Falcons - Cardinals Week 12: Predict the final score of the game

We return to Falcons football with a home game against the Arizona Cardinals. This proposition is significantly less terrifying than it would have been a year ago. Heck, it’s less frightening than it would have been in August.

The Cardinals are somewhat of a mess for a few different reasons. First, Carson Palmer has had a bit of a tough year, tossing eight interceptions against just 11 touchdowns, and he looks increasingly like a shell of himself. The Cardinals also aren’t getting much out of their receiving corps outside of Larry Fitzgerald and stud running back David Johnson, meaning their offense strongly resembles the 2015 Falcons team that was so reliant on Julio Jones and Devonta Freeman. Their defense, while talented, just hasn’t been good enough to compensate.

The Falcons, meanwhile, are fresh off an ugly loss to the Eagles that does give teams a blueprint, and you do have to worry about David Johnson gashing this defense. I expect he will, but I still anticipate that the Falcons will do enough on offense (and just enough on defense) to pull this one out.

I’m going with the Falcons 34, Cardinals 27. At home, well-rested, and potentially getting both Tevin Coleman and Desmond Trufant back, this Falcons team is just the better team. They’ll make it close, as they so often do, but hopefully we’ll be celebrating the seventh win of the season Sunday evening.

What’s your prediction?