The Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals will close out the 2019 season on Sunday afternoon at the Coliseum. Both teams will play it safe with their banged-up players who are battling injuries, but it should still be a competitive NFC West matchup.
Though the Rams have won five in a row against Arizona by at least 16 points, the Cardinals just beat the Seahawks and Los Angeles lost to the 49ers.
Both teams have a lot of talent and there will be a bunch of intriguing matchups all over the field. Here are four of the biggest individual matchups in Week 17.
Aaron Donald vs. Justin Pugh
Donald had 1.5 sacks, two hits on Kyler Murray and a tackle for loss in the Rams’ Week 13 win over the Cardinals. He’s had at least 1.5 sacks in three of his last four games against the Cardinals, recording 6.5 sacks in that span. He’ll try to keep up his hot streak against Arizona on Sunday with another multi-sack performance against left guard Justin Pugh.
Teams are being forced to pay more attention to Dante Fowler Jr. on the edge, so it’s harder for them to slide protection Donald’s way, but expect Pugh to still get plenty of help on Sunday. The Cardinals don’t want to let Donald beat them, especially with Chandler Jones racing him to Defensive Player of the Year.