The first of the 4 NFL wildcard games is a matchup consisting of the NFC South winning Carolina Panthers and wild card team Arizona Cardinals. The last time these two teams played was in 2013, the Cardinals won 22-6. Arizona has their second string quarterback Drew Stanton listed as questionable with a knee injury and Cam Newton got into a car crash recently, both team’s quarterbacks are pretty banged up. If Stanton is unable to go, the Cardinals are expected to start Ryan Lindley. With both teams taking different paths throughout the regular season it doesn’t matter, the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals will face off at Bank of America Stadium Saturday 4:20 PM ET.
Finishing the season 7-8-1 and beating the Atlanta Falcons to win the NFC South, the Carolina Panthers are led by their tenacious defense. That will make them a tough team for any opponent to match up on against. They have a nice combination of run and pass with Cam Newton and Jonathan Stewart. Cam “Ace Boogie” Newton has had a strong season up until this point with 18 passing touchdowns, 3,127 throwing yards, 5 rushing touchdowns, and 539 rushing yards. His receiving corps is very promising with rookie Kelvin Benjamin who had a 1,000+ yards receiving and 9 touchdown catches. The Panthers defense is 11th in opponent passing yards and 16th in opponent rushing. Covering Larry Fitzgerald will be a challenge not to mention Andre Ellington a dual threat out of the Cardinals backfield.
Cardinals fans have had plenty to cheer when their team started the season a shocking 9-1 in one of the most competitive divisions in the league with the Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, and St. Louis Rams. The Cardinals haven’t had a strong rushing season sitting 31st in the league averaging 81.8 yards per game. Their passing has been impressive with 238 averaged yards throwing per game which is 14th in the NFL. Patrick Peterson who is considered the best CB in the league who is having another good season with 3 interceptions and 43 tackles. The Cardinals have their work cut out for them and both teams matchup well and this game should be close.
This writer thinks that the Cardinals aren’t very strong without Carson Palmer and the Panthers defense is very capable of making big time plays. With that said Cam Newton isn’t experienced having played only 1 playoff game in the past. This writer predicts a 24-10 Cardinal victory because the Cardinals defense will shut down the young Panther receivers and Jonathan Stewart doesn’t have the ability to handle such a difficult task.