The Arizona Cardinals and the Carolina Panthers will face off on Sunday in a massive NFL Playoffs 2016 game, with the NFC Championship title and a place in this year's Super Bowl on the line. Today's big game has a scheduled start time of 6.40 p.m. ET and takes place from Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. The game can be watched on TV on the Fox network or online through live stream via the link below.
Carson Palmer was made to wait 12 years of his NFL career before he claimed his first Playoff victory, and it has all led to this point where he now has the opportunity to go head to head with Cam Newton to see who will be going all the way to the Super Bowl.
Today's game is special for many reasons, but one of the most intriguing points is that this will be the first ever meeting between Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks in the Playoffs.
Palmer finished this season with a career high 35 touchdown passes and a 104.6 passer rating to lead the Arizona Cardinals to a 14-3 record and a league high 408.3 yards per game. They want to add the NFC Championship to their NFC West title, and of course want to go all the way to win the Super Bowl this year.
Last week, Palmer threw three touchdown passes as his team defeated the Green Bay Packers 26-20, and threw to Larry Fitzgerald for a 75 yard catch and run, which ended up setting up a shovel pass to Fitzgerald to win the game three plays into overtime.
Palmer has said, "As I haven't been playing in these games, I've studied it and watched it from afar and gone through it mentally. As big as this game is, you can't make it bigger than it is. It's win or go home and there's plenty of implications, but we've got a pretty good recipe that wins games and we're going to stick with that recipe."
Meanwhile, the Carolina Panthers finished the season 16-1 and starred an on fire Cam Newton to pile on an NFL high 31-3 points per game.
Newton finished the season with 35 touchdown passes as well as 10 runs himself. He threw for 161 yards and a touchdown in last week's 31-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks and he and his team will be confident coming into this game, as they were the only team in the NFL to go the season undefeated at home.
However, the Arizona Cardinals are unlikely to be worried by that statistic, as they themselves boasted as amazing road record, going 7-1 away from home, and they will believe they have what it takes to take down the Panthers today.
Newton has said, "We prepared too much to get nervous. In some way, shape or form we played this game numerous times in our head, watched countless film, made this adjustment and that adjustment, so when you're put in the fire you already have what you need to do what you do. Nothing else needs to be done or said. No matter if we're up or we're down, just believe in the plan and keep going."
The Cardinals will be relieved but buoyed on by last week's win over the Green Bay Packers. After Aaron Rodgers completed a 60 yard pass on 4th and 20 with just 55 seconds remaining, and then threw a 41 yard Hail Mary to send the game into overtime, many Arizona fans must have wondered whether they were destined to fall short this season. However, they came through in the end and after gaining such a dramatic win to be here their confidence will be high and oppositely they are likely to now believe this could be their season after all.
Today's big NFL Playoffs 2016 NFC Championship Game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Carolina Panthers has a scheduled start time of 6.40 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the Fox network. The game can also be watched online through live stream by clicking here.
