Too Easy: Packers Make Short Work of Arizona Cardinals

In case you haven't heard, the NFC Playoffs are set.  Among other highly anticipated and exciting matchups, the Green Bay Packers are marked down to again face the Arizona Cardinals next week in the first round of the Wild Card.

But that's next week. Today is the present and the Packers are just coming off one of their most impressive wins of the season over the Cardinals.

The final score was 33-7 at The University of Phoenix Stadium. Aaron Rodgers along with Ryan Grant, capped off a spectacular turnaround year for the Packers.

The ball was kicked off at the start of the first quarter, and the Packers never showed any signs of easing off.  Ryan Grant ran the ball in for a 1-yard touchdown on the Packers opening drive, and from then on it was a melee of Packer points and stoppages.

The Cardinals never got into the game.  With starting quarterback Kurt Warner only playing for a handful of drives in the first quarter, second stringer Matt Leinart stepped in and tried to post some points.

The Packers' defense had none of it.

All season long they have made a meal of struggling offenses, and today was no exception.  The Packers scored points on all three Cardinal turnovers and earned the much-deserved top spot in the NFL for best turnover ratio.

With this meaningless game out of the way for both teams, Green Bay and Arizona can now look ahead.  No more resting starters nonsense, and no more talk about second seeds or wild card games. 

Next week it's time for action.

If Arizona wants to prove that they've had a meaningful season, they are going to have to go through the red-hot Green Bay Packers.  That is easier said than done.

Green Bay's turnaround season is nothing short of extraordinary. Mike McCarthy obviously knows what he is doing—the team went from 6-10 last year to 11-5 this year.  The defense stats are even more impressive. The hiring of Dom Capers, in my opinion, makes up for letting Brett Favre go and the transition to the 3-4 has changed this team for the best.

Green Bay's defense is second in the league at the moment, and are making a point of staying at that spot.  With Charles Woodson and Nick Collins both going to the Pro Bowl, it is hard for any team to get a ball past these two guys.

Positive points aside, none of this will mean anything if Green Bay simply collapses next week.  Having defeated Arizona twice this season (once in the preseason) the Packers have the edge.  Now they need to use that advantage and capitalise.

Cardinal fans can only hope what they went through today is not a vision of what will occur in a week's time.  Green Bay nearly shut out Arizona for the first time this season, and if that type of game play occurs next week, it may not only be a long game for the Cardinals—it may be a long off season as well.