Arizona Cardinals vs. Carolina Panthers – Saturday, Jan. 3
Current BAS’ Line: Panthers are 5 1/2-point Favorites and the total is 38
Two teams that most betting experts thought would miss the NFL
Playoffs this season will try and get past the Wild Card Round this
Saturday afternoon when the 11-5 Arizona Cardinals head into Bank of
America Stadium as four-point underdogs against the 7-8-1 Carolina
Panthers. BetAnySports has listed the betting odds for the total in this game at 38.
The Cardinals burst out of the gate with a 9-1 straight-up record
through their first 10 games, but a rash of injuries especially at the
quarterback position resulted in a 2-4 record down the stretch. Arizona
also went 11-5 this season against the spread and the total stayed UNDER
in 10 of the 16 games.
Carson Palmer was lost for the season with a torn ACL and Drew
Stanton remains day-to-day with a sprained ACL, so it may be up to Ryan
Lindley to keep Arizona’s dream of being the first NFL team to ever play
in a Super Bowl at its home stadium alive. This might be a pretty tall
task considering the way Lindley has played in his previous two starts.
Carolina won three of its first five games this season both SU and
ATS, but it did not record its fourth SU victory of the year until early
December after a 0-6-1 SU mid-season slide. The net result was a losing
record that was still good enough to win the watered-down NFC South.
The Panthers went an even 8-8 ATS with the total staying UNDER in four
of their last six games.
Cam Newton had some injuries issues of his own after getting
banged-up in an auto accident, but the Panthers’ quarterback has shown
no lingering effects in his last couple of starts. The biggest reason
while Carolina has been able to build momentum from its current SU
four-game winning streak (2-2 ATS) is a revitalized defense that has not
allowed more than 17 points in any of the contests during this run. It
held Atlanta to just a field goal in this past Sunday’s 34-3 romp as a
2.5-point road underdog on BetAnySports closing NFL betting odds.
This game has a really good chance to stay UNDER
the total with the betting line set at 38, but I am going with Arizona
and the four points as my official pick in this game. Both team’s
defense will prevail to keep this a tight three-point contest either way
right up until the final gun.
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BetAnySports’ NFL Pick of the Week- Wild Card Playoffs — Arizona Cardinals vs. Carolina Panthers – Saturday, Jan. 3
