GLENDALE, Ariz. — Like his signature deep throws, quarterback Carson Palmer’s football résumé covers a lot of ground: two high school championships, one Heisman Trophy and five 4,000-yard passing seasons for three NFL teams. But Palmer’s professional career had called
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Like his signature deep throws, quarterback Carson Palmer’s football résumé covers a lot of ground: two high school championships, one Heisman Trophy and five 4,000-yard passing seasons for three NFL teams. But Palmer’s professional career had called to mind a long drive that peters out inside the red zone.
Through his first 12 seasons as a pro, Palmer did not have a playoff victory. Since being drafted No. 1 overall by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2003, he had watched other California-bred quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers win a combined 29 playoff games (before Saturday) and five Super Bowl rings, four of them by Brady.
On Saturday night, Palmer at long last filled a gaping hole in his résumé, leading the Arizona Cardinals past Rodgers’ Green Bay Packers team in an NFC divisional game at University of Phoenix Stadium. Palmer passed for 349 yards and three touchdowns as the Cardinals handed the Packers a 26-20 overtime loss.
Rodgers heaved a 41-yard completion to Jeff Janis in the end zone on the last play of regulation (his second pass of over 40 yards in the final minute) to send the game into overtime. After the Cardinals won the toss, Palmer connected with Larry Fitzgerald on a 75-yard play to set up the winning score, a flip pass to Fitzgerald for a 5-yard score.
“We have a tendency sometimes to make it too dramatic,” said Cardinals coach Bruce Arians, who described the sideline during the final two minutes as “a roller coaster.”
Palmer, 36, shook off two second-half interceptions in the red zone to orchestrate the come-from-behind victory. On a go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter, he drove the Cardinals 80 yards, culminating in a 9-yard completion to Michael Floyd on a tipped pass intended for Fitzgerald.
Chandler Catanzaro added three field goals for the Cardinals (14-3), who will play for the NFC title next week against either the Seattle Seahawks, with whom they split their season series, or the Carolina Panthers.
For Arizona fans, Saturday’s win was a case of delayed gratification. Behind Palmer, the Cardinals appeared built for a deep run in 2014 when they won eight of their first nine games.
In the ninth, however, Palmer, back and playing well after missing three games with a shoulder injury, was sidelined with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, suffered while being sacked. He had incurred the same injury in 2006, on the second snap of his first playoff game, and many wondered if he had the hunger to mount another comeback.
Not only did he return, but Palmer posted career highs in the regular season in touchdown passes (35) and passing yards (4,671). That he came back better than before, with a stronger core and sounder mechanics, is a testament to his passion for the game.
“You can fear a lot of stuff,” Palmer said, “but at the end of the day you’ve got to put the work in, go out and execute when it’s time to execute and try to get back there.”
Rodgers had a feeling the Packers would be returning to this stadium after their 38-8 road loss to the Cardinals in December. After being sacked eight times in defeat, Rodgers said, “This was a playoff-style game and we played terrible, but we have won a lot of games here.”
Rebounding from 10 consecutive games with a passer rating under 100, Rodgers threw for 261 yards and two touchdowns. He was intercepted once.
The Cardinals struck first Saturday, with Palmer finding Floyd in the back corner of the end zone with 6 minutes, 48 seconds left in the first quarter. The 8-yard pass, like several of Palmer’s throws in the opening minutes, sailed high, but the 6-foot-3 Floyd was able to stretch for it.
If Palmer looked overeager in the early going, it was understandable. He had waited six years to get back to the playoffs after his Cincinnati Bengals lost to the Jets in a wild-card game.
The Cardinals appeared to strike again early in the second when cornerback Patrick Peterson intercepted Rodgers at the goal line on the 14th play of a drive that started at the Green Bay 5. Peterson sprinted 100 yards down the home sideline, but the score was nullified by an illegal-use-of-the-hands call on Arizona’s Frostee Rucker. The opportunistic Packers took advantage of the reprieve to pull within 7-3 on a 28-yard field goal by Mason Crosby.
Soon, the Packers offense returned to the field and strung together another 17-play drive that exhausted the Cardinals defense and 7:55 of the clock. After converting four of five third downs in the quarter, Rodgers threw an incompletion on a third-and-8 and the Packers settled for another Crosby field goal, measuring 34 yards, to trail by 1 at the half.
The Packers capitalized on a Palmer interception with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to Jeff Janis, set up by a 61-yard run by Eddie Lacy, to take their first lead, 13-7.
The Cardinals’ Fitzgerald, who had a franchise-record 109 catches during the regular season, was held to one reception in the first half. He reminded the Packers why he became the youngest player to reach 1,000 career receptions this season by catching seven passes for 170 yards in the second half and overtime, including the one that extended the season and snapped Palmer’s playoff streak of futility.
