Sunday Night Football Week 16: Seahawks vs. Cardinals TV Schedule, Live Stream

A Week 16 Sunday Night Football clash between the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals won't only shape the outlook of the NFC West, but it will have a conference-wide playoff impact as well.

Arizona heads into Week 16 residing atop both the division and the conference, and a victory over Seattle will not only guarantee an NFC West crown, but it will ensure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs for the hosts of the 2015 Super Bowl.

Seattle enters the week in the thick of the wild-card race. However, a win over Arizona will propel the team to the top of the division due to a sweep of the season series. The Seahawks will already know if they can clinch a playoff berth with a win in Week 16 by game time, as a loss by either the Detroit Lions or Green Bay Packers will help punch their ticket.

With so many playoff implications in Sunday night's game, expect every NFC contender to be paying very close attention.

Viewing Information

When: Sunday, December 21

Where: University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona

Time: 8:30 p.m. ET

Channel: NBC

Live Stream: NBC Sports Live Extra

Betting Info (via Odds Shark):

• Over/Under: 36.5
• Spread: Seahawks -8

Storylines to Watch

Creating Offense

Things continue to decline for the Cardinals offense. The team is down to its third-string quarterback and must rely on Ryan Lindley—who hasn't started a game since 2012—under center in its most important game of the season. Arizona saw a glimmer of hope to get backup signal-caller Drew Stanton back for the week, but head coach Bruce Arians shut that down, according to Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com:

Having Lindley on the field against Seattle's defense isn't exactly a comforting thought. After all, the Seahawks are ranked first in the league against the pass, allowing an average of 184.3 yards per game through the air, and Lindley is coming off a poor showing against the St. Louis Rams, completing four of his 10 passing attempts for 30 yards.

This statistic from ESPN's Trey Wingo isn't flattering for the quarterback, either:

So, the Cardinals will need to rely on their running game and backup ball-carrier Kerwynn Williams. Well, that won't be so easy, as Urban's tweet also mentioned guard Jonathan Cooper will be missing Sunday night's game. That's a big blow to Arizona's offense, as Cooper has displayed glimpses of his high skill level when blocking for the run.

Luckily, Arians is an offensive mastermind capable of drawing up some pretty tricky schemes and sneaky gadget plays. He's already playing mind games with the Seahawks by making it clear that rookie quarterback Logan Thomas may see some time on the field. Seattle coach Pete Carroll shared his thoughts on the matter during a press conference, via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com:

"

I think Bruce did a really good job of letting that out because he made us have to go ahead and think about all the stuff (Thomas) could do, as well. It's just regular stuff. There's not a quantity amount here. We just work at figuring it out. They can't both play at the same time and they can't both be out there, so we just defend the guy that's on the field.

"

Seattle owns the stingiest defense in the league, allowing just 272.4 yards per game and is second in the NFL in points allowed, giving up 17.3 per game. Arians will need to continue to keep the Seahawks guessing if the Cardinals are to have any kind of success against that dominant unit.

Under Pressure

If the Seahawks have one glaring weakness, it's in pass protection. The team's offensive line is ranked 20th in the league with a minus-29.5 rating in pass protection, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). That has led to a total of 38 sacks allowed this season, the 12th most in the NFL.

This is one area which the Cardinals can exploit. Arizona enters Week 16 ranked 16th in the league with 33 sacks on the season. Defensive end Calais Campbell and linebacker Alex Okafor have seven sacks each on the season. Those two players must get early pressure on quarterback Russell Wilson. When these teams met in Week 12, Wilson was sacked a total of seven times, and those two players accounted for four of them.

Seattle's pass protection hasn't been any better since, and Wilson is coming off a game in which he was sacked five times by the San Francisco 49ers. His tendency to scramble in the backfield makes him dangerous due to his ability to extend plays, but it also results in plenty of lost yardage.

Arizona isn't in good shape on the offensive side of the ball entering this contest—we all know that. The Cardinals' best form of offense Sunday night will be a defense that can get off the field quickly and put itself in position to create turnovers. It will all start up front with the pass rush.

If the Seahawks can circumvent Arizona's pass rush—likely by utilizing a run-heavy offense and a short passing game—the Cardinals defense will spend too much time on the field, resulting in fatigue and the inability to contain a versatile quarterback.

All playoff scenarios courtesy of CBSSports.com and current as of December 20.