The Seattle Seahawks and Arizona

Cardinals both had a slim chance of making the playoffs heading into Week 16. But with each of them coming off a loss, the only things left to play for in the regular-season finale on Sunday include a shot at second place in the NFC West and an opportunity to avoid finishing with a losing record going into next year.
The Seahawks (7-8) had won five of six before losing 19-17 at home to the San Francisco 49ers, who clinched the division title in Week 13. Meanwhile, the Cardinals (7-8) had won six of seven before a late rally fell short in a 23-16 road loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Seattle and Arizona will now meet at the University of Phoenix Stadium to close out the season and begin 2012 sharing a common goal of winning the NFC West next season.
Game time is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. (ET) with television coverage provided by FOX. The Cardinals are 3-point favorites with the total at 41.
Arizona trailed the Bengals 23-0 in the fourth quarter last Saturday and nearly completed a miraculous comeback. However, Cardinals wide receiver Early Doucet tripped near the goal line and could not grab what would have been the game-tying touchdown in the final minutes. Arizona quarterback John Skelton did all he could to try to bring his team back, but he fell to 5-2 as a starter in place of Kevin Kolb, who may sit out again with a concussion.
Kolb was expected to give the Cardinals a big boost this season after he was acquired from the Philadelphia Eagles in the offseason, and he was seen by some experts as the missing link to a potential division title. The Seahawks were also rumored to be interested in him, but they settled on Tavaris Jackson instead.
Jackson has enjoyed a career year in Seattle, completing 60.2 percent of his passes for 2,869 yards with 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. More importantly though, he has played in 14 games compared to just nine for Kolb in Arizona.
The sixth-year pro out of Alabama State did have the benefit having Marshawn Lynch in the Seahawks backfield. Lynch has run for a career-high 1,118 yards this season and scored a touchdown in 11 straight games, plus became the first player to score a rushing touchdown against the vaunted San Francisco run defense last week despite the loss.
The Seahawks have won the last three meetings with the Cardinals both straight-up and against the spread. They are also 8-2 in their past 10 games against NFC opponents and 9-3-1 ATS in their last 13 overall. The home team is 8-3 ATS in the past 11 meetings with the ‘over’ cashing in the last five played at Arizona. The ‘over’ is also 4-1 in Seattle’s past five overall and 6-2-1 in the last nine home games for the Cardinals.