Cardinals Advance to NFC Championship Game
The Arizona Cardinals got the job done against the Green Bay Packers with a 26-20 victory and will face the Carolina Panthers in the NFC Championship game.
The Arizona Cardinals defeated the Green Bay Packers in very exciting fashion with a 26-20 win in overtime on Saturday night and will take on the Carolina Panthers next weekend in the NFC Championship game.
The Cardinals held a 20-13 lead with just 55 seconds remaining in the 4th quarter and the Packers at their own 4-yard line with 0 timeouts remaining. On a 4th-and-20 from the 4-yard line Aaron Rodgers converted with a 61-yard pass to Jeff Janis down the left sideline.
34 seconds went by before the Packers were able to get their next play off however, bringing the game clock down to just 21 seconds left. On the ensuing play, Green Bay got called for an illegal motion which killed off 9 more seconds, leaving the Packers with just 12 ticks left on the clock. An incomplete pass on the following play left the Packers with just five seconds left and this is when things became magical.
On the final play of regulation Rodgers completed one of the more insane, yet incredible catches in NFL history to Jeff Janis in the end zone for a game-tying touchdown.
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It was one of the craziest plays I have seen live since the Auburn v. Alabama game a couple years back with the 109-yard missed field goal return for a touchdown. I thought that Arizona had no chance to bounce back from this as Green Bay had all the momentum in the world entering the overtime period.
The coin toss in overtime, which was one of the weirder coin flips in NFL history as the coin didn’t flip in the air on the first toss, resulted in the referees flipping the coin for a second time, which the Cardinals won.
On the first play from scrimmage in overtime Larry Fitzgerald and Carson Palmer hooked up for a 75-yard gain that brought the Cardinals down to the Packers 5-yard line.
Two plays later, the Cardinals were not only in the end zone, but they were also in the NFC Championship game for the second time in the past decade.
This game was just another crazy contest in the “Bird’s Nest” as all seven NFL playoff games that have taken place at University of Phoenix Stadium have been decided by 7 points or fewer, including two Super Bowls.
Next: Cardinals Set to take on Packers
The Cardinals and Panthers will square off with one another on Sunday, January 24 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Stay tuned here at Heat Waved for more coverage regarding the NFC Championship game.