Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer had turned the ball over a total of eight times in his final nine regular season starts. This was among the reasons that many people consider Palmer a top candidate for the NFL's MVP Award.
Following a shaky two-interception performance in a win over the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round, Palmer led his Cardinals into Carolina to take on a one-loss Panthers team.
The results were about as disastrous as it gets.
Palmer turned the ball over a total of six times, including four interceptions in the 49-15 blowout loss. Three of the four interceptions took place in the fourth quarter, one of which was returned for a touchdown by Luke Kuechly.
For Palmer, it represented the worst performance of his 12-year NFL career.
All said, the veteran completed 23-of-40 passes for 235 yards with one touchdown and those four interceptions.
From a fantasy football perspective, this was even more troubling, especially for those of us who picked Palmer up for the final weekend of FanDuel DFS action. All said, he tallied a total of 1.40 fantasy points in the defeat. Considering Tom Brady finished as the second-worst of the four starting quarterbacks with 13.70 points, it's safe to say the vast majority of those who rostered Palmer didn't cash out.
Palmer's disastrous performance also had a major impact on the production of his receivers.
Coming off a 176-yard performance against the Packers, Larry Fitzgerald caught just four of the seven passes thrown in his direction for 30 yards. Meanwhile, Michael Floyd, coming off two touchdowns the prior week, caught just three of the eight passes thrown to him. Add in John Brown's 2-23-0 stat line, and it's safe to say the overall struggle was real here.
The only bright spot in an otherwise dark evening in Carolina was rookie running back David Johnson, who finished with 128 total yards and a touchdown en route to the best performance for a running back on the weekend.
On the other side of the ledger, Carolina had its way against a previously stout Cardinals defense.
Cam Newton racked up 382 total yards and four touchdowns en route to his third 30-plus fantasy point performance in five games.
Jonathan Stewart added 83 total yards. Meanwhile, all three of the top fantasy receivers from the weekend were members of the Panthers — a shocking reality based on the perceived lack of talent this unit possesses.
Philly Brown caught seven passes for 113 yards, including an 86-yard touchdown from Newton to open up the game's scoring. Ted Ginn added two receptions for 52 yards as well as a 22-yard touchdown run to finish as the weekend's second-best fantasy receiver.
With this blowout win, Carolina heads Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara to take on the Denver Broncos in less than two weeks.
We will definitely have coverage of the lead up to that big game.