Arizona Cardinals (7-8) @ Los Angeles Rams (9-6)
Saturday, December 28, 8:00 PM ET
The final game on Saturday for this NFL slate almost had even bigger playoff implications, but the Arizona Cardinals flubbed a huge opportunity against the Carolina Panthers. The second-half resurgence this year for quarterback Bryce Young is real.
Oddly enough, I can’t help but wonder if we see the Cardinals take out some serious aggression on the Los Angeles Rams this coming week. The best Arizona can do at this point is play spoiler, which has to sting. We’re either going to see them respond by coming out completely flat against the Rams on Saturday or we’re going to see a team that wants to ruin the Rams’ playoff chances if at all possible.
After all, the Cardinals could still finish with a winning record, at the very least.
The Rams are 5.5-point favorites in this game and once again appear to be a pretty dangerous-looking potential playoff team. If I had to pick someone to put in the playoffs from the NFC West at this point, I would definitely be picking the Rams over the Seahawks just because they seem much more likely to make some noise.
But in a division that has been wide-open all season, I honestly think that 5.5 points at home is a little too much to be giving the Rams in a game like this. The Cardinals have not been bad this season, and they can run the ball well.
With a projected over/under of 48.5 points, this is expected to be one of the higher-scoring games of the week and understandably so. I could see these two teams trading shots all night long but I think the Rams will escape this one with a win.
Prediction: Rams win 34-31