Seattle Seahawks vs Arizona Cardinals: Preview, Prediction

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Nov 23, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; Arizona Cardinals strong safety Deone Bucannon (36) tackles Seattle Seahawks tight end Tony Moeaki (88) during the second half at CenturyLink Field. Seattle defeated Arizona 19-3. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

Seahawks offense vs Cardinals defense

This is the wild-card matchup here. As I mentioned earlier, the Cardinals got seven sacks on Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson ion the first meeting and could have had many more. Wilson though got away with 73-yards rushing in the last meeting. He did get a lot of those yard on one 40-yard run.

The Cardinals are going to need to contain him. I don’t know if he can be stopped. Wilson will be Wilson. He is mobile and can still throw accurately on the run. He was 17-22 in the last game so he will also find his receivers when the need arises.

They key for the Cardinals will be once again not letting running back Marshawn Lynch beat you. He was held largely in check in the last game. He had 39-yards on 15 carries. They need to do the same type of job on him Sunday night to have any shot of stopping the Seahawks offense.

The biggest key in this matchup though will be time of possession. The Seahawks held the ball on offense for 35:27 to the Cardinals 24:33. That meant the Cardinals defense was on the field way too long. It doesn’t matter how well the defense plays or how good they are, if you are allowing your opponents offense to be on the field 11 minutes longer the defense simply will wear down. That can’t happen again or you’ll likely see a similar result as we did on November 23rd.

Odds:

Seahawks -7.5

Moneyline: Seahawks -380, Cardinals +330

O/U: 36.5

Prediction:

The heart says Cardinals. The mind says it all depends. Las Vegas says Seahawks. You won’t find a consensus, not even close, amongst fans. So my gut tells me this will be close and will come down to who makes plays in the fourth quarter. The Cardinals are one of the best fourth-quarter teams in the the NFL. As long as the defense doesn’t tire in the third quarter like they did last time, I am taking the Cardinals to prevail in this one.

Cardinals 22 Seahawks 21