CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It was not the ending they envisioned when they got to Bank of America Stadium on Sunday, but former Clemson standouts Andre Ellington, Chandler Catanzaro and Jaron Brown did not expect seven Arizona turnovers to contribute in their 49-15 loss to the Carolina Panthers in the NFC Championship Game.
The Cardinals lost three fumbles, while quarterback Carson Palmer was picked off four times by a Panthers’ defense that held them to 287 yards of total offense.
“There is no reason for us to lay our heads down, they just made more plays,” Ellington said afterwards. “They are a great team. We can use this for next year and use it for motivation.”
While Arizona is getting ready for next year, the Panthers will be getting ready to play in Super Bowl 50, their second appearance in franchise history. They will play Denver, who beat New England in the AFC Championship Game earlier in the day, in two weeks in Santa Clara, Calif.
“It has been a good run. (Tonight) was not the result we wanted, but it has been a great run,” said Brown, who caught one pass for 16 yards. “I love this team.”
The Cardinals, known as Clemson West by many back in South Carolina, had four former Tigers on the field for them on Sunday and two coaches on the sideline. Ellington, who said he was about 70-percent healthy, had one carry and one reception in the loss from his running back position. Brown, who is a reserve wide receiver and plays on special teams, had his one catch, while Catanzaro—the kicker—made his only extra point.
On defense safety Chris Clemmons had a tackle, while Brown had two special teams tackles. Former Clemson linebacker Levon Kirkland and former defensive tackle Brentson Buckner are defensive coaches on the Arizona coaching staff.
“The main goal is to always win the Super Bowl so this one hurts,” Brown said. “This is going to make us go into this off-season and work even harder to get back to this point.”
After falling behind 17-0 in the first quarter, Arizona had a fighter’s chance when David Johnson went in from a yard out with 5:44 to play before halftime, cutting the Carolina lead to 17-7. The defense then stopped the Panthers on the ensuing possession and were about to get the ball back when cornerback Patrick Peterson muffed the punt and Carolina’s Teddy Williams jumped on it at the Arizona 46.
Six plays later, quarterback Cam Newton took advantage of the Peterson muff as he ran the ball up the middle from a yard out to extend the lead to 24-7 with 1:56 to go in the second quarter. The Cardinals never recovered after that.
They turned the football over on their next two possessions to end the half and then three more times in the second half, including a 22-yard Luke Kuechly interception return for a touchdown to pour salt into what was already an open wound.
“It is definitely a tough way to end the year. It was a fun year. There were a lot of great things. We just have to focus on those things and just kind of forget about this one. This one was tough, though,” Catanzaro said. “I just feel bad for my guys in the locker room. Now you just have to take it, move on and learn from it.”
And though they will look back at this year with great pride, the four former Tigers were already looking forward to next season before they even left Charlotte.
Ellington will be in a contract-season next fall, while Brown will have to negotiate a new deal this off-season or he could find himself somewhere else.
“I hope I’m back. I’m going to do everything I can to be back,” he said.
As for Catanzaro, he just wants to make year three in Arizona better than year two, which wasn’t too bad.
“I definitely left myself with room for improvement next year,” he said.
And so did his team.
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