MKRob Sports

The Arizona Cardinals extended their season with a 51-45 victory over the Green Bay Packers, as a defensive touchdown ended the highest-scoring playoff game in National Football League history.

Karlos Dansby returned an Aaron Rodgers fumble 17 yards for a touchdown on the first overtime possession in Glendale, Arizona, capping a game that featured 96 points, 13 touchdowns, 1,024 yards and 62 first downs, all postseason records.

The Cardinals and Packers total of 96 points was one more than the previous postseason record set in 1995 when the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Detroit Lions 58-37.

Kurt Warner, who led the Cardinals to the NFC championship last season, passed for 379 yards and five touchdowns, including two each to Larry Fitzgerald and Early Doucet.

Rodgers, making his first playoff appearance for the Packers, finished with 422 passing yards and four touchdowns. All four came in the second half, when Green Bay erased a 31-10 third-quarter deficit.

After Spencer Havner caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers with 1:52 left to tie the score 45-45, Cardinals kicker Neil Rackers missed a 34-yard field goal attempt with nine seconds remaining.

In overtime, Rodgers fumbled on a 3rd-and-6 play when he was hit by Cardinals cornerback Michael Adams. Dansby snatched the ball out of the air and raced for the winning score.

“It was kind of like whoever was going to win the toss was going to win the game, but I really felt that our defense was going to make a play,” Whisenhunt said. “I just believed that because we missed the field goal where we had a chance to win, maybe destiny was going to smile on us.”

“That’s got to be one of the best games ever played in the playoffs,” Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said during a news conference. “That was really a battle, with a lot of ups and downs. This is what football and the playoffs are all about.”