NFC Game of the Week

With a win, the Arizona Cardinals would secure a first-round bye in the postseason, likely as the NFC’s No. 2 seed, and with that comes a home game in the division round. Then, if the conference’s No. 1 seed — presumably the Carolina Panthers — loses in the divisional round, the Cardinals could host the NFC Championship Game.

With a loss, well, they could still end up as the second seed, though the situation would be a bit more precarious and there would be a chance the Cardinals could fall to the conference’s third seed, which would mean playing at home in the Wild Card round before hitting the road the following week, likely heading to Wisconsin.

“It’s a good opportunity for us to win this week and you never know would could happen with the one seed, or whatever the situation is, and we could play all the games here at home if it turns out the right way,” cornerback Jerraud Powers said. “So it’s real big for us to get it this week so we don’t have to depend or hope going into the last week of the season that they slip up or something.

“Nobody in the league wants to go to Green Bay in January, so if we can stay here in this great Arizona weather — which has been cold to me the past month or so — it would be better for us.”

He’s not wrong.

With all that said, this game does present an interesting scenario, for both teams.

Though they are not guaranteed to see each other again, the fact that it could happen adds an extra layer of intrigue to Sunday’s matchup. What happens Sunday would have absolutely no bearing on what transpires in the postseason, other than possibly the location of the game, yet the winner will have that extra bit of confidence should they meet again. After all, if the Cardinals beat the Packers Sunday, why can’t they do it again, and if the Packers pull off the upset once, who is to say they can’t do it twice?

“We want to win it to send a message, and they want to win it to send a message because we both realize that we’re probably going to play each other again,” Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer said, adding that otherwise the approach to this game does not change even if it’s a playoff preview.

And why should it? There’s no doubt the Cardinals would rather not empty their bag of tricks Sunday, preferring to save a few things for Round 2. But before the Cardinals can even think about the playoffs, they need to determine their seed. They know that, and are well aware of what a win Sunday would mean.

In a season filled with franchise firsts and records, a victory would mark another step toward Santa Clara.

“It’s a huge setup for a first-round bye,” safety Rashad Johnson said. “Two wins to get in the Super Bowl instead of three; I’d rather go two instead of three, and for us, we want to get a home field game. We know how great our crowd is and how well we play at home. But at the end of the day, none of that matters if we don’t take care of Sunday.”