To finally prove any remaining sceptics wrong, the regular season’s two best teams needed only to vanquish last season’s two NFC semi-finalists.
The Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals did just that, and now they will meet with the winner giving the NFC a surprising Super Bowl 50 participant.
Both teams had to withstand valiant efforts from their opponents to advance.
Green Bay Packers repeated recent history with a ridiculous last-second, Hail Mary touchdown to send their game with the Cardinals to overtime. And the Seattle Seahawks very nearly came back from a 31-0 deficit in Carolina. But the Seahawks fell seven points short, the Cardinals kept the Packers off the field in overtime and the top two seeds prevailed.
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With the famililar faces from the Packers and Seahawks now out of the picture, the focus can be on the upstarts.
Panthers quarterback Cam Newton put up an MVP-calibre first half against the Seahawks to keep his team alive. The Cardinals’ Carson Palmer struggled but got the first post-season win of his career. And he has one of the best receivers in play-off history to thank for it.
Larry Legend
Larry Fitzgerald’s 2008 play-off performance for the Cardinals was one for the ages. In three wins and a Super Bowl loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Fitzgerald set post-season records of 546 receiving yards, 30 receptions and seven touchdown catches. He was unstoppable.
Eight years later, with his team’s season on the line, Palmer found Fitzgerald uncovered on the first play of overtime. The receiver, 32, weaved through would-be tacklers on his way to a 75-yard gain — a play later deemed the “Hail Larry” — and two plays later, was given the ball on a shovel-pass to score the game-winning touchdown.
Both of the Cardinals’ trips to the NFC Championship game are because of Fitzgerald’s heroics. If he repeats his performance from the first appearance (a record-tying three touchdown receptions in the first half against the Philadelphia Eagles), they could be Super Bowl-bound again.
One more time, Brady v Manning
There are no upstarts remaining in the AFC, where once again it comes down to Tom Brady v Peyton Manning for the right to a Super Bowl berth.
It is the marquee one-on-one rivalry in NFL history, but we were robbed of a 17th iteration of the battle during the regular season, an overtime thriller won by the Brock Osweiler-led Denver Broncos in Week 12. Manning was out with an injury at the time. It proved to be a huge win, the Broncos claiming the AFC’s top seed, and home-field advantage, over the Patriots.
This might be the final Brady-Manning battle and Manning’s last shot at a second Super Bowl title. The NFL’s all-time leading passer had his worst professional season and could be facing retirement.
If he does stick around, it might not be in in Denver. Osweiler showed enough promise in his starts that the Broncos might opt to move on from Manning, leaving the legendary quarterback looking for a team less Super Bowl-ready.
Manning has the passing records, but Brady is 11-5 in the head-to-head meetings and has four Super Bowl rings to Manning’s one. It will be the fifth time the two have met in the play-offs and the fourth time in the AFC Championship game (the play-off match-up is 2-2).
This showdown is always must-see TV, but this one might be the most significant yet.
kjeffers@thenational.ae
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