This week, they can focus exclusively on the Green Bay Packers, who beat the Washington Redskins 35-18 to advance to Saturday’s game, which will kickoff at 6:15 p.m.at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.
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The Arizona Cardinals need to make sure not to underestimate a team that many had written off just a few weeks ago.
“This is the way I learned it, the traditional West Coast offense built around making the quarterback successful”, McCarthy said, “and the best way to do that is to have a strong run game, play run and pass, and playing as fast as you can”. That includes a pair of losses to the San Francisco 49ers, one to the Seattle Seahawks in last year’s NFC Championship Game and one against Arizona in overtime the year after the Cardinals went to the Super Bowl with Kurt Warner under center. The Cardinals had made it to the Super Bowl against Pittsburgh Steelers in Tampa Bay, Florida, Feb. 1, 2009.
“Davante’s turning into Mr. January around here”, Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers said after the Packers’ 35-18 win over the Redskins.
Next up for the Packers (11-6) are the Arizona Cardinals (13-3).
“If you would have asked me before JC Tretter’s performnace last week (at Washington), I would have said Bakhtiari”, said Tauscher. Still, though, they looked pretty great after a slow start in a throttling of the NFC East champion Redskins on the road on Sunday.
The Packers defense didn’t play all that badly against Arizona in Week 16 and are likely to have Sam Shields in the lineup this time around to defend the pass. With increased depth in the secondary, the front seven can focus on stuffing the run and building off of their six sack performance against Washington. The Packers picked up the tempo on offense, Aaron Rodgers started to get rid of the football quicker and his receivers started to get open for him.
Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said the Packers will be different in large part because their offensive line – reeling because of injuries in the first matchup – will be healthier. Rodgers did not do anything special but did not turn the ball over, something he did in the first meeting with Arizona by throwing an interception. After gaining 17 yards on nine carries in the first half, Green Bay finished with more than 140 yards rushing.
The Packers are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 road games and 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games on grass. The offensive line performed well, running backs Eddie Lacy and James Starks each had touchdown runs, and the receivers created big plays. It is for that reason Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers told reporters there is no pressure on their side entering this postseason game. Rodgers danced around after that TD, and threw some fist pumps, too, feeling good about his offense for the first time in a while.
It’s worth noting FiveThirtyEight’s method gives the Kansas City Chiefs the best odds: 49 percent chance they beat the New England Patriots.
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Green Bay seemed to struggle for most of the season despite winning 10 games.
