{"id":17568,"date":"2015-12-25T09:00:46","date_gmt":"2015-12-25T17:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/as-carolina-hogs-attention-other-nfc-contenders-lurking\/"},"modified":"2015-12-25T09:00:46","modified_gmt":"2015-12-25T17:00:46","slug":"as-carolina-hogs-attention-other-nfc-contenders-lurking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/as-carolina-hogs-attention-other-nfc-contenders-lurking\/","title":{"rendered":"As Carolina hogs attention, other NFC contenders lurking"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEMPE, Ariz. \u2014<\/strong> The unbeaten Carolina Panthers are understandably hogging attention in the NFC, but the Arizona Cardinals have been just as successful over the past two months. And the Seattle Seahawks are making their trademark late-season surge.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t count out the Green Bay Packers, either. They know a thing or two about playoff football.<\/p>\n

Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson doesn\u2019t begrudge the Panthers their share of the limelight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey deserve all the attention,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re undefeated in the National Football League, and they beat us. That\u2019s the honesty of it. It comes down to winning games, and they beat us in a tough environment (in Seattle). So you\u2019ve got to give them a lot of respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

That Carolina victory in Seattle came back on Oct. 18. The Seahawks (9-5) have won five straight since their home loss to Arizona and would hold the top wild-card spot if the playoffs were to begin today.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a strong possibility Seattle could play at Carolina in the NFC\u2019s divisional round. And the Seahawks, led by Wilson\u2019s near-flawless performances, are a long way from being the team that sputtered to a 2-4 start.<\/p>\n

Seattle coach Pete Carroll uses the words \u201cbalance\u201d and \u201charmony\u201d to describe the reasons for his team\u2019s change of fortune.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like tuning in on the radio dial,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to get it right. It\u2019s a big challenge. It\u2019s what everybody\u2019s seeking as they go through these seasons. You can see it. Look what happened to Kansas City, look how they\u2019ve turned it around and got going, and put together a great year and a great run. It finally hits, and you try to hold on to it as long as you can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oddsmakers certainly aren\u2019t overwhelmed by Carolina.<\/p>\n

VegasInsider.com rates the Panthers\u2019 chance of winning the Super Bowl at 5 to 1, only slightly better than Arizona and Seattle at 6 to 1. The Packers are a longer shot at 12 to 1, which doesn\u2019t\u2019 bother Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like where we\u2019re at,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople are talking about everybody else, which has always been a good position for us, and rightfully so. Arizona\u2019s playing great. Carson\u2019s (Palmer) having a hell of a year. Carolina\u2019s undefeated. Seattle\u2019s coming on. We\u2019re just kind of hanging here at 10-4, knowing that we\u2019re going to be a tough team in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Green Bay plays at Arizona (12-2) on Sunday with plenty at stake for both teams. The Cardinals can clinch at least the No. 2 seed in the NFC and the first-round bye that goes with it. A Green Bay win ensures the Packers will remain alone in first place in the NFC North and would leave them just a game behind Arizona for the NFC\u2019s No. 2 seed heading into the final week of the schedule.<\/p>\n

The Cardinals conclude their regular season with a home game against Seattle, while Green Bay hosts the Minnesota Vikings, who enter this week a game behind the Packers in the NFC North.<\/p>\n

So a loss to Green Bay would put the Cardinals, currently flying high with an eight-game winning streak, in a precarious position to lose that precious first-round bye.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been that way for a month,\u201d Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said of this game\u2019s importance. \u201cThere ain\u2019t nothing different about this one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Any of those four matchups over the next two weeks could be a preview of a playoff game. Arians said he hopes he sees the Packers or Seahawks again down the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to win so we do see them again, hopefully at our place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Cardinals aren\u2019t sneaking up on anyone anymore. They have played on prime-time television five times in the last eight weeks and have won all five games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we want as players. We want to play in front of everybody and play in big games,\u201d Palmer said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been fortunate to play well in prime-times games and we want to keep that going.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TEMPE, Ariz. \u2014 The unbeaten Carolina Panthers are understandably hogging attention in the NFC, but the Arizona Cardinals have been just as successful over the past two months. And the Seattle Seahawks are making their trademark late-season surge. Don\u2019t count out the Green Bay Packers, either. They know a thing or two about playoff football. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-17568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17568"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=17568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}