Today on the NFL, we will see the Arizona Cardinals travel to take on the Green Bay Packers in an exciting contest. The game is scheduled for an 1:00 pm start time and it will be televised live on FOX. Currently the odds for the game have the Packers favored by 10 points, while the totals line is set at 43.5 points. Opening lines had the Packers favored by 11 points, while the totals line was set at 44 points.
Game Analysis:
This is a similar spot to the one last week where I took the Under in the game between Green Bay and Jacksonville. Aaron Rodgers will face one of the best pass defenses in the league, while not having his two best wide receivers in Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson on the field. This will certainly cause him problems against a Cardinals' pass defense that is #4 in completions% allowed, #12 in yards allowed per pass attempt and #6 in QB rating allowed. Things will only get worse for him, as Arizona leads the league in sacks with 26 sacks (tied with Green Bay) and the Packers' offensive line keeps struggling, having allowed 28 sacks on their first eight games of the season! Therefore, I expect Aaron Rodgers to have some problems today against a good defense that will put a lot of pressure on him as well. The Packers lack a good running game to give any kind of support to their passing game, so I believe Green Bay will indeed struggle a bit on offense today.
But if the Packers will struggle a bit on offense, the Cardinals will struggle a lot on offense! John Skelton is having a quite poor season, however that's not entirely his fault. It's hard for a quarterback to have a good season when the offensive line has allowed 39 sacks on their first eight games of the season! Green Bay leads the league in sacks and they will be all over John Skelton today, who will spend the whole game running away from the Packers' defense. Considering the fact that Arizona has lost their main two running backs due to injury and they are currently the worst team in the league in rushing yards per carry, I believe the Cardinals will struggle to have any kind of decent production today in either the passing game or the running game. They're getting shutdown today, just like they were last week against San Francisco.
Therefore, I expect a game where both defenses will cause a lot of problems to the offenses. Both teams have an excellent pass rush and a quite poor offensive line, therefore I expect both quarterbacks to have tough days today. With both teams also lacking a productive running game, I expect this game to be a low scoring affair and so, I'll be taking the Under in here.
Free Pick: Take Under 43.5 in here (Single Dime Play)