Ricky Price
If the Cardinals win this one they’ll stand alone as the only team to get 11 wins so far this season. But I don’t think it’s going to happen.
Arizona’s been slowly losing their early season lustre ever since the unfortunate injury of Carson Palmer.
At 10-3, the Cardinals are #1 in NFC West closely tailed by Seattle.
Last week they stayed ahead by beating the Chiefs, but Arizona has to keep it up if they want to remain there.
I’m saying that’s not going to happen because where the Cardinals are diving, the Rams (6-7) are climbing to their highest peak of performance yet this season. This game is going to look much different from the one we saw between them earlier this season (which the Cardinals won 31-10).
Having shut out their last two opponents (Raiders and Redskins) it’s not really surprising the Rams are the favourite in this at -3.5 (-115) with 59% of bettors agreeing.
The rushing attack is going to play a major role in this matchup, especially since the Cardinals are without Andre Ellington against the Rams rush defense (who make their careers off destroying running backs).
To make matters worse for Arizona, St. Louis’ pass rush game has climbed it’s way from the bottom of the heap to 7th in the league.
All I have to say is Stanton better brace himself for the sacks coming his way from Quinn, Long and rookie Aaron Donald.
The O/U is set at 40, and a majority of bettors (60%) aren’t worried at all about this Cardinals vs Rams matchup going over.
I think they’re right – I’m not expecting to see a lot of points racked up with this much defensive talent on the field and Stanton throwing more picks than touchdowns.
Not to mention the total has gone under 9 of the last 13 times these two teams have battled (4 out of 6 for #ARIvsSTL in Missouri).
My only hesitation is the Rams replacement QB Shaun Hill who might make me eat my words about an under – he’s thrown 5 TDs with no INTs and helped St. Louis win 3 out of 4 of their last games.
And I guess the newly acquired Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey haven’t been doing too shabby either on St. Louis’ offensive line.
But I still won’t believe an over till I see it.
Our Pick
Take the UNDER
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