Saturday, February 4th, 2012
The Arizona Cardinals will open up the 2010 regular season with a road trip to play the St Louis Rams in an NFL pro football game on Sunday afternoon.
This game will kick off from St Louis at 4:15PM Eastern Time and you can watch it on Fox Television.
The point spread opened up with the road club Arizona Cardinals as a 3 ½ point favorite with the over under lined at 42 ½ points.
The early money from the NFL betting public has come on the side of the favorite as the Arizona Cardinals are now favored by 4 points. The total saw movement downward to a current over under of 38 ½ points.
Money line bettors playing the favored Arizona Cardinals will lay -205 odds with the home underdog St Louis Rams bringing back +175 to pull off the upset win without the aid of getting the points.
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The Arizona Cardinals swept the St Louis Rams last season posting the 21-13 road victory as a 9 point favorite and posting the 31-10 home win as a 16 ½ point betting favorite.
Both teams in 2010 will sport a new starting quarterback.
With 2009 starting quarterback Kurt Warner retired the job was former first round pick Matt Leinart’s job to lose. Well he lost it to free agent Derek Anderson.
It really came down to Leinart’s lack of arm strength and inability to stretch defenses. Leinart lost the starting job once before as the team inserted Kurt Warner so the former USC Trojan was going to have to really sell the team he was capable enough to handle the starting job.
Derek Anderson had accuracy issues in college as he was a pick machine back in his days as an Oregon St Beaver. The 6 year veteran was miserable in 2009 hitting on just 44.5% of his passes with 3 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. His career passing completion is just 52.9%. Former BYU quarterback Max Hall caught the eye of the coaching staff and may be truly the quarterback of the future with the Cardinals.
The Cardinals are hoping for better contributions from their running backs in Beanie Wells and Tim Hightower. Wells suffered through fumble problems early on but finished off 2009 with a 4.5 yards a carry average and 7 touchdowns. Hightower produced 7 touchdowns and a 4.2 yards per rush average on 143 carries.
Out wide the team lines up one of the best in Larry Fitzgerald who had 97 receptions for 1092 yards and 13 touchdowns. The team will be without Anquan Boldin and Jerheme Urban but still have talent surrounding Fitzgerald.
The team will start Steve Breaston opposite Fitzgerald and former LSU product Early Doucet stepped up last season. Hightower was a solid pass catcher out of the backfield with 63 receptions last season.
The team lost two key starters on defense in free agency last season in linebacker Karlos Dansby and safety Antrel Rolle.
The Cardinals were 20th in the league in total defense allowing 346 yards per game.
First round draft pick Sam Bradford will be the teams starting quarterback in 2010. Bradford missed most of the 2009 season at Oklahoma last year with a shoulder injury.
The Rams will need to protect their rookie quarterback as the Rams allowed 54 sacks last season. The Rams offensive line nearly ruined the career of pro bowl quarterback Marc Bulger who is now a back up in Baltimore.
Fortunately Bradford can hand the ball off to workhorse running back Steven Jackson who produced 1416 rushing yards on 324 carries but only 4 touchdowns in 2009.
The Rams are paper thin in their receiving position. The team will be without leading receiver Donnie Avery who suffered a season ending knee injury in preseason. Starting wide out Laurent Robinson had just 13 catches last season and is sporting a foot ailment and has been listed as probable. Second year pro Danny Amendola will start opposite following a 2009 season with 43 catches for only a 7.6 yards per reception average.
The Rams acquired former Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Mark Clayton via trade. Clayton posted a nice 14.1 yards per reception average last season.
St Louis has been a mess on the defensive side of the ball for several seasons. The team allowed 372 yards per game last season ranking 29th in the league. The Rams bring little pressure up front on opposing quarterbacks and generated just 25 sacks last season sitting 30th in the league.
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NFL Trend: Arizona Cardinals are 5-2 ATS in their past 7 meetings with the St Louis Rams
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