Arizona Cardinals at Washington Redskins (-4), Total 45 |
Arizona managed to pull off a 28-21 win over the Carolina Panthers as seven-point home favorites in the opening week, but managed to be out-gained by 83 yards in the process.
The Cardinals are focused on starting the season 2-0 under the direction of new quarterback Kevin Kolb, who completed 18 of 27 passes for 309 yards and two touchdowns in his team debut.
Sunday will serve as the 120th regular-season meeting, with the Cardinals trailing 73-44-2, including losses in seven straight contests. The two teams squared off in 2008 in its last encounter, as Arizona dropped a 24-17 contest on its way to the Super Bowl.
Wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald will likely draw double teams in the secondary again, as he was limited to three catches for 62 yards last week.
On the other side of the ball, the Cardinals secondary must tighten things up after allowing Panthers rookie signal-caller Cam Newton to throw for 422 yards. It was an embarrassing situation.
Head coach Ken Whisenhunt attributed it to young corners and strong safety Adrian Wilson missing time during the preseason. “He looked like he hadn’t played in the preseason, Whisenhunt commented. “I’m not pointing the finger at Adrian, but he was definitely a part of that.”
football betting players will find that the Cardinals are 10-9 ATS as an underdog and the ‘over’ is 11-9 over that span in betting predictions.
Washington is anxious to go against a secondary that is ranked 31st in the league, coming off a 28-14 win over the New York Giants as 3.5-point home underdogs. The Redskins came out of the preseason with a quarterback after a lengthy competition and it paid dividends in last week’s contest.
Rex Grossman ended up completing 21 of 34 passes for 305 yards and two touchdowns, as he’ll likely test the Cardinals secondary with Santana Moss. He’s very similar in stature to Carolina’s Steve Smith, a receiver that caught eight passes for 178 yards last week versus Arizona.
The running game didn’t get off to a great start, but former Arizona running back Tim Hightower is highly-motivated leading up to this contest. He finished last week with 72 yards on 25 carries.
Defensively, the linebackers spent a considerable amount of time this week preparing to keep Kolb in the pocket, as Brian Orakpo and Ryan Kerrigan are likely to be a presence in the Cardinals backfield on Sunday.
Redskins betting fans will find that the Redskins are 46-76 ATS as a favorite and 0-2 ATS when facing NFC West opponents.
