The only reason the Cards are favorites in this one is because they are at home.  I don’t believe the home field advantage will play that much of a factor in this one.  I think what will play a factor in this one is the fact that Carson Palmer is out and the Cards have been horrible against stopping the pass.  That’s bad news when you’re facing Calvin and Golden.  Both teams are great against the run.  The only thing that separates this matchup is that Detroit is rolling with Stafford and the Cards are rolling with their backup.  The Cardinals have been playing above expectations all season, but the buck stops here.  The Lions have been waiting for Megatron to get back on the field and he is back in a big way.  Patrick Peterson, as proven in the past, can not stop Calvin.

The Cardinals in my opinion are done.  I’m not saying that Carson Palmer is the end all-be all, but they are much weaker without him.  I never thought the Cards had a chance to do much even with Palmer in the lineup, despite their great coaching and run defense, and now that Stanton is leading the way, their demise will begin.  This will be the first loss of many to come to the Cardinals and confidence will digress as the losses stack up.  Stanton is not the savior, and at best he could be a Trent Dilfer type winner… if the Cardinals had that Ravens defense.

LIONS 27 – CARDINALS 17