NFL odds: Struggling Cardinals road favorites at Niners on Thursday night
The Arizona Cardinals (1-3) already have as many losses as they did all of the 2015 regular season, and they will try to avoid falling again Thursday night when they visit the San Francisco 49ers (1-3) as four-point road favorites on the NFL point spreads at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The Cardinals are likely to be without starting quarterback Carson Palmer due to a concussion, with Drew Stanton expected to take his place at San Francisco.
Palmer was injured late in the fourth quarter of a 17-13 home loss to the Los Angeles Rams last Sunday, with Stanton taking over and throwing two interceptions on 11 pass attempts with only four completions to his own team. Arizona head coach Bruce Arians has reportedly said Palmer has a chance to play, but he must clear the NFL’s concussion protocol. With that unlikely, Stanton should make his first start since 2014.
Meanwhile, the 49ers have quarterback problems of their own, but they have nothing to do with injuries. Blaine Gabbert remains the starter for now despite his struggles, throwing for more than 196 yards in one of four games with more touchdowns than interceptions only once as well, coming in the season-opening win over the Rams.
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Backup Colin Kaepernick is waiting in the wings, although he might not see the field unless there is an injury to Gabbert at this point.
The good news for San Francisco is that the team has played well against the Cardinals at home recently, going 6-1 straight up and 5-2 against the spread in the past seven meetings, according to the OddsShark NFL Database.
The 49ers have also typically played well in October, going 15-6 SU and ATS in their last 21 games during the month. But the best betting trend in their favor here involves them going 13-2 SU in their last 15 home games after a home loss. They lost 24-17 to the Dallas Cowboys there last week.
Arizona also has a favorable situational trend, winning five of six SU after suffering back-to-back losses. The Cardinals are 7-2 ATS in their last nine games when they have failed to cover in consecutive games too, which will obviously be the case for Thursday night's matchup.
