The Green Bay Packers travel to University of Phoenix Stadium to battle the Arizona Cardinals with a spot in the NFC Championship Game on the line. The NFL’s fourth-leading passer, Carson Palmer (4,671 yards, 35 TDs), will play an integral role in the outcome of this game. Kickoff is at 8:15 p.m. ET on Saturday, Jan 16 and will air on NBC.
In its last game, Arizona lost in ugly fashion to the Seahawks 36-6. Deone Bucannon led the defensive effort for Arizona in the loss, recording seven tackles. Green Bay defeated the Redskins 35-18. Mike Neal led the defensive effort for Green Bay Packers, recording three tackles and two sacks.
A close score is not projected this week when the Green Bay Packers, a substantial seven-point underdog, take on Arizona. The Over/Under (O/U) line is currently at 50 points for this match up.
Sitting at 13-3 Straight Up (SU) and 9-7 Against The Spread (ATS), the Cardinals will look to improve heading into Week 19. In their five most recent match-ups, the Cardinals went 4-1 SU and 3-2 ATS. They are averaging 28.4 points per game at home, fifth-best in the league. Arizona’s offense is averaging 404.6 total yards over the last five games. As for the Arizona defense, a few key match ups could decide this game. The Cardinals defense could cause a lot of problems for the Packers. The Cardinals have the fourth-best home pass defense in the NFL and give up 209.1 passing yards per game at home. The Packers will need to stop Arizona’s defense from getting to their quarterback in order to be successful in this game. The Cardinals rank fourth in sacks with 3.1 per home game. In the second quarter, Arizona is solid, putting up 9.6 points. One of the least penalized teams in the NFL, Arizona isn’t likely to make too many blunders this week. They average only 47 penalty yards each game.
Across the field, the Packers head into Week 19 with records of 9-7 ATS and 10-6 SU. Over their last five games, the Packers have a SU and ATS record of 3-2. The Cardinals are matching up with Green Bay’s defense at an inopportune time. Over the last five games, Green Bay’s opponents have only averaged 194.4 yards through the air.
Predictions: SU Winner – Ari, ATS Winner – Ari, O/U – Over
Notes
Arizona is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Arizona’s last 6 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Arizona’s last 5 games at home.
Arizona is 13-3 SU in its last 16 games at home.
Arizona is 1-5 ATS in its last 6 games at home.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Arizona’s last 7 games when playing Green Bay.
Arizona is 3-7 SU in its last 10 games when playing Green Bay.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Arizona’s last 5 games when playing at home against Green Bay.
Green Bay Packers is 9-0 SU when leading at the start of the fourth quarter this season. Arizona is 12-0 SU when carrying a lead into the fourth quarter.
Arizona is an even 3-3 SU in games where it wins the turnover battle, yet undefeated (8-0 SU) when losing the turnover battle.
The Arizona defense has forced an average of 2.1 turnovers per game this season. Green Bay is only 2-4 SU when turning the ball over at least 2.0 times in a game.
When it comes to passing this season, Arizona is rated higher on both sides of the ball. Its second-ranked passing attack will face the sixth-ranked pass defense of Green Bay, while its eighth-ranked pass defense will look to limit the 25th-ranked passing game of the Packers.
Green Bay has allowed 23.2 points per contest on the road, which is ranked 16th in the league. Arizona has put up 28.4 points per game at home (ranked fifth overall).
