Green Bay may have limped into the playoffs following losses (both straight-up and against the spread) to Arizona and Minnesota to close-out the regular season, but it showed some serious signs of life in the postseason with Sunday’s 35-18 beatdown of Washington as a slight one-point road favorite. The Packers are now 4-2 ATS in their last six games and 6-3 ATS in nine road games this year.
Anytime you have Aaron Rodgers under center you have a chance to win and even though this has been far from his best season as the Packers’ starting quarterback he could still be the great equalizer in this matchup. In the ugly 38-8 loss to Arizona in Week 16, Rodgers was sacked eight times and limited to just 151 yards passing, but he was able to return to form against the Redskins with 210 yards passing and two scores while getting sacked just once. The big question for this Saturday is what can Green Bay’s offensive line do differently this time around to slow down the Cardinals’ relentless pass rush?
There may be a concern from a betting standpoint after Arizona failed to cover in four of its last seven games, but it had no trouble at all covering against the Packers in Week 16 as a six-point home favorite. The Cardinals went 9-7 ATS this season with a 3-5 record ATS at home. The total has stayed UNDER in five of its last six games.
Arizona finished the regular season with a SU record of 13-3 to secure the No. 2 seed in the NFC, but many NFL experts have this team pegged as the best overall team in this year’s Super Bowl Derby. The Cardinals were ranked second in the NFL in scoring during the regular season with 30.6 points a game and on defense they were ranked eighth in points allowed (19.6). Veteran quarterback Carson Palmer is coming off one of his best seasons as a pro and the extra added week of rest has this team about as healthy as it has been this entire season.
The Packers are 5-1 ATS in their last six playoff games on the road, but they have failed to cover in four of their last six games against a team with a SU winning record. The total has stayed UNDER in seven of their last eight games following a SU win.
The Cardinals are 5-2 ATS in their last seven playoff games, but they have failed to cover in five of their last six games at home. The total has gone OVER in their last four playoff games at home.
The home team in this matchup has gone 5-1 ATS in the last six meetings and the total has stayed UNDER in four of the last five meetings in Arizona.
