The Green Bay Packers and the Arizona Cardinals face off on Saturday Night Football in the NFL Playoffs 2016 with a place in the Conference Championships on the line. Today's Divisional Round game comes from the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona, and has a scheduled start time of 8.15 p.m. ET. The game can be watched on TV on the NBC network or online through live stream via the link below.
This NFC Divisional game is sure to be a closer affair than when the two sides met just last month. On December 27 the Cardinals won their ninth straight game with a 38-8 demolition of the Packers, in a masterclass of offensive as well as defensive football.
The Cardinals posted an amazing nine sacks - which was more than the amount of points the Packers were able to score all game, and they only allowed Green Bay to post 178 yards in total in the game, which was their second lowest total for the entire season.
The game probably featured the Cardinals' most impressive performance of the season, but also was arguably the Packers worst. So today's game is unlikely to be a repeat of that game, and fans can expect a much closer affair with a lot more at stake today.
Green Bay come into today's game in confident mood, after overturning an 0-11 deficit early on in the Wild Card Round game against the Washington Redskins, to end up claiming a comfortable road win 35-18 to progress to today's game.
Of course, the Cardinals will be weary of the threat posed from quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who seemed to find his top form again last weekend.
Cornerback Jerraud Powers has said, "We know Aaron is probably licking his chops wanting to play us again."
Meanwhile, Rodgers himself has said ahead of this game: "We're coming off, obviously, a big win, and in (the Cardinals') last game they got beat by a lot. So it's going to be a more competitive game, I bet."
Coach Mike McCarthy has refused to accept an underdog tag for today's game and looks like he is imposing a confident mood to his team. he has said: "We're no underdog going to Arizona. I don't care what people think or how we're picked or things like that. We're going out there to win, and we expect to win."
However, despite McCarthy's confidence, most analysts will believe the Cardinals, in the form they've been in this season, are likely to win if they can be at their best today.
The Cardinals won a franchise record 13 games this past season to ease to the West Division title, as well as secure the second seed in the conference to grant them a First Round bye.
But at the same time, Arizona are not coming into today's game with any preconceptions about how things will go, and they are not taking anything for granted. But nevertheless they remain confident that if they focus on what they do well they can win.
Linebacker Markus Golden has said, "(Green Bay) will be better (than last time). And we will be ready."
Today's big game between the Green Bay Packers and the Arizona Cardinals has a scheduled start time of 8.15 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the NBC network or online through live stream by clicking here.
