The Cardinals had the opposite problem of the Panthers last week.
While the Panthers built a 31-0 lead and took their foot off the gas against the Seahawks, Cardinals coach Bruce Arians admitted he eased into things a little too much against the Packers.
He said his thought was to not put too much pressure on quarterback Carson Palmer early, since Palmer hadn’t recorded a postseason win in his career.
Thus liberated, Arians said it’s time to cut Palmer loose with the full playbook now.
“Not to be conservative in the first half when you’re picking your plays,” Arians said of lessons learned, via Bob McManaman of the Arizona Republic. And we talked about it. This was a game where he picked a lot of shorter completions early instead of going for ’em like we normally do. And I think that was part of, ‘I don’t want to screw this up.’
“Now that we don’t have to worry about doing that anymore, we can go back to being ourselves.”
Arians admitted there was pressure, since he hadn’t won a playoff game either, and he and Palmer were able to celebrate that first one together.
“Oh man. I went over and wiped Carson’s off his back and he brushed mine off my back,” Arians said. “Those monkeys are good to get rid of.”
If the Cardinals play with more abandon, and the Panthers do as promised and continue to push through both halves of a game, the NFC Championship Game could become a true spectacle, and the first one to 45 might be the one headed to the Super Bowl.
