have the manpower to stop. Reality is that WE are a bad matchup for them.

 

[Dude]

Couldn't disagree more dude if we play our A game we beat anyone! The panthers had an easy schedule or they would have lost more than just to Atlanta! They give up leads all year long go check how many games they had to hang on for the win in the final moments. Our A game beats any NFL team IMO period!

I don't think they're better because they're 15 and 1. A running QB playing out of his mind working well with his TE. A big good back for play action. I see a better Seattle team in them this year and that's not good for us. We are just as good in a different way. I just don't like the match up for us. I have said all year Seattle and Carolina are the only two teams IMO that can beat us A game verses A game.

 

[nashman]

Their secondary is awful to compare them to Seattle is laughable! We can torch their secondary Seattle would have been a tougher matchup for us! We have advantages over Carolina we would not have against Seattle! And Can has yet to ever burn us as bad as Wilson has many times.

 

[Dude]

Why would you think this? Carolina's Achilles heel is their secondary. It's borderline awful. Our strength is how deep we are at the receiver position. If we protect Palmer, he will SHRED their secondary. They have a very good front 7, but our OLine will hold their own. Arian's will have plays that Carolina will not have the manpower to stop. Reality is that WE are a bad matchup for them.

I don't think we can stop them and will lose a shoot out if both teams are on. The if in bold will bite us in the end.

 

[nashman]

You don't have to stop them, Ariana will have a quick passing game plan to slow down their rush. Then if they start dropping into coverage we will see some screens and running plays we have an offense that can't beat any defense with our weapons! Your giving Carolina so much credit for abusing one of the easiest schedules of any team in the league!

 

[Dude]

Their secondary is awful to compare them to Seattle is laughable! We can torch their secondary Seattle would have been a tougher matchup for us! We have advantages over Carolina we would not have against Seattle! And Can has yet to ever burn us as bad as Wilson has many times.

I hope you're right. I have been on here long enough for people to know. well I have never not picked the Cardinals. I see Cam and their O putting 30 plus on us.

 

[nashman]

I really don't see that sorry we will have to agree to disagree. Aaron Rodgers couldn't put up that many points on us what on earth makes you think Cam can? Olsen is his one legitimate receiving threat and we are no slouch against the run? So where exactly are they gonna put up 30+???? Or better yet tell me how their awful secondary is gonna stop our receivers from having their way all day?

 

[PACardsFan]

I don't think we can stop them and will lose a shoot out if both teams are on. The if in bold will bite us in the end.

Our OLine is significantly better than their secondary. So, it stands to reason that our strength (depth at WR) will have a greater impact than their strength (front 7). My biggest fear is that sometimes Palmer just makes poor decisions. If he avoids mental farts, we will have receivers running open all night. Don't be surprised if our D comes out & puts a hurting on Newton. Our D sucked against the Packers. We generally play very well after a poor outing.

 

[nashman]

Oh and Rodgers is still a much superior QB than Cam is!

 

[oaken1]

Our OLine is significantly better than their secondary. So, it stands to reason that our strength (depth at WR) will have a greater impact than their strength (front 7). My biggest fear is that sometimes Palmer just makes poor decisions. If he avoids mental farts, we will have receivers running open all night. Don't be surprised if our D comes out & puts a hurting on Newton. Our D sucked against the Packers. We generally play very well after a poor outing.

but our WR's don't play against their front seven.....if their front seven dominates our o-line Palmer will have very few opportunities to find a wr...


This game boils down to our o-line,...and how well we contain Newton on the run.

 

[MadBird]

After rewatching the games I'm willing to accept that the Panthers are the better team. That said, in the NFL the better team doesn't always win.

So how do I think the Cards can pull this off? Much of it is about doing the unexpected. In the NFL the expected path to success is establishing the run or at the least having a balanced offense. Plus everyone knows Palmer's specialty is play action.

I'm saying forget history. The Panthers have a better lines and a QB who's the biggest handful in the league. They also have an excellent running back. The Cards have no pass rush and seem to be getting weaker against the run. The Panthers will score points and possibly quite a few points. The Cards must score and score and then score some more. I don't see a game where the Cards score a few points and the defense holds on for a win.

I'm keeping Johnson in to get the extra blocker. He looked great earlier at picking up rushers. An occasional screen is okay, but for play after play the object is to give Palmer the time to throw. There is one place the Cards have the edge on offense; it's their receivers against the Carolina secondary. All year Palmer has thrown into double coverage and for the most part he's survived. So let him throw. He doesn't scare easily and I'm speculating even if the Panthers know what's coming I'm betting they can't stop it. They should rotate in JJ and Jaron and run their secondary into the ground.

In the second half the Panthers should be dropping everyone back. Now mix in some runs and short passes to the running backs. Get Ellington free in the secondary and let them chase him. As Mickey would say, "Don't let them breathe." The Cards have to make them question their will to win. IMO, it's their best chance to win.

Very well thought out. I tend to agree with you.

I think the Cards have to play a nearly perfect game (on the road no less) to have a shot at winning and even then I think it's a tall order. The Cards offense works best off the play-action pass, and the running game did not look good Saturday. If they can't get the running game going, I fear Palmer is going to be running for his life a lot of the day. BUT I do think we have a great coaching staff. Hope the find a way to put together the perfect game plan! Go Cards!

 

[nashman]

Their front seven didn't look so great the second half the other day???? You can have quick slants, screens, lots of plays that keep them honest. Get one on one coverage and we can e pose them deep. Their not nearly as good as people are giving them credit for! The cards have been a much more impressive and balanced team all year with a tougher schedule!

 

[football karma]

This will be tough

Cards gotta make Newton a passer on their terms-- third and long-- rather than in his terms

 

[nashman]

Come on guys we're playing the panthers geesh some of you act as though their the GOAT or something! It's the panthers yeah that team that the lowly Falcons beat, the team that gave up huge comebacks and barely hung on to win many times this season to poor teams! What in the hell has you guys so scared thinking we have to play a perfect game to beat these guys??? It's a good football team that's it, their not great their good but very, very beatable! I'm thinking the Cards can not only beat them but could potentially kick their ass if we play well. Its not some impossible mission to beat the freaking Carolina Panthers....

 

[PACardsFan]

but our WR's don't play against their front seven.....if their front seven dominates our o-line Palmer will have very few opportunities to find a wr...


This game boils down to our o-line,...and how well we contain Newton on the run.

Maybe I'm not explaining myself. When we're on offense, each team has their strength:
Carolina's strength is their defensive front 7
AZ's strength is their WR depth

My point is that our OLine has a significantly better chance of neutralizing their front 7, thus leaving their secondary in a position to be dominated. I think that their secondary is far more vulnerable than our OLine is. Our strength will have a greater impact in this game than their strength.