Five musts for the Panthers, matching up with the Cardinals

Five “Musts” for the Carolina Panthers to beat the Arizona Cardinals and advance to Super Bowl 50:

Contain 5-yard outs

For a 32-year-old NFL wide receiver, Larry Fitzgerald looks pretty spry, huh? Saturday in the Cardinals’ 26-20 overtime victory over the Green Bay Packers, Fitzgerald caught eight passes for 176 yards.

The signature play in Fitzgerald’s game was a simple pattern to the flat that became something remarkable. Carson Palmer threw across the field, Fitzgerald turned forward and saw … pretty much nothing but grass.

You cannot give this man a running start. He zig-zagged up-field, breaking a couple of arm tackles before finally being knocked to the ground 5 yards from a touchdown. Appropriately, two plays later, Fitzgerald caught a shuffle pass for the score that advanced the Cardinals.

Fitzgerald has had a renaissance of sorts this season, and he demands plenty of attention. If Michael Floyd is Arizona’s No. 1 receiver, then Fitzgerald is 1A at worst.

Give Palmer flashbacks

Palmer has played well enough this season to be in the MVP discussion. But he had some shaky moments versus the Packers, throwing two interceptions and nearly a third.

Palmer doesn’t have abundant playoff experience. Saturday was his third postseason game and his first postseason victory. His numbers ended up strong (349 passing yards and three touchdowns), but there were several throws he must wish he’d never attempted.

One of the pillars of the Panthers’ dominance this season has been takeaways. There will be opportunities to pick off Palmer passes, probably several, in the NFC Championship Game. Make that a priority.

See Blitz, burn Blitz

The Cardinals defense loves to send extra pass-rushers after the opposing quarterback. That resulted in only one sack of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers Saturday and nearly backfired when Rodgers drove Green Bay the length of the field with two throws to force overtime.

The Cardinals went after Rodgers on the second of those throws, leaving two, rather than four, defenders deep to try to bat down the pass that ended up in Jeff Janis’ hands for the 41-yard touchdown.

Rodgers is a special talent, the reigning NFL Most Valuable Player. He has the elusiveness to sidestep the rush and the arm strength to put the ball 60 yards downfield accurately.

Who does that remind you of? The frontrunner for this season’s MVP award, Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. He has the size and feet to shrug off the heat Arizona will send and the downfield capacity to make big things happen.

Old … but still effective

The Cardinals brought former Indianapolis Colts sack specialist Dwight Freeney out of retirement and he has been impactful. In Arizona’s system he’s used as an outside linebacker, rather than a true down lineman, but he had a big play against Green Bay.

He got the Cardinals’ only sack Saturday, bringing down Rodgers for a 10-yard loss in the fourth quarter.

Freeney is a bit small for your NFL pass-rusher at 6-foot-1 and 268 pounds and obviously at 35, he’s no kid. But in selective situations, he’ll be disruptive to the Panthers’ offense.

Win the ground game

The Panthers are typically the superior rushing team. There should be every expectation that will continue against the Cardinals, who rushed for 40 yards, a 2.1 yards-per-carry average, versus the Packers.

That’s not to say the Cardinals lack talent at running back in David Johnson and Andre Ellington. But those two don’t add up to what Jonathan Stewart and Mike Tolbert provide or the X-factor that is Newton in the read option.

This story was originally published January 17, 2016 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Five musts for the Panthers, matching up with the Cardinals."