The Arizona Cardinals face, as NFL betting online underdogs, the Dallas Cowboys, but head coach Bruce Arians has a master plan to come out victorious. It is, in its simplicity and brilliance, a perfect example of the Occam’s razor principle, that it staggers the mind how no one else had thought of it before. This will establish a ‘before’ and ‘after’ in professional football. Nothing will ever be the same ever again.
Arizona coach Bruce Arians on if Denver provided a blueprint for shutting down the Cowboys last week: "If you can borrow Denver's players."
— Brandon George (@DMN_George) September 21, 2017
- Date: Monday, 25th September
- Time: 8:35 PM
- Venue: University of Phoenix Stadium
- Sportsbook NFL Betting Site Odds:
Cowboys -3 (-119) 47 (-105) -165
Cardinals +3 (-102) 47 (-115) +144
Coach Aryans had, of course, his tongue firmly planted in his cheek. The Cards, unlike the Broncos, lack a wealth of All Pro defensive players including Von Miller, Aqib Talib, and Chris Harris Jr. cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott also dismissed the notion that Denver uncovered, like Nic Cage reading the declaration of independence with special glasses, some sort of hidden blueprint to stop Dallas. “Every week people stack the box,” Elliott told the press. “It’s not something we’ve seen for the first time.” That, then, begs the question, if it wasn’t the Broncos, then how does one explain Elliott’s uncharacteristic eight yards on nine carries?
The Cards limited the Lions to 82 yards on the ground and the Colts to just 76, but neither Detroit nor Indy has the running capability that the Cowboys do. It would be key for Arizona to remain within the three-point spread – and they indeed are 14-3-1 ATS in their last 18 games as a 3½ or less underdog – if they could put the clamps on Elliott, which, while not impossible, is a lot easier said than done if you, once again, don’t the Broncos’ defensive prowess. The Cardinals’ uphill climb got just a little steeper as a result of their own star running back David Johnson’s season-ending injury.
That’s not how Johnson got injured, but it does look pretty nifty, doesn’t it? It is quite a telling sign of the world we live in that people are more worried about the effect his injury may have on fantasy football. We’re talking about a man’s livelihood here. Actual football is, then again, little more than fantasy in and of itself, and a pretty well remunerating fantasy at that, so Johnson is, more than likely, sitting pretty. The real victims of fate, therefore, are the Cardinals, who did certainly not pile up the points in their first two games, scoring, for example, only 16 in four quarters plus overtime in their win over the Colts. Carson Palmer looks to be on his last legs, and the running game, which was nothing to write home about to start with, and has now gone from bad to worse, all conspire to not only have the Cards lose, but also have the NFL betting online total potentially go under, as it has in nine of Arizona’s last 12 home games as well as four of the Cardinals’ last six hosting the Cowboys.