Jclombardi reviews major previews & predictions
PREVIEWS:
Scout: On Sunday, the Cardinals were not ready to play in their blowout loss to Green Bay at home, but what kind of carryover effect will that have this week? Arizona played a vanilla defensive game plan on Sunday. On offense, the Cardinals stayed basic and played with backups. They rely on a creative game plan and excellent schemes and preparation. This rematch will be totally different in their eyes. Scout gave edge to the Packers in all phases except offensive line, special teams, and coaching predicting the Packers to win by 9.
Sporting News: Packers Keys For Success–1. Get in Warner’s face. The key to pressuring him is inside blitzes, make him aware that it’s coming at him. Because Warner doesn’t have much mobility, he can’t buy much extra time. The Packers have to get a lot of hits on him and disrupt his timing with receivers. 2. Replace Woodson as rover. He must devote his time to covering Arizona wide receiver Fitzgerald. The best candidate to replace Woodson as the rover is linebacker Chillar. He can cover tight ends and backs, is a good blitzer and is big enough to have some impact in the running game. 3. Continue to feature TE Finley. The key is splitting Finley out wide or in the slot in three-wide formations. He seems to get more man-to-man opportunities when Jennings and Driver are both on the field.
PREDICTIONS:
ESPN: The Packers will be this year’s surprise team. They might not make it all the way to Super Bowl, but plenty to like about the Packers. They have a Pro Bowl quarterback surrounded by an assortment of playmakers and an offensive line that has improved immensely after struggling in the season’s first half. Their defense also has forced 40 turnovers and played at an elite level for most of the past two months. The only loss that Packers have sustained in their past eight games was at Pittsburgh on last-second touchdown pass. This young team is gaining more confidence with each passing week. It will be dangerous. Unanimous ESPN pick.
King: The Cardinals seem to rise in January, especially on defense, and I don’t doubt Dansby and Wilson can rally the troops for another inspired effort this weekend. But Rodgers is farther in his development than Ryan was a year ago, and the Driver/Jennings/Finley combo-platter of receivers is tough to stop. The Packers are averaging 32.7 points per game in their last seven and I think they’ll get enough pass-rush on Warner to force a couple of turnovers. This will be the most interesting, back-and-forth game of the weekend. Green Bay 30, Arizona 24.