Three reasons the Arizona Cardinals can beat the Green Bay Packers in Saturday’s NFC divisional playoff game at University of Phoenix Stadium (8:15 p.m. ET, NBC):
Rest, rest and more rest: By having the weekend off after earning a first-round bye, the Cardinals spent Saturday and Sunday resting and recovering. It gave the injured Cardinals a chance to heal, so it’s likely that Arizona will have both outside linebacker Markus Golden and defensive tackle Josh Mauro back for the playoffs. The weekend off also gave players like defensive tackle Frostee Rucker (ankle), wide receiver Michael Floyd (knee) and running back Andre Ellington (toe) extra time to get healthy.
Rushing Rodgers: It’s unlikely the Cardinals will repeat their nine-sack Week 16 performance in a blowout win over Green Bay. However, Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari was out Sunday against Washington with a sprained ankle and his status for Saturday’s game against Arizona is yet to be determined. The Cardinals’ pass rush -- which expects to get Golden and Mauro back -- will be able to take advantage of either Bakhtiari, who hasn’t played since Dec. 20, or his backup.
Stop the run: It’s no secret why the Packers were able to get their rushing game going in the second half against Washington: The Redskins finished the season ranked 26th in yards per game allowed. By comparison, the Cardinals were sixth in rushing yards allowed per game. In their first meeting, the Cardinals held Green Bay to 101 yards -- about 14 below the Packers' season average. But only Eddie Lacy had any sort of impact with 60 yards. Aaron Rodgers was the Packers’ second-leading rusher that game.
