With the 2015-16 NFL Divisional Round Playoffs upon us we preview the NFC game with the 10-6 Green Bay Packers (NFC-North) playing at the 13-3 Arizona Cardinals (NFC-West) with the game being played on Saturday the 16th of January 2016 at the University of Arizona Stadium in Glendale, Arizona with the kick-off scheduled for 8:20 PM ET and seen on NBC TV.
For those that Bet on NFL, the early betting odds have the Arizona Cardinals as the favorites at -7 -115 with the Over/under at 50 and with the Money Line at -300, while the Green Bay Packers are listed Underdogs at +7 -105 and +250 on the ML.
The Packers did get their desired 1st round bye in these playoffs, but instead a Wild Card spot, and they desired an explosive game in this opener, which they got, as the defeated the Redskins of Washington in a road game 32-18. Now they have another road game against the Arizona Cardinals who in Week 16 beat the Packers in blowout game 38-8, and fans are wondering if the Cardinals rested after a bye week can beat the Packers again?
If you’re a Green Bay Packers fan, they say your team will go as far as QB Rodgers can take you, and he is still and always the team leader, and he can bring the team to victory or to a difficult loss in this difficult game with the Cardinals who already beat the Packers once this past regular season.
Hopefully for the fans he has overcome his horrible last 2 losses in their last 2 regular season games, but hopefully his strong performance in their win over the Redskins in the Wild Card playoff would continue against the Arizona Cardinals.
In the win over the Redskins their QB Rodgers passed for 2 touchdowns as he completed 14 of his 20 passing attempts for 149 yards. He also had the team leading at the half, and in the 2nd half their running game kicked in as RB’s E. Lacy and J. Starks each scored a TD and combined for 118 yards rushing in the game.
In the Packers Ariel game their QB Rodgers primary target was WR J. Jones who had 7 receptions for some 82 yards, and D. Adams and R. Cobb each scoring once on receptions from QB Rodgers. Unfortunately Adams acquired a knee injury and is questionable for this upcoming game with the Cardinals.
If Green Bay is to overcome their season Week 16 loss to the Cardinals they need to step up their rushing game to relieve QB Rodgers from pressure so he can pick up his passing game. In that last game QB Rodgers was sacked some 8 times, and on 2 of those sacks he fumbled that resulted in the Cardinals scoring touchdowns.
Defensively the Packers had a excellent Wild Card game against the Redskins as the managed to sack the Skins QB Cousins some 6 times and only allowed the Skins to rush for just 84 yards, so you can bet the Pack’s defense in this Divisional round against the Cardinals will be giving it their all! In the Packer ultimate 5 road games they are with 4 wins and 1 loss.
Then the fans of the Arizona Cardinals are positive in this upcoming game with the Packers, first since they are playing at home and already have a big victory over the Pack in Week 16 or the Regular NFL Season. To top that off the Cardinals are coming off a bye week and are well rested, and it’s likely they will have WR M. Floyd, LB F. Rucker and RB A. Ellington available for this game after recuperating from injuries. With the return of Golden and Rucker that will be a big help in the defensive pass rush, and possibly will repeat their performances of Week 16 when they sacked the Packers QB Rodgers some 9 times that resulted in 2 fumbles that went for touchdowns.
Plus having RB Ellington back in the offensive lineup will be a help to the rushing game as against the Packers in that last game he had 7 carries for 45 yards, and their rookie RB D. Johnson in their ultimate 5 games rushed for 4 touchdowns and 440 yards, as he replaced RB C. Johnson.
The Cardinals QB C. Palmer has no playoff experience, and hasn’t played in any postseason games since back in the 2009 season. He seeks a repeat performance of their Week 16 win in which he passed for 2 touchdowns and 270 yards with 1 intercept. It expected that QB Palmer will target receivers L. Fitzgerald an J. Brown since Fitzgerald leads the team with 9 touchdowns and 1,217 reception yards, and Brown had 7 touchdowns and 1,005 reception yards for the regular season, while both had a TD on a reception in the Week 16 win over the Packers.
The online betting prediction is that this will be a very close, hard fought game but the Packers will overcome and cover the spread and beat the Cardinals to move on to the Division Title game.