In the night game, the NFC match-up is between Arizona and Carolina. Bad situation for the Cardinals on both sides of the ball here. Arizona is a one dimensional team with Warner leading the aerial attack. Don't be fooled by last week's success on the ground by James against Atlanta. Going into that game, the Falcons were yielding 4.9 ypc so even the anemic Cardinal ground game looked good but for the year they average 74 ypg on 3.5 ypc. They will find it difficult reaching their average on the road against the Panthers. Without the run, expect Warner to be under significant pressure and quite frankly, the Cardinal offense as a whole should be inconsistent here. As for the Panthers, huge advantage on the ground and in the air on offense. Expect Williams and Stewart to carve up the Cardinal run defense while Smith and Muhammad have a field day against the Cardinal pass defense. Delhomme has been well protected this year and I see no reason why that doesn't continue today. In the earlier game between these two this year, Arizona jumped out to a 17-3 lead but the Panthers came back to hold the Cardinals at bay and win 27-23. As I have said in many of my previous threads, at this level, in playoff elimination games, defense determines the winner as it controls and dictates how the game will be played. Big, big advantage to the Panthers in that regard here. Expect to see separation as Carolina puts many more stops on the Arizona offense while the Cardinals are hard pressed to stop the Panthers. Hence,
4* Carolina -10 (+105) Matchbook
Good Luck Everyone!
