Wednesday, February 8th, 2012
The Carolina Panthers will travel to the desert to face the Arizona Cardinals in an NFL game on Sunday afternoon. Kick off time in Arizona is set for 4:15PM Eastern Time with regional television coverage provided by Fox. The LVSC NFL odds makers have set the opening point spread in this game and the home team Arizona Cardinals were opened as a 7 ½ point favorite with the over under coming in at 45. The early money from the NFL betting public has come in on the home favorite, as the Arizona Cardinals are currently a 10-point favorite. The over has seen early money to the under, as the total is currently lined at 41 for the NFL betting public to play into. NFL money line gamblers can make a play on the favorite Arizona Cardinals are –500 with the road underdog Carolina Panthers returning +400 to win straight up without the points on their side.
The Arizona Cardinals are winners of 3 straight games. They have put two great defensive performances together limiting the Seattle Seahawks to just 3 points and the New York Giants to 17 a week ago. Arizona has done a masterful job of run defense allow opposing teams to average just 3.0 yards per carry ranking first in the NFL. The Arizona defense has forced 6 turnovers in their past 2 games. The good news is the Cardinals are facing a turnover prone quarterback in Jake Delhomme this week in their home field. Kurt Warner is having a good season hitting on 66% of his passes with 9 touchdowns and 6 interceptions on the season. Warner will be facing a Panthers defense that’s number 1 in pass defense allowing just 149 yards passing per game. Carolina has played well defensively but the problem is the team averages 3.5 turnovers per game on offense giving the opponents shorter fields to operate. The Cardinals improved last week on the ground as Beanie Wells had 14 carries for 67 yards a touchdown for 4.8 yards per carry average. The Cardinals secondary had a good day last week picking off Giants quarterback Eli Manning three times. It was another awful loss last week for the 2-4 Carolina Panthers. In a 20-9 loss to Buffalo last week at home the Panthers committed 4 turnovers despite 425 offensive yards to Buffalo’s 53 rushing yards and 114 passing yards. There was the possibility of John Fox benching Jack Delhomme in this game but the turnover prone quarterback is getting the start. With Steve Smith and Mushin Muhammad to throw two and DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart in the backfield there is no excuse for Jake Delhomme to be playing as poorly as he is. He is missing open receivers big time to the tune of 13 interceptions on the season, which is worst in the league. The Panthers are running respectable as DeAngelo Williams is averaging 4.4 yards a carry and Jonathan Stewart 4.8 a carry.
Tony T’s Opinion: Taking Carolina plus the ten points looks attractive considering how well the Panthers defense is playing and specifically their secondary. Starting quarterback Jake Delhomme is way too turnover prone to trust in this spot and he could be 1 interception away from hitting the bench. The Panthers could look to back up Matt Moore in a relief role and I want no part of the Panthers with a back up quarterback on the road against the Cardinals. I may pass on this game.
For the Latest NFL Odds Please Visit our NFL Odds Page
NFL Trend: Carolina Panthers are 1-5 ATS this season
The Wagerline consensus has 75.0% of the NFL bettors on Arizona –10
The Wagerline consensus has 71.9% the NFL bettors playing over 41
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