Denver Broncos (2-4)
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Arizona Cardinals (1-5)
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Denver Brocnos (2-4) at Arizona Cardinals (1-5) - Two teams match up that are on serious downward spirals! The Broncos started off strong enough, winning their first two games. But they have not won a game since, and their losing streak now stands at four straight games. The Cardinals started off the season by dropping their first four games, and were the last winless team remaining, before they finally defeated the 49ers at San Francisco. They played reasonably well at Minnesota last week, but ultimately fell short, so now stand at 1-5. Let's face it: neither of these teams are playoff bound. Sure, nothing is official yet, and it is technically possible that one of them will start playing very well and qualify. But realistically speaking, these two teams are already out of the picture, for all intents and purposes. The Cardinals are in the division with the only undefeated team remaining in the NFL, and they have to face the Rams again later this season. They also have games at Green Bay, at Seattle, at Atlanta, at Kansas City, and at the Los Angeles Chargers. Those are five tough road games, plus that home game against the Rams, and while they might pull off one or two upsets, it seems unlikely that they can win more than two, at best. That means that they will lose at least four, and more likely five or six of those games already mentioned, which means that they would reach double digit losses, and no team with a record of 6-10 or worse has ever qualified for the postseason. The Broncos also have some tough games coming up at Kansas City, at Los Angeles Chargers, at home versus the Texans and the Steelers, at Cincinnati, and a season ending game hosting the Chargers again. Just like with the Cardinals, it is difficult at this point to see the Broncos winning more than two of those games, and more likely, they will lose at least five of them, which means that they would have to win those two and go unbeaten in the remainder of their games just to break even at 8-8. And that is hardly a dream record. There have been some teams with records of 8-8 and worse who have qualified for the playoffs, but it is rare. And again, that is likely a best case scenario. But whatever slim chance either of these teams has at making an improbable playoff run - and you would have to figure Denver would have the better chance, and has the better, more capable team with the better record - they need to start turning the thing around right now. Starting tonight. Both teams are entering this game figuring this is one that they can win. The Cardinals have a very hard time scoring. They are one of three teams in the league that has not yet reached 100 points scored on the season. Denver's defense is fairly tough, so that will be a challenge for Arizona. However, the Arizona defense has not been outrageously bad, nor the Broncos offense outrageously good. And the Cardinals have been playing better during the last couple of weeks, and enjoy home field advantage. Denver played the Rams very tough last weekend, but they seem to always play tough at home. Away from home, the Broncos have yet to win, or even keep a game close yet, so home field advantage for the Cardinals could be a big factor. Let's be honest: this game could go either way. It is not so much a case of either team being the clear favorite, but rather, being quite bad at the moment. It is not difficult to picture either of these teams losing this game, and even possibly having a really bad game and getting blown out. That makes it difficult to choose between these two bad teams. But since I have to make a prediction, I will assume that the Cardinals, with home field advantage, and having played significantly better in the past two weeks than they did earlier in the season, will pull this one off. My pick: Arizona
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