The Carolina Panthers won over the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday in the NFL playoffs and now Cam Newton and company advance out of the NFC wild card round after a dominating performance on defense in the 27-16 win over the Cards at home.
Cam Newton threw for 198 yards and two touchdowns in the game and he earned his first postseason win in his career. The Panthers now are 8-8-1 overall in the regular season and the playoffs and now they await the results of the next games on Sunday. The Cardinals started the season 9-1 before limping to a finish with Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton injured and now they are out of the playoffs. The Panthers got over 120 yards from Jonathan Stewart, who had a touchdown and a number of impressive runs.
Arizona had just 78 yards in the game and only 65 yards at halftime and they struggled to get anything going throughout the entire game. Carolina dominated on defense and harassed Ryan Lindley throughout the game and now the Panthers advance despite having a losing record this season. Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly was all over the field, making 10 tackles and one interception, while Linley had just 82 yards.
The Panthers will play on the road in Seattle against the top seed Seahawks if Dallas beats Detroit on Sunday, but if the Lions win, the Panthers play at Green Bay against the Packers.
"Honestly, it's not good enough and it showed," Cardinals running back Stepfan Taylor said to ESPN. "That's why we're going home and they're moving on. Can't win like that, especially in the playoffs. It's pretty simple."
