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Playoffs Game Day Open Thread: Cardinals v. Panthers

Your one-stop shop for comments, questions, witticisms, and complaints about the first playoff game of the year.

CAW!
CAW!
Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

On the one hand, you have a team who could legitimately be envious of the Texans' 2014 QB situation.

On the other, you have a team with a losing record.

TASTE THAT PLAYOFF EXCITEMENT!  TASTE IT!!!

Um...yeah. I don't have a ton to say about this game, but let's just throw some stuff out there for context and to reach SBNation's Draconian minimum word-count.

Patrick Peterson is fantastic.  Ryan Lindley is not.  Josh Norman is worth watching if you haven't seen him yet this year.  Charles Johnson is always a joy (unless you play for the opposing team). Cam Newton has moments of greatness, and Arizona subscribes to the Lloyd Carr school of "let's not even try to stop the running QB," which is always fun.

If I had to predict the outcome, I'd say this will be the ugliest game of the weekend, with Carolina winning handily behind a dominant defensive performance that makes Lindley pray for a concussion so he can forget the entire thing.

Prediction: Panthers 31, Cardinals 13.