Denver Broncos (2-4, 1-4-1 ATS) @ Arizona Cardinals (1-5, 3-2-1 ATS)
October 18th, 8:20pm, State Farm Stadium – Glendale, AZ
This Thursday we go back to the good old fashioned Thursday Night Football: two bad teams facing off to prove who sucks the least.
The Denver Broncos travel to Arizona with a 4-game losing streak after coming up short vs the powerhouse Rams in week 6. Although Case Keenum hasn’t continued his success from Minnesota and almost got benched last week, the Broncos still rank 10th in offensive yards per game due to a balanced running attack and a deep receiving core. The offensive production has been above average but the points haven’t been there, thanks in part to a 25th ranked red-zone offense.
Arizona didn’t look horrible against the Vikings but Minnesota proved they were too much to handle. Arizona’s defense has played relatively well this season and has been the only positive thing for the 1-5 team. Their defense ranks 8th in ypg allowed and 13th in ppg allowed. Their offense however is the 31st in points per game and 32nd in yards per game. 2016 Fantasy monster David Johnson hasn’t showed up the way that Arizona expected when they signed him to a contract extension this summer. To further pound on Arizona’s offensive woes, the Cardinals have scored more than 17 points just once this season (thanks to a defensive touchdown) and it was against Swiss cheese defense San Francisco who ranks 29th in points allowed per game.
Von Miller has come out and not only said that this game is a must win, but he has guaranteed a Denver victory. That alone would have me sold.
The verdict:
Denver ML: I’m taking Denver in this game and they are currently -1.5 (-110) or Moneyline (-120). I’d rather pay some money on the juice than get burned by the spread, so I’ll take the Denver straight up.
Under 41.5: As for the 26th and 31st ranked scoring offenses in the league, we’ll get some understorms indoors.
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