Arizona Cardinals vs Green Bay Wild Card Preview

In A Game of Match Ups… Arizona Doesn’t.

The Arizona Cardinals, last year’s NFL “Cinderella Story,” will not be going to the “ball” in 2010.

In a rematch of last week’s regular season finale, the Cardinals will look to advance out of the wildcard round at home against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. Unfortunately, this year’s version will be making a very quick exit.

The NFL stands on such equally talented ground that most, if not all of the games’ outcomes, can be predicted by match ups from one unit to the other. How does a team’s offense stack up against their opponent’s defense, and vice versa?

This is not good news for a Cardinals’ team that hasn’t been great on either side.

Offensively, Arizona is 12 th in the league, throwing for just over 262 yards per game, and it just goes downhill from there. Their rushing totals are abysmal. In the weak NFC West, which doesn’t have a single team ranked in the top 10 on defense, they are dead last and 28 th overall.

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Green Bay, who just a week ago gave us a preview of what that will look like on Sunday, ranks no. 1 in the NFL in rush defense, giving up a paltry 83.3 yards per game.

If you Cardinals fans are looking for a little light at the end of the tunnel on the defensive side, think again. Arizona’s 20 th ranked defense will be put to the task of trying to stop an Aaron Rodgers led offense that ranks sixth in the NFL, passing for 280 yards and rushing for over 117 yards per game.

In fact, the only category you can claim over the Packers is a head to head match up between quarterbacks. Kurt Wariner leads Rodgers 14 to seven…in interceptions.

Oh well, what’s nice about being a fan of one of the great also-rans of the NFL is…there’s always next year.

My prediction, much like last week… Green Bay 35, Cardinals 10.

By Robert Denton
ProFootball-fans.com Staff Writer