2023 NFL picks, score predictions for Week 18

Seattle Seahawks (8-8) @ Arizona Cardinals (4-12)

Sunday, January 7, 4:25 PM ET

Although this matchup is between an 8-8 Seattle Seahawks team and a 4-12 Arizona Cardinals team, it’s one of the games I’m most interested in during the Week 18 slate. You’re going to want to have the Red Zone channel on for Week 18, by the way, because the 4:25 PM ET window is loaded with more games than any other week before it.

The Cardinals are fresh off of an emotional win against the Philadelphia Eagles, and this team is playing really hard this season for head coach Jonathan Gannon. They’ve now got a couple of signature wins this season against teams like Dallas and Philadelphia, and although the Cardinals have 12 losses, I think the future is bright for this team as a whole.

And entering the season, it was hard to fathom they could do that. I felt the Cardinals had – easily – the worst roster in the entire NFL.

And now, I’m going to try to make amends for those statements by predicting them to win their final game of the season. The Cardinals play host to the Seahawks, who have a lot on the line, which I think is only going to fuel Arizona’s fire. The Seahawks just got beat by the Pittsburgh Steelers, and they’ve been teetering on the brink of elimination for the last handful of weeks. 

I think the Cardinals will happily play spoiler here, heading into the offseason with a quality win against the Eagles and a division win against Seattle. 

Prediction: Cardinals win 34-30