{"id":33063,"date":"2016-01-24T09:04:22","date_gmt":"2016-01-24T17:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/heisman-trophy-winners-newton-palmer-meet-in-nfc-title-game\/"},"modified":"2016-01-24T09:04:22","modified_gmt":"2016-01-24T17:04:22","slug":"heisman-trophy-winners-newton-palmer-meet-in-nfc-title-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/heisman-trophy-winners-newton-palmer-meet-in-nfc-title-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Heisman Trophy winners Newton, Palmer meet in NFC title game"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHARLOTTE, N.C. \u2014<\/strong> Cam Newton and Carson Palmer have a few things in common.<\/p>\n

Both were Heisman Trophy winners. Both were No. 1 overall draft picks. And both have strong arms, each throwing for 35 touchdown passes this season while positioning themselves as league MVP candidates. Palmer\u2019s Arizona Cardinals finished the regular season first in the league in offense, while Newton\u2019s Carolina Panthers were No. 1 in points scored.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s about where the similarities end.<\/p>\n

Palmer is a pocket passer with a fairly calm demeanor, while Newton is a fun-loving athlete who can beat you with his arm and his feet \u2014 no QB in NFL history has run for more TDs \u2014 and then let you know it by \u201cdabbing\u201d in the end zone.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the two QBs with similar accolades but varying styles meet when the Panthers host the Cardinals in the NFC Championship game, with a berth in the Super Bowl at stake. It\u2019s the first time two Heisman-winning quarterbacks have met in a postseason game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are two different styles of quarterbacks,\u201d said Panthers wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr., who has caught passes from both QBs in the last two seasons. \u201cBut they both come on the field and play as hard as they can. They both have great arms and can throw the ball and put their teams in position to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newton enters his first NFC title game with thoughts of keeping his foot on the gas. Palmer feels he has something to prove after a shaky performance in the divisional playoffs.<\/p>\n

Palmer threw three touchdown passes in Arizona\u2019s 26-20 overtime win over Green Bay last weekend, but he looked nervous and jittery at times in his first career playoff win with two interceptions, some overthrown passes and a series of poor decisions. He cannot afford them against a Carolina defense that forced a league-high 39 turnovers.<\/p>\n

Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said Palmer seemed to have some butterflies during the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think just wanting so bad, maybe too bad, and being too tentative,\u201d Palmer said. \u201cThat\u2019s not my style. That\u2019s not our head coach\u2019s style. This is not a tentative offense and I think being tentative bit us in the butt in the first half. We came out with a different mindset, and I came out with a different mindset, after halftime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arians vows not to allow that to happen again.<\/p>\n

He said the Cardinals have been much looser this week in practice and his play calling will be more aggressive, which likely will mean testing Carolina\u2019s secondary by going for big chunk plays down the field.<\/p>\n

The Panthers defeated the Cardinals 27-16 last year in the NFC divisional playoffs, but that was with Ryan Lindley at quarterback. Panthers coach Ron Rivera said there is little the team can glean from that game since Palmer was sidelined with a torn ACL.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got a lot of good weapons and he\u2019s got a good offensive line in front of him,\u201d Rivera said. \u201cHe\u2019s got playmakers at all the positions. The biggest thing, more than anything else, is he does a great job of spreading the ball around. One thing you do notice in certain situations (is) who his go-to guys are. I think everybody knew who his go-to guy was in that game and that\u2019s just the way it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

His go-to guy last Sunday was Larry Fitzgerald, who made a huge play in overtime and scored the game-winner on a shovel pass from Palmer.<\/p>\n

The Cardinals\u2019 focus will be on stopping Newton, the most dynamic player in the league.<\/p>\n

This will be Newton\u2019s fifth playoff game and he\u2019s already won a national championship at Auburn, so he doesn\u2019t expect nerves to be a problem \u2014 especially playing in the comfort of home where the Panthers have won 12 straight games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t get nervous,\u201d Newton said.<\/p>\n

He looked calm and poised last week against the Seattle Seahawks, leading Carolina to a 31-0 halftime lead, but was frustrated over being shut out in the second half. He said the Panthers got too conservative \u2014 something the team cannot afford to do against the NFL\u2019s top-ranked offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to find ways to complete a full game of football,\u201d Newton said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been known to take our foot off the throttle. Yeah, we won the football game, but there are some things we\u2019ve got to be better with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arizona defensive tackle Calais Campbell said to stop Newton, the Cardinals must first slow down Carolina\u2019s running game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis play action game is unbelievable,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cBut that works when you can run the ball for four or five yards a pop. If we can get them for no gains and losses, get some long throwing situations, then you can really pass rush. But if you can\u2019t do that then you have no chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Sports Writer Bob Baum in Tempe, Arizona, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL website: http:\/\/www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/AP_NFL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHARLOTTE, N.C. \u2014 Cam Newton and Carson Palmer have a few things in common. Both were Heisman Trophy winners. Both were No. 1 overall draft picks. And both have strong arms, each throwing for 35 touchdown passes this season while positioning themselves as league MVP candidates. Palmer\u2019s Arizona Cardinals finished the regular season first in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":33064,"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-33063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33063","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=33063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33063"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=33063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}