NFL - Arizona Cardinals v Packers

10 January 2010

Preview By Tipster Jumbo (New Zealand)

Alright, just a note here, I’ll make the Winner bet and the Total bet different In their write ups, it’s just a lot of time that’s why I haven’t done it before, but I will for the remainder of the Playoffs…….Good Luck however you are betting….

This is the game where me and a fair few others are going to disagree, I took the Packers last weekend at lovely $2.50 odds and banked big time, but there were reasons for that and I knew that the Cardinals would do what they did and allow the Packers an easy win, However this weekend could be vastly different after the Cards sat back and watched everything that the Packers had to throw at them and have given the Packers a sense of Invincibility heading into this weekends play off match..Now the Big guns come out to play for the Cardinals and that for me changes things dramatically in this match up, the final match of the opening weekend of the NFL Post Season.

The Cardinals are back for another shot at the Big one after losing in a great SB last season against the Steelers, led again by Kurt Warner the Arizona offence has again thrived, the Cardinals rank 11th in the League scoring 23 ppg, 9th with 267ypg through the air and 32nd with 74 rushing ypg, The Cardinals defence has also improved from what it was at this stage last season with the Cardinals ranking 14th in Overall defence allowing 20ppg, their rush defence at home is ranked 17th in the League allowing 110ypg and their Home passing defence allows 245 ypg ranking them 29th in the League, Now while many might say that those season stat averages make the Cardinals look like sure fire losers heading into this match with the Packers well I would have to disagree, the Cardinals heading into last seasons post season were far worse than what they have been this season and the cardinals have already shown that they can step up to a challenge when it presents itself and this is another chance for these players in the Cardinals defence to show it. The Cardinals do have some troubles personal wise with Rodgers-Cromartie, Boldin and DT Campbell all picking up injuries, Rodgers-Cromartie was carted off after his knee came down on the cleat of Green Bay tight end Finley with less than two minutes into the game.But he has insisted he would play next weekend.

The Packers have had a great season finishing with a record of 11-5 which is one win better than their opposition has on their season, the trouble they had with sacks has somewhat disappeared in recent times and Aaron Rodgers has really proved his worth along with Grant and the entire Packers defensive unit, the Packers ranked 3rd overall in Offence averaging 28 points per match and 7th in defence allowing 10 points less than they score 18 ppg, Rodgers has been great on the road leading the Packers to rank 3rd in road passing with an average of 274ypg as well as a rush attack on the road ranked 8th and gaining 126ypg, so as you can see they have a good pedigree entering this match with the ball, without it on the road they aren’t that bad either ranking 1st in the League in rush defence on the road allowing only 74ypg, their road passing defence isn’t to bad either ranked 13th in the League and allowing 217ypg, their overall Road defence is ranked 7th on average allowing 19 points per contest. Trouble for the Packers when Woodson left the game with a jammed shoulder late in the first half. But Packers Coach McCarthy said he expects his star defender to be ready for the playoff opener. And so he should be, these are the games everybody trains all season long for and to miss it would be madness, Good Luck to him I say.

The Packers have a great record against the Cardinals having won including last weeks match 4 of the last 5 matches between the two sides, Only 3 of those most recent 5 matches have been played at Arizona with the Packers winning twice including last weeks win, and their previous win there was in the 200 season where they won 29-3, Arizona did win 20-13 in 2003 though.

Last Weeks Game Recap at a Quick Glance……The Packers scored 26 first half points against the Cards last weekend while allowing none, Woodson picked Leinart and raced down the sideline for the touchdown to make it 26-0 with 4 1/2 minutes left in the half. It was his third interception return for a TD this season, a Packers record. The Final score was 33-7 with Packers QB Rodgers playing three quarters, mostly against Arizona reserves, completing 21 of 26 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown. The Cardinals sat Warner after one quarter. Leaving backup Leinart to carry the Cardinals Offence and you all know how little I think of him, Leinart completed 13 of 21 passes for 96 yards and was intercepted twice, Also most of Arizona’s first-team defense played only one possession.

Overall everything points to a Packers win today and by a decent margin, every single season stat belongs firmly in the Packers camp, but before Packer fans and I have seen a few of them doing it already start celebrating a win and moving onto the next Post Season match, they first need to win this match today and for me I actually think that the cardinals did the right thing last weekend in allowing the Packers such a big win. You have to say that the Cardinals team had little to play for last weekend and it showed, The Vikings win earlier in the day meant the Cardinals were already assured of what they would be doing this weekend and a climb to the No.2 Seed was out of the question and so hid most of their game plan and defence for this match this week, Even QB Rodgers for the Packers said after the game that the Cardinals never blitzed after the starters left, giving little evidence in this game what they might use in the next.

Last weeks loss was the most one-sided home loss for Arizona in Whisenhunt’s three seasons with the Cardinals and so they have a lot to live up to this weekend, they rested players and have allowed the Packers to gain a mental edge, today we get to find out if that plan last week worked, I think it just might do so and so I’m thinking that the Cardinals will get up here and win this match outright….Good Luck.