Email
Print
Cardinals rout Panthers 33-13 in NFL playoffs
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: January 10, 2009
Updated: 01/11/2009 12:31 am
CHARLOTTE - Last week, the Carolina Panthers had a bye.
This week, it was bye-bye.
The Panthers' season came to an abrupt end last night as the Arizona Cardinals rolled to a 33-13 victory at Bank of America Stadium in the second round of the playoffs.
The Cardinals took advantage of six Panthers turnovers - including a team-record five interceptions from quarterback Jake Delhomme - to move on to the NFC Championship game next Sunday against the winner of today's game between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles.
The Cardinals spotted the Panthers an early 7-0 lead, then roared back to lead 27-7 at halftime and 33-7 before the Panthers added a meaningless touchdown in the final minute.
"In a nutshell, we picked a bad day to have a bad day," Coach John Fox of the Panthers said. "I think anytime you turn the ball over six times against a good football team in the playoffs, you don't have much shot. It's unfortunate. There are guys in the locker room who worked their tails off all year, and I wish it could have been a better finish. But I don't know many teams that are going to overcome six turnovers."
Receiver Steve Smith was among the most frustrated, on a night when he didn't catch a pass until late in the third quarter and finished with two catches for 43 yards.
"That wasn't the way we wanted it to go," Smith said. "It sucks. There were a lot of mistakes. For the people who say it was ugly, you needed to be on the field to see how ugly it was."
Delhomme finished the night 17 of 34 for 205 yards, but the only number that mattered was five - a franchise-record five interceptions. The Cardinals turned the five into one touchdown and four Neil Rackers field goals.
"He had a great year for us," Fox said of Delhomme. "I think Jake is a helluva quarterback who had a rough night."
The Cardinals, on the other hand, got a solid performance from quarterback Kurt Warner (21 of 32 for 220 yards and two touchdowns) and a super performance from wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, the league's second-leading receiver during the regular season, finished with eight catches for 166 yards, including six for 151 in the first half.
"He's a big playmaker for us," Warner said. "He always gets us kick started, and he did it again today. What can you say? He's a huge, big-time player."
It couldn't have started better for the Panthers.
Mark Jones returned the opening kickoff to the 50, and the Panthers scored in five plays. Jonathan Stewart got the touchdown from 9 yards out, after a 31-yard run on the previous play by Williams. It was 7-0 Panthers with 11:56 left in the first quarter.
But that was it for the Panthers' highlights in the first half.
Warner hit Fitzgerald for 41 yards to highlight a six-play, 60-yard drive, and Warner hit Tim Hightower out of the backfield for the touchdown from 3 yards out.
Delhomme was sacked and stripped by Antonio Smith on the Panthers' first play from scrimmage, and Smith - who spun to beat guard Travelle Wharton - recovered at the Panthers' 13. Edgerrin James scored two plays later on a 4-yard run.
The Panthers drove to the Arizona 15 on their next series, but Delhomme was intercepted by Dominique Rogers-Cromartie at the goal line as he forced a pass to Smith.
Arizona parlayed that into a 49-yard field goal by Neil Rackers for a 17-7 lead with 10:15 left in the half.
Warner hit Fitzgerald for 25 and 17 yards on the Cardinals' next drive, and Rackers made the score 20-7 with a 30-yard field goal with 5:38 left in the half.
Then came Delhomme's second interception - and the first of several choruses of boos - as linebacker Gerald Hayes stepped in front of a pass for Muhsin Muhammad at midfield and returned it to the Carolina 44.
Three plays later, Warner found Fitzgerald wide open again, and Fitzgerald outran Chris Harris and Jon Beason to the end zone for a 29-yard touchdown. That made the score 27-7 with 3:32 left in the half.
Interception No. 3 came on the Panthers' second possession of the third quarter, with Antrel Rolle coming up with a pass in the flat that was first deflected by Rogers-Cromartie and then bounced off Smith.
Arizona turned that into a 33-yard field goal by Rackers and a 30-7 lead with 4:40 left in the third quarter.
Interception No. 4 came after the Panthers had driven to the Arizona 12. Delhomme tried to hit Smith across the middle in the end zone, but Ralph Brown had position and made an easy interception.
Interception No. 5 came when Rod Hood picked Delhomme off at the 50 on the Panthers' next possession, and by that point most of a crowd of 73,695 was long gone. The Cardinals went on a 13-play drive to the 2 before settling for Rackers' fourth field goal, a 20-yarder to push the lead to 33-7.
Delhomme then hit Smith with an 8-yard touchdown with 50 seconds left to close out the scoring.
John Delong can be reached at jdelong@wsjournal.com.
Email
Print
ADVERTISEMENT
Click a region for news specific to that area.
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
Advertisement
