Arizona Cardinals (11-5, 11-5 ATS) @ Carolina Panthers (7-8-1, 8-8 ATS)
*ATS= against the spread
BETDAQ Line: Carolina -6.5 (38)
Significant Injuries
Arizona: DT Dan Williams (questionable– foot), G Jonathan Cooper (questionable– wrist), QB Drew Stanton (out– knee)
Carolina: S Thomas DeCoud (questionable– hamstring), G Amini Silatolu (questionable– knee), LB A.J. Klein (questionable– knee)
Recent Trends
Arizona is 9-1 ATS in their last 10 road games vs. a team with a losing record
Arizona is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 playoff games
Arizona is 13-4 ATS in their last 17 games vs. NFC opponents
Carolina is 5-2-1 ATS in their last 8 Saturday games
Carolina is 1-5 ATS in their last 6 January games
The underdog is 5-2 ATS in the last 7 meetings between these 2 teams
The OVER is 4-0 in Arizona’s last 4 playoff games
The UNDER is 4-1-1 in Arizona’s last 6 road games
The OVER is 4-0 in Carolina’s last 4 games vs. a team with a winning record
The UNDER is 14-5 in Carolina’s last 19 games vs. NFC opponents
Three reasons to back Arizona
1. This is way too many points to be giving an Arizona team that has defied expectations all season, winning 11 games despite playing four different quarterbacks. That’s especially true because the Cardinals are one of the NFL’s best road teams, covering in 9 of their past 10 road games against teams with losing records.
2. Arizona has one of the league’s best defenses, a unit that ranks 5th in points allowed (18.7 ppg) and has held 8 of the team’s last 10 opponents to 20 points or fewer. This week they’ll be facing a limited Carolina offense that has produced fewer than 20 points in five straight home games.
3. If you think Carolina is going to win this game by 7 or more, I must ask: based on what evidence? In their last 5 home games the Panthers have lost three times and their two wins have come by 6 combined points. They’re simply not good enough on offense to be relied upon in a situation like this.
Three reasons to back Carolina
1. The Panthers are playing their best football of the season, winning four straight games and pummeling division-rival Atlanta in the de-facto NFC South championship game last week. The Cardinals, meanwhile, are just 2-4 in their last 6 games and have lost their last two by 32 combined points.
2. After a slow start to the season the Panthers are playing championship-level defense once again, as they’ve held four straight opponents to 17 points or fewer and have climbed back into the top-10 of the total defense rankings. On Saturday they’ll face an Arizona offense that has been utterly inept since losing starting quarterback Carson Palmer two months ago, producing fewer than 20 points in 7 consecutive games.
3. Carolina’s recent success can be partially attributed to their return to the power running game. Tailback Jonathan Stewart has rushed for over 500 combined yards in the team’s last 5 games, and DeAngelo Williams in now healthy again after missing some time with a hand injury. The Panthers should be able to run all over an Arizona defense that has surrendered 473 combined rushing yards in their last 2 games.
Prediction
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