Green Bay Packers Continue Revenge On NFC West With 31-17 Beatdown Of Arizona Cardinals

After laying the hammer to the St. Louis Rams two weeks ago, the Green Bay Packers picked up where they left off against the Ariona Cardinals. The usually stout Cardinals defense was lacking in the areas that they typically defend the best, namely sacking the quarterback and stuffing teams on the ground. Aaron Rodgers was sacked only one time throughout the game, although he throw for only a moderate 14 of 30 passing  for the 218 yards. However, when he did make a completion, it mattered, tossing 4 touchdowns to three difference receivers through the air.

The Cardinals defense also had trouble handling the Green Bay run game, something that had not been a problem for many teams in the past. James Stark and Alex Green has a field day on the seemingly disolved Arizona defense, rushing 28 times for 114 yards. Overall, the offense ran for 176 yards on the ground, easily setting a new rushing high for the season.

Surpisingly, the Arizona offensive line was able to keep Skelton upright, allowing only 2 sacks in the game. However, the lack of running back turned the team one-dimensional early, resulting in 46 pass attempts. Arizona converted on only  4 of 15 3rd down tries, and lost the time of possession battle by 7:00 full minutes. Worse, the team went 0 for 3 on their drives in the 4th quarter, punting twice and turning it over on downs on their final possession after barely crossing over the 50 yard line.

The Arizona Cardinals have now lost 5 straight games, dropping below the .500 mark after starting off 4-0 on the season. The team now heads into a their much needed bye week. Hopefully, they will be able to get healthy on the defensive side of the ball and find some way to work with the pieces that they have on the offensive side of the ball. However, with John Skelton at quarterback and Stephens-Howling at running back, there are likely few answers to their problems on offense.