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Cardinals look to reverse course vs. Panthers

Jan 6, 2009 - 8:26 PM Arizona (10-7) at Carolina (12-4), Saturday, 8:15 p.m. EST

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Ticker) -- The Arizona Cardinals have come up empty in five trips to the East Coast this season.

But the Cardinals can take some solace in that fact that the best performance of those five losses came against the Carolina Panthers, who will host Arizona in the divisional round Saturday night.

When the teams met on October 6, Carolina rallied from a 14-point deficit in the third quarter to register a 27-23 victory over the Cardinals.

It was one of the few "successful" forays east for Arizona, which absorbed a pair of ugly beatings at Philadelphia (48-20) and New England (47-7) in the final five weeks of the regular season.

However, the Cardinals regained their footing in last week's wild-card game, posting an impressive 30-24 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

Despite giving up a pair of touchdowns in a 2 1/2-minute span to fall behind at halftime, 17-14, Arizona regrouped with 16 unanswered points in the second half to secure its first postseason win since 1998.

After scoring a franchise-high 427 points in the regular season, the Cardinals reached 30 points for the eighth time against Atlanta. Kurt Warner threw long scoring passes to each of his Pro Bowl receivers, Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, although Boldin suffered a hamstring pull on his TD and is questionable for Saturday.

Edgerrin James, brought out of mothballs for the regular-season finale, rushed for 73 yards on just 16 carries to provide a complement to Arizona's vaunted passing offense.

"They are a very, very, very aggressive offense and very good at what they do," Panthers coach John Fox said. "They are capable of running the ball; they just haven't done it that much."

After being benched midway through the season and having a total of 11 carries in eight games, James has rushed for 173 yards on 30 attempts in his last two outings.

"I don't have anything to prove, just look at what I have done over my career," James said. "There is no secret what type of running back I am. Finally, I was put in a position to actually do that, run my own game."

The Cardinals' defense also stuffed Atlanta's running game, holding Michael Turner, the league's No. 2 rusher, to a season-low 42 yards on 18 carries.

They will need a similar effort against a second straight NFC South opponent. The Panthers' two-pronged attack, featuring DeAngelo Williams and rookie Jonathan Stewart, combined for more than 2,300 yards and 28 rushing touchdowns this season.

"Well, they're pretty good," Fox said. "At certain points, people were trying to pick which one is best. You go through all of the different gymnastics throughout the season, but the reality is they're both pretty darn good and there's no question they help our running game."

Williams, in particular, was immense down the stretch, churning out seven 100-yard games and scoring 16 of his 18 TDs in the final nine contests. He rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown in the earlier win over Arizona.

Carolina also torched the Cardinals with the pass as quarterback Jake Delhomme connected with wideout Steve Smith on scoring strikes of 18 and 65 yards in the third quarter to erase a 17-3 deficit.

Smith had a spectacular season, racking up 1,421 yards and six touchdowns despite sitting out the first two games due to a team-mandated suspension.

Eight of Smith's 100-yard performances came in the last 11 games, including his five-catch, 117-yard effort against Arizona.

"Steve's Steve," Panthers offensive tackle Jordan Gross said. "I love him. I'm glad he's my teammate."

Arizona also must overcome a couple of other major obstacles other than its woes on the East Coast. Carolina was the only team to post a perfect 8-0 mark at home and the Panthers were 5-1 in games decided by seven or fewer points.