Photo Credit: Matt Kartozian/USA TODAY Sports
The Arizona Cardinals play the Green Bay Packers today for the divisional championship that has been touted as the game of the week. The Packers lost to the Cardinals in Week 16, 38-8 and went on to lose three of their last five games of the regular season. Their loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 17 kept them from winning a fifth NFC North title and forced them to travel in the Wild Card round to the Washington Redskins where the experienced QB, Aaron Rodgers, prevailed over Kirk Cousins who was pressed all day by the Green Bay defense. However, the story in Arizona this postseason is not about how they will beat Green Bay who definitely got an emotional boost in their win over the Redskins.
The story in Arizona is about the potential re-match vs. the Carolina Panthers for a NFC title. Rewind to the 2014 season where Bruce Arians in his second year as Cardinals head coach, leads his team to a 7-1 start and appeared to be absolutely on fire. Every week they were in the spotlight and the buzz about the team was heard all over the league. In their Week 9 win against the St Louis Rams, Carson Palmer went down with a torn ACL just two days after signing a three-year, $50 million contract extension. You could feel the air leave the building, however, the Cardinals fought back the rest of the season with  eight-year league veteran and back-up quarterback Drew Stanton and finished 11-5 and clinched a playoff berth as a wild card team. Their opponent? The underdog 7-8-1 Carolina Panthers. However, neither Palmer nor Stanton would be the starting quarterback that day as both were injured.
The entire playoffs rested in the hands of third-string Ryan Lindley, a 2012 draft pick from San Diego State. He was now playing in the biggest game of his life, one that would prove too big for him. Their defense did all they could to keep them in a game where Tedd Ginn Jr’s fumbled kickoff return allowed the Panthers to score on a gimme 3-yard drive. The Cardinals lost 27-16 in heart-breaking fashion. The Cardinals season was over and all they could do was look ahead to the 2015 season and hope Carson Palmer’s 35 year-old body could recover and bring back the hope they had in making it back to the playoffs next year.
Fast forward to the 2015 season and not only did they make it back to the playoffs, but they have a first round bye, getting a well-deserved rest to prepare for the divisional round on Saturday, January 16th. The Cardinals this year are quietly winning games, staying under the radar and methodically preparing for what everyone in the organization and every fan is hoping for, the big game, Super Bowl 50. They’re not saying it, but the emotion must be palpable the minute you cross the Arizona state line. Not only does Carson Palmer want to avenge his 2014 season, but the one who waits with even more anticipation doesn’t wear a uniform.
He’s the coach. Bruce Arians, the 63-year old head coach who won the 2014’s AP Head Coach of the Year wants this for his team, his quarterback and is possibly the most deserving to win it for no one else but himself, but that’s not his style. He’s a coach through and through; every bone of his body lives for his team and his players. He’s been a coach in the league since 1989 when Carson Palmer was just ten years old. Prior to that he coached fourteen years in college football. His story is far more heartbreaking than a season-ending torn ACL or a wild card loss riddled with turnovers, mistakes, and an inexperienced third string quarterback. Over the course of his forty year coaching career he’s worked for fourteen different teams, moved his family all over the country, survived prostate cancer, and during the 1986 season as head coach of the Temple Owls he was forced to forfeit all six of their wins due to running back Paul Palmer signing with a sports agent prior to the end of the season, an NCAA violation. He’s had his share of heartbreaks but has also had an enormous amount of success. As an assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers he won two Super Bowls, XI and XLIII, and not only did he win coach of the year in 2014 but many remember him as the coach who took over for Chuck Pagano when he was diagnosed with cancer in Indianapolis and helped take that team to the playoffs in 2012. He is a coach’s coach.
If the Arizona Cardinals win this week against the Green Bay Packers we will be hearing a lot about the rematch against the Carolina Panthers and this time a third-string quarterback won’t be leading the charge. Instead it will be a very healthy quarterback and a very worthy head coach. The Arizona Cardinals have a lot of fans who remember the pain of last year, but for those whose memories of Bruce Arians go back farther than that, they’ll be cheering for the coach.
