Cardinals' Arians: 'We can go back to being ourselves' after 1st playoff win

Bruce Arians is expecting an improved effort from his offense in Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the Carolina Panthers.

The Arizona Cardinals head coach told reporters this week that Carson Palmer was somewhat conservative in selecting the scripted plays to start last week's matchup with the Green Bay Packers.

Now that Palmer has earned the first playoff victory of his career, Arians foresees the Cardinals' top-ranked offense recapturing the aggressiveness it displayed throughout the regular season.

"He picked a lot of shorter completions early instead of going for them like we normally do," Arians said, according to the team's official website. "I think that was part of 'I don't want to screw this up.'

"Now that we don't have to worry about that anymore we can go back to being ourselves."

Palmer finished the divisional-round win with 349 yards and three touchdowns, but his two interceptions helped the Packers hang around late and eventually force overtime.

Up next for Palmer and Arizona's high-powered attack is a road matchup with a Panthers team that limited opponents to just 322.9 yards per game during the regular season, the NFL's sixth-lowest total.