Cardinals Lead Up

[MickeyDavis]

We open as 4 point dogs which seems a point or 2 low. This will be a good test. We have 4 losses but 3 of them came down to the last play. One of our wins came down to the last play. I expect a loss but wouldn't be shocked if we win. Mathieu gets an MRI today, if he's out that would help. We also need Shields back on the field. We are usually very good in December (3-0 this year).

[FAH1223]

When was the last time we beat a team with a QB and offense playing as well as the Cards?

Veteran QBs love to face Dom Capers defenses. We've seen that this year.

[WiscoKing13]

Any news on Honeybadger? That would be a huge loss for their secondary and they don't have anyone near the caliber to replace him. At the same time it's not like we're throwing the ball effectively against poor pass D. Patrick Patterson seems to regained his edge, I wonder who he'll take out of the game, maybe Cobb? The good news is Rodgers should of plenty of time to throw since AZ is 28th in the league in sacks, which is amazing because of the types of leads they've had.

By the numbers they have a really good run defense, but looking over their front 7, beside Campbell no one really stands out. My thought is their great run D could be a reflection of team consistently playing behind to the cards.

Offensively for Arizona they have a great passing attack, we better hope Shields is back, because without him we're dead in the water. We also better how Brown has a few more dropped balls in his future. Also Palmer has only has taken 23 sacks this year which has him tied for 19th in the league, lets hope Dom doesn't get too trigger happy.

David Johnson has come on strong the last weeks, he's good in short yardage and if you let him lose he's gone with his amazing speed. I've said it the entire year the Packers run D is overrated, mainly because of brain farts one to 3 plays a game, but this week Johnson will make us pay dearly for those few mistakes.

How I'm projecting the game, 24-10 AZ. I see no way the offense will move the ball unless lacey or starks go nuts and I don't think our Defense can stop AZ.

[WiscoKing13]

Ian Rapoport ‏@RapSheet 3m3 minutes ago
#AZCardinals DB @Mathieu_Era (knee) has an MRI scheduled for this morning. He was walking fine, which may be a good sign. But MRI tells all

[Ron Swanson]

Need Shields for this game. No idea what our game plan on offense will be. On one hand, not playing in the rain/outdoors for the first time in weeks should help us air it out. But that didn't seem to help us against Detroit, and this passing game still looks anemic at times.

Our best bet may be ball control offense and using the run game. Hopefully they were resting Lacy/Starks against OAK because they wanted to keep them fresh for next week. Keeping Palmer and that offense on the sidelines is probably the best way to beat them.

[LUKE23]

Think we get waxed.

[Kerb Hohl]

I had written this thought out about a week ago, but I am really starting to believe that we have a pretty solid defense for the most part and it is hard to argue against. These games always seem to have the same formula defensively for us, but now we've added a new wrinkle that the offense tries too hard to get the running game going and stunts the offense in the first half against teams that have an offense we need to keep up with.

Game script:
-We try to establish the run, to moderate success, but we have a few WR drops on our only passing plays on 3rd down to 6 points in the first half.
-We get "Dom'd" against a good QB that just torches us to something like 15/17 for 210 and 3 TDs in the first half and it's 21-6 at half.
-We get some offense going when we go back to the hurry-up throwing game to bring it to 28-17.
-Arizona puts it away 35-24 late.

[UWM_Brew_Buck]

This will be a very good litmus test for the defense. It will interesting to see if this defense is just pretty good or can carry the team to a win against a good team good. Hopefully the offense shows up and at least has some long drives.

[trwi7]

This will be a very good litmus test for the defense. It will interesting to see if this defense is just pretty good or can carry the team to a win against a good team good. Hopefully the offense shows up and at least has some long drives.

That's what I'm thinking. I don't have much hope for the offense doing anything or the Packers advancing past the divisional round of the playoffs at best but if the defense can play well in this game, I'll feel we have a really solid defense going forward that just needs tweaking instead of like 4 new starters or something.

That will allow us to focus more on offense in the draft to hopefully get a WR who can stretch the field just in case Jordy isn't Jordy after the knee injury.

[MickeyDavis]

As a #3 seed we may very well face them again in round 2 should we win the first playoff game. This game will be good experience in facing their offense.

I remember in 2009 we played them the last regular season game knowing we would be facing them the next week, also in AZ. AZ played vanilla in the regular season finale and we shipped them 33-7. Then they knocked us out the next week 51-45.

Of course this time AZ still has something to play for, they'll be going 100%.

[ReasonablySober]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Cardschatter/status/679018152299114496[/tweet]

Brutal injury for them.

[WiscoKing13]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Cardschatter/status/679018152299114496[/tweet]

Brutal injury for them.

Wonder how they'll defend Cobb? Honey badger was a stud slot corner, will they move PP to the slot to cover cobb? Seems like a waste of talent having PP defend Jones or Adams.

[MickeyDavis]

Wow

[FAH1223]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Cardschatter/status/679018152299114496[/tweet]

Brutal injury for them.

the Cards are so deep in their secondary that they have to play Bucannon as a LB just to get their best players all on the field.
Honey Badger being out isn't going to slow down that defense one bit.
Bucannon goes back to the secondary and one of their 4 other pass coverage-capable LBs will slide right into the hole.
Believe it or not, their secondary depth is just as good as GB's, maybe even better. If Shields is healthy though that changes it.

The key to this game is, that Carson Palmer is playing much better ball than Aaron Rodgers and has been all season long.

Also, rookie RB David Johnson is the real deal.

[BUCKnation]

I think AZ's defense is a bit overrated but with our offense, I doubt we do too much against them. We desperately need Shields back though.

[James1980]

Quarless off temporary IR and Montgomery on IR per Demovsky. WTF

[WiscoKing13]

Quarless off temporary IR and Montgomery on IR per Demovsky. WTF

There's got to be more than an ankle sprain at this point. I mean I wouldn't lose any sleep if we cut Backman.

[Mags FTW]

Don't give me this RICE excuse. The staff completely effed up this Montgomery injury.

[WiscoKing13]

Michael Cohen ‏@Michael_Cohen13 16m16 minutes ago
Mike McCarthy said the decision to start Tretter over Linsley was a medical situation. Linsley is not all the way back yet.

the ****.

[WiscoKing13]

Rob Demovsky ‏@RobDemovsky 18m18 minutes ago
McCarthy: Sam Shields is still in the (concussion) protocol. We'll see how he progresses this week.