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Five Things to Watch as Packers Visit Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride (85) stiff-arms Green Bay Packers safety Javon Bullard during their game in 2024. Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Green Bay Packers (3-1-1) will go on the road to face the scuffling Arizona Cardinals (2-4) on Sunday. The surging Packers offense will look to bring home their first road win of the season while the Cardinals will try to snap a four-game losing streak with a battered roster. 

Here is how to watch the game as well as five things to watch. 

How to Watch Packers-Cardinals 

The game will be televised by Fox Sports. Kenny Albert will be on the call joined by Jonathan Vilma with Jen Hale on the sideline. Will the game air where you live? Here’s this week’s broadcast map. 

The game will be broadcast on the 54-station Packers Radio Network, with the longtime broadcasting duo of Wayne Larrivee and Larry McCarren on the call. 

The Packers are 6.5-point favorites at FanDuel Sportsbook. 

Five Things to Watch in Packers-Cardinals 

1. Who Will Step Up for Arizona? 

A look at the Cardinals depth chart shows a sea of players that are questionable, out or on injured reserve. Injuries have always been a part of football, but the Cardinals’ injuries are cause for concern for them because of who is appearing on the injury report this week. 

One of the Cardinals’ key players battling back from injury is their quarterback, Kyler Murray. He missed last week’s game against the Colts due to a foot injury. He was listed as limited participation on Wednesday’s injury report.

In his absence, veteran Jacoby Brissett stepped up and put on an admirable performance against the Colts, completing 27 of 44 passes for 320 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. The 27 completions and two touchdowns tied Murray’s season highs, and the 320 yards are exactly 100 yards more than Murray’s season high.

With his elite athleticism, Murray’s absence would really impact the Cardinals in the run game, as he is leading the team in rushing yards. The Cardinals have been depleted there all season, with their top two running backs, including Pro Bowler James Conner, on injured reserve.

Second-year receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. is trying to escape concussion protocol this week and was limited at practice. He is second on the team in receptions (22) and receiving yards (338). 

2. The Tight End Battle 

There are only six teams whose leading receiver is their tight end, and only two are in the NFC. Those two teams will be facing off in Arizona this weekend. 

Only Dallas’ Jake Ferguson has more receptions among tight ends than Arizona’s Trey McBride, who leads the Cardinals in targets (53), catches (37) and receiving yards (347) and is tied with second-year receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. for first with two touchdown catches. 

“He’s one of the best tight ends in the league right now,” coach Matt LaFleur said.

Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

On the other sideline, it is Tucker Kraft who leads the Packers in catches (18) and receiving yards (268). He trails only Romeo Doubs with three touchdowns.  

Kraft had a breakout season last year in his second year in the NFL with 707 yards and seven touchdowns. He is set up for an even better season this year, having 268 yards and three touchdowns. That puts him on pace to finish with 911 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns. 

Both teams have great tight ends, and both teams tend to give up yards to tight ends. The Cardinals are giving up 69.5 yards per game to tight ends, second-most in the NFL. Opposing tight ends have led their team in receiving yards in two of the Cardinals’ six games. The Packers are allowing 59.6 yards per game to tight ends, eighth-most.

With the Cardinals’ receiving corps perhaps playing without Harrison, McBride will have to step up. With the trust Jordan Love has in Tucker Kraft, and with the hole in Arizona’s defense against tight ends, this game could end up being a battle between two of the best at the position. 

3. The Packers in First vs. Fourth Quarter 

The Packers are the only team in the NFL that has had a double-digit lead in every game this season and the only team that hasn’t allowed a point in the first quarter. Statistics like that should be the mark of an undefeated team, but for the Packers, second-half defense has been a problem. 

The Packers have a respectable plus-29 point differential through five games, which is good enough for ninth in the league. However, looking into the point differential quarter-by-quarter, they have a problem that needs to be addressed. 

They always start off games hot, outscoring their opponents 24-0 in the first quarter, that plus-24 the best mark in the league. It dips to plus-11 in the second quarter (33-22), but that still shows the Packers are usually holding a first-half lead, which they have done in all but one game. 

The second half is where the problems start. The Packers’ third-quarter point differential sits at 0 (17-17). The Packers are minus-6 in the fourth quarter. Their 60 points allowed in the fourth quarter is the fourth-most in the league – the Cardinals have allowed 62 – and is significantly more than the 39 points allowed in the first three quarters combined.

The Packers have been able to hold on to wins in three of their five games when they were outscored in the second half, most notably fighting off a comeback from Joe Flacco’s Bengals on Sunday. They allowed 13 fourth-quarter points in less than 4 minutes against the Browns in Week 3 in their only loss of the season. 

Whether it be discipline, conservative play-calling, not making the right halftime adjustments or running out of gas, a possibility coach Matt LaFleur mentioned on Monday, the Packers have had issues in the second half that the Cardinals could look to exploit if they are able to fix their own fourth-quarter problems. 

4. Encores for Josh Jacobs, Matthew Golden

After two of the Packers’ stars on offense, running back Josh Jacobs and receiver Matthew Golden, had their best games of the season against the Bengals, what will they do against the Cardinals’ 24th-ranked defense? 

For Jacobs, it was season highs in rushing yards and yards per carry with 93 yards and 5.2 yards per carry. He added two touchdowns as well as hauled in all five of his targets for 57 yards, including a 29-yard catch and run to set up his first touchdown.  

Jacobs is on a hot streak with 307 total yards over his last two games. What will he have in store for the Cardinals’ run defense, which ranks a solid 13th?

This article first appeared on Green Bay Packers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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