NFL Odds: Cardinals opening as two-point favorites vs. visiting Lions
Few bettors put their money on the Arizona Cardinals and the Detroit Lions being two of the best teams in the NFC before the NFL season started. However, the Cardinals lead the NFC West with a league-best 8-1 record while the Lions are sitting atop the NFC North at 7-2, one game ahead of the preseason favorite Green Bay Packers. Arizona and Detroit will square off in what should be one of the more intriguing games in Week 10 from a betting perspective. The Cardinals are consensus two-point home favorites.
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Arizona is coming off a 31-14 comeback win over the St. Louis Rams last week as seven-point favorites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. The Cardinals trailed the Rams 14-10 midway through the fourth quarter before backup quarterback Drew Stanton rallied with a 48-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver John Brown, followed by two defensive touchdowns to round out the scoring. Stanton replaced starter Carson Palmer, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the team’s fifth straight victory, and he played with the Lions for three years before joining Arizona.
Detroit knocked off the Miami Dolphins last week 20-16 for their fourth win in a row, with the closing NFL betting lines showing them as 3-point home favorites. The Lions got All-Pro wide receiver Calvin Johnson back from an ankle injury that kept him out of the previous three games, and he totaled seven catches for 113 yards and scored the game’s first touchdown on a 49-yard pass from QB Matthew Stafford. They have lost the last five meetings with the Cardinals straight-up, going 0-4-1 against the spread.
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There are seven more Week 11 NFL matchups on Sunday afternoon with opening lines of seven points or less. The Packers (6-3) host the Eagles (7-2) as six-point favorites as both teams battle for the playoffs. The Chicago Bears (3-6) are three-point chalk and look to break a three-game losing streak when they host the Minnesota Vikings (4-5) in an NFC North rivalry game.
The defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks visit the Kansas City Chiefs as 1.5-point underdogs. The Atlanta Falcons (3-6) travel to Charlotte as 1.5-point dogs as well to take on the Carolina Panthers (3-6-1) in an NFC South divisional game. The Cincinnati Bengals (5-3-1) and New Orleans Saints (4-5) are both coming off home losses and will meet in the Superdome with the home team a seven-point favorite.
The San Francisco 49ers (5-4) just won at New Orleans last week and now visit the New York Giants (3-6) as four-point chalk. And finally, the Washington Redskins (3-6) return from their bye week to host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-8) as 7.5-point favorites after opening at -6.5.
