Cardinals at Colts: Vegas Spread, Analysis and Picks
By Andrew Ites
The Cardinals and Colts face off this week in a matchup of two teams that absolutely need a win.
Back in July this game looked like it had the potential to be one of the marquee games of the 1 o’clock Eastern Time block of games in Week 2.
The Colts were expected to contend for the AFC South title led by Andrew Luck, and Cardinals fans were looking forward to a bounce back season led by a legitimate MVP candidate in David Johnson.
Both of those players will be watching this game from the sidelines as their teams try to figure out how to make a gameplan without the focal points of their respective teams.
Las Vegas has been handed a challenge in handicapping this game as neither team looks like what we thought they would entering the season. The wise guys in the desert have decided to make the Cardinals about a 7-point favorite in Lucas Oil Stadium, which means that they see Arizona as 10 points better than the Colts when factoring in home-field advantage.
They expect 44 points to be scored in this game, which is slightly below average for an NFL game.
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PICKS
Colts +7
I did pick the Rams to cover as 3-point favorites last week, and the Colts responded by looking like the worst team in the league.
However, a 7-point line is too high for a Cardinals team led by Carson Palmer who looked just as bad as Scott Tolzien last week throwing 3 interceptions against Detroit.
Under 44
The Cardinals’ defense should still provide some problems for a Colts offense that hasn’t decided on a starting quarterback yet. Also the loss of David Johnson hurts an Arizona offense that was almost completely built around his skill set.