NFL
Who plays Thursday night football?
Arizona Cardinals and the Green Bay Packers will meet at this week's Thursday Night Football match, with the NFC top seed place at the stake for grab.
Get ready, NFL fans, because a real treat is coming upon us. Two teams with a combined score of 13-1 that showed the most consistent form during the 2021 NFL regular season up until now will battle it out next Thursday in one of the most critical prime-time games. It will also be a hunt for who will take the NFC top spot.
NFL news
The University of Phoenix Stadium will host the Arizona Cardinals and the Green Bay Packers in their Week 8 matchup.
Arizona Cardinals
The home team Cardinals will confront the Packers on both fronts of the football. The intense and dynamic offense led by quarterback Kyler Murray, who recently overcame Dak Prescott in the regular season MVP race, and a stronghold defense known for its pass rush and playmaking skill. The Packers will also have a handicap in facing Murray and his team of receivers because they will be playing without their defensive coordinator Joe Barry, who tested positive for COVID-19. With so many options in the touchdown conversion, like the receivers DeAndre Hopkins and A.J. Green, to the newly signed Zach Ertz, it will be a real hardly-matched test for the Packers defense.
COVID stricken Packers
The Packers connected six straight wins after their Week 1 loss to New Orleans 38-3, and a couple of those wins saw some late-game epics by Aaron Rodgers. It is also true that the Packers never had an opponent of this quality during that six-game row, and their offense is less striking and agile than the previous years. As their defensive end, the offense will also be truncated, with the absence of superstar receiver Davante Adams and Allen Lazard. Apparently, Adams and Lazard are vaccinated, and players who are must return two negative COVID-19 tests 24 hours apart to be activated from the reserve/COVID list, so it's not implausible that they will play on Thursday but quite improbable.
Adams has 52 catches for 744 yards and three TDs this season. He also has posted at least ten receptions and 160 receiving yards in three of his past four Thursday games. Meanwhile, Lazard had 15 catches for 184 yards and two scores, and it was thought he would take a more significant role in the Adams absence.
On the other side, the Cardinals have a great COVID- related situation, with the activation of star pass-rusher Chandler Jones who missed the past two games, and defensive lineman Zach Allen also activated from the COVID list.