Cardinals Survive, Ending Carson Palmer’s Drought

Puzzled as to the story line focus on Carson Palmer. Anyone who watched the game saw that Aaron Rodgers put the team on his back and made an amazing play at the end of regulation. So it happened that Rodgers' team lost. Palmer had two picks and was nothing special. Give credit where it's due.

The two minute penalty for puck over the boards in the NHL was the most foolish rule in sports but has now been replaced by the inane coin “flip” in the Arizonas/Green Bay game. An epic game decided by a referee unable to properly flip a coin. How about both teams get an offensive opportunity? Only in the NFL.

Connection of Palmer quote from Edison-- to Aaron Rodgers is misplaced, clumsy and way off-base in relation to this game.

The only thing I would change is for the NFL to adopt an NCAA-type OT in which both teams have equal initial possessions, then, if still tied, go to "sudden death".

As for the "State of the NFL", I still believe its Glory Days were the '60s & '70s, but that just may be nostalgia talkin'...

Cardinals fans are not used to success in the playoffs. Some were skeptical that the Cardinals would advance to the next round. Comments heard in the parking lot after the game:

- When does Green Bay get their chance with the ball in OT?
- Can the League reverse the result based on the officiating?
- We were the team in red, right?
- Do you advance even if you don't deflate the balls?

Both teams should have a chance with the ball in overtime. There are a few ways to work that out. Not hard. Come on NFL.

Some of the worse officiating I've seen, which makes the outcome of the game a matter of concern.

Why not just do away with overtime in the NFL?
Raise the stakes?
Demand some riskier play calling?
Enliven (and shorten) the game?

Too much advertising, too many bad calls at crucial times, rules that change every year and result in stifling penalties that ruin the flow of the game-that's today's NFL. Add to that the good luck of fans getting to witness life ending concussions in the making, what a world!

If you want more proof of how craven NFL owners and the networks are: After Green Bay's Janus heroically pulled down the Hail Mary from Rodgers to tie the score, there was legitimate concern for the review that might show the ball had been dropped and would not be a touchdown. What doe's NBC do? They break the mood, going to a commercial ad in record speed. They can't even wait around at the most exciting time of the game to that point, letting the viewing audience stay in the excitement of the moment.

The NFL and the corporate media have us in their clutches.

The Cardinals made plays when they had to in order to win this football game but it was another Keystone Kops adventure with the referees. The NFL MUST do something - additional training, additional zebras downfield and on the sidelines, making refereeing a full time job with real accountability, anything that will professionalize them to a greater degree. The players and coaches work much too hard to watch missed calls, bad calls, and ridiculous calls determine games.

I live in Wisconsin and I am a Packer fan zealot!! Without badmouthing my favorite team, its probably better that Arizona advances because we are just too beat up to take it all the way. Congrats to the Cardinals on their last two plays of the game.

That said, knowing that we were beat up, and knowing that the Cardinals had to be emotionally reeling from the game tying TD, I think Coach McCarthy should have gone for the two-point conversion. OT is just plain risky to both sides, but whoever wins that coin toss really has a foot up. Witness what happened to the Packers last year with Seattle. Hence, go for the two pointer - its bold, its in your face, and whatever happens, game over.

A dramatic and entertaining football game may or may not be great football.

It will be stunning if that game yields the last team standing.

I knew the guy was good, but not that good. Fitzgerald basically took the team, put it on his shoulders and willed it to win. On a night when Carson Palmer left his game in the locker room and the team's ground attack vaporized, without him, they had no chance. With him, they'll be playing again next week.

For those of you who didn't watch the game and only know it from reading this article, its conclusion actually was interesting -- not just one but a whole series of exciting and bizarre plays at the end. The plays are mentioned in the article, but hardly even described, much less evoked.

I don't think the players or fans were obsessing on how many playoff games Mr. Palmer's team had won in past years.

This game had perhaps the most exciting last two plays in NFL history, which seems to be what one of the announcers meant when he referred to such as something like an Al Michaels moment.

Mr. Michaels should be adding this game to his book on similar-ending games...

Where was the coin before the ref tossed it? I hope the NFL's coin tossing committee gets involved

Larry Fitzgerald's 75 yard run and Aaron Rodgers' Hail Mary pass - both incredible shows of athleticism, skill and determination. Can't help but hope that the Bengals and Steelers watched that game to see what pro football is like.

So is Bruce Arrians taking Larry Fitzgerald to dinner for the rest of their career?

Overtime should not be determined by a coin flip. Each team should have at least one chance to be on offense in the overtime.

Why McCarthy didn't end it after the Hail Mary, go for 2, from the 2yd line, giving the ball the ball to 320lb BJ Raji when he had AZ down, dagger at their throats, is shameful. He did it successfully years ago, when he was young and thought creatively; now, he simply looks at his huge playcards, keeps trying to run Lacy off-tackle deep into the 4th quarter without success, and stares in frustration a lot. Get me Jon Gruden on the phone...

Epic... I'm sure in the moment or deadline the author of this story will feel remiss on reporting on one of the greatest games played in NFL history.. It had everything.. One team a storied franchise, the other.. a washed up has been team for most of it's nearly 100 year existence.. A game with the most improbable ending by a legendary quarterback, and then finished up by a wide receiver who's legend and shadow just continues to grow. One of the best games I've ever seen.

Carson Palmer is living under a lucky star. He made one play, the escape and pass to Fitzgerald in OT. Otherwise, he reverted to form.

The officials made it clear in this game that the Pack would not be allowed to win it. The most disgraceful officiating I have ever seen!!!

I keep telling myself over and over again that I'm done watching NFL games for a variety of reasons., including selfish players, really bad hits that legal and I'm going to throw in the debacle of a game between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh last weekend.

I watched the game between Green Bay and Arizona last night and was on the edge of my seat - wow.

As a Giants fan who's team stopped playing in the first game of the season, I was rooting for 2 remaining teams, the Chiefs and Cardinals. Now it's the Cardinals.

Don't know if I'll be watching next season but for now, I'll see how the rest of the playoffs go.

On to late nights watching the Australian Open from down under!!!

I'm sorry, wasn't there something about a coin toss?

Thank you god! The Packers are gone, hopefully Steelers gone next and doesn't matter after that. The OT rules are great in the NFL - it puts the pressure on immediately instead of sitting around waiting.

Is there an Emmy for the "Coin Flip Cam?" There should be.

How 'bout the fourth-and-20 from the goal line to keep the game alive? On the Hail Mary, I don't think the defense was awful; Peterson's a great player. That said, I would've put Floyd and Fitzgerald on the field. Why wouldn't you want them in the end zone in that situation?

This was nothing like the regular season game a few weeks ago where the Packers were trounced. The Packers made a number of adjustments -- most notably, countering the Cardinals pass rush and giving Rodgers much more time. As for the defense, among other things, they shut down the run and passes to Johnson out of the backfield. There is a general lesson here, I think. The losing team in the regular season watches film and makes adjustments. If the winning team stands pat -- which the Cardinals pretty much did -- the regular season losing team may have an advantage in the first half, before a new set of adjustments are made. Because of the adjustments, the outcome of a playoff game is not likely to track that of games played in the regular season.

The refs couldn't toss a coin properly and they're calling the game. If what I watched tonight is the end product of "parity", try something else.

What is it with intelligent NFL coaches making inexplicable decisions at the end of post-season games?
Last year Pete Carroll is within a few feet of a second consecutive Super Bowl win and he decides to outsmart everyone by doing something completely unexpected. We all know what happened.
Then on Saturday Bruce Arians can run the clock down before scoring, leaving the Packers with precious little time and just one remaining time-out. But he decides to outsmart everyone by doing something completely unexpected. Like Carroll in a running situation, he only outsmarted himself by calling for a pass play.
Though not as disastrous as the uber-creativity of last year's Super Bowl (an incompletion this time that Carroll can only wish had been his fate), this call was a mistake - and not just in retrospect.
There are REASONS that passing in these situations is unexpected. Years of experience show that it doesn't make sense. Had either of these passes been completed, the coach would likely have been hailed as smart. Nope - just very lucky.
Yes, I know a touchdown for the Cardinals would have sealed the victory. And I know I am engaging in "Monday morning quarterbacking" (give or take a day). But the risk-reward equation for these two examples is skewed against creativity. Carroll's team gave up an almost certain victory with that pass over the middle. Arians' team is lucky to have escaped with a win after a wild finish to regulation (that he made possible), & a fortuitous coin flip.

A great game. Two comments, how could the officials have overturned that last Green Bay touchdown? They couldn't have. And has anybody noticed that Larry Fitzgerald's teeth have remarkably improved over the years? He used to be quite gap-toothed and now his smile and reasons for smiling are better than ever.

One of the most exciting games I've ever seen. They both deserved to win.

I do think the OT rule is unfair. Why not make OT 10 minutes? If the teams are tied at the end of 10 minutes they go to a field goal kick off from 40 yards out...back up a yard as they make it...first kicker to make when the other team misses...wins.

I root for the Patriots so I have no reason to take sides in this game.

The play by play announcers made clear, and the replays they showed, that the referrees blew several critical call late in the 4tg quarter that could easily have affected the outcome. For example, they missed a flagrant offensive foul on the Cardinals TD in the late 4th quarter. That play at least should have been called back.

Lots of this and that to argue about. But there can be no argument that the Cardinals won because of Larry Fitzgerald. Not the flashiest receiver. Not the fastest. Not the most colorful. Not known for one-handed catches. Not that good at touchdown celebrations. He just excels at the fundamentals. And we love him here in Arizona.

Hey NFL. Please please please devise a better method for determining an overtime winner. The coin toss is still the primary determinant of these games. Figure it out now.

Pack should have gone for a 2 pt conversion to win or lose the game at the end when they had ball control rather than taking their chances with a coin toss and never touching the ball again in OT.

As a Giants fan it was reassuring to see that other teams screw up end of game situations. Arians throwing saved GB 40 seconds. Then Hail Mary D awful. Amazing how all coaches except Belichick regularly bungle clock management and other end of game decisions.

IT's no wonder anyone who watches pro football is outraged by the officiating this year. There isn't a team that's been spared their inability to call the most crucial calls at the most crucial times. With my team alone, the Ravens, the NFL admitted after the game they blew it and that happened in two separate games. But I'm just one example. Now that the NFL has made it clear that concussions are not a major concern to them combined with commercials that never end, the game just isn't pleasurable anymore. But that's just about everyone's opinion.

Green Bay weather forecast for Sunday, January 17. Bitterly cold. Now shortened to just bitter.

Aaron Rodgers is by far the superior QB in this match-up. The sheer guts and tenacity he showed are awe-inspiring.
The Cards will be in shards and the Pack will be back!