Saints vs. Cardinals Odds, Picks, and Prediction
Saints vs. Cardinals Odds
| Saints Odds | +2.5 |
| Cardinals Odds | -2.5 |
| Over/Under | 43.5 |
| Date | Thu, Oct. 20 |
| Time | 8:15 p.m. |
| TV | Amazon |
This evening, Week 7 of the NFL regular season will begin with a matchup between the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals on Thursday Night Football. Entering play, both teams find themselves below the .500 mark, with neither team currently possessing a playoff position. Oddsmakers are expecting a tightly-contested affair between these underperforming teams, pricing Arizona as a 2.5-point home favorite on the spread.
Let’s take a deeper look at the matchup to see where NFL bettors can find value at sportsbooks in this contest.
New Orleans Saints
The Saints have no shortage of injuries to report ahead of tonight’s contest. Offensive lineman Calvin Throckmorton has been limited in practice throughout the week with a hip injury. Andrus Peat has already been ruled out for this evening’s affair, further hurting this group’s ability to win at the line of scrimmage on the offensive side of the ball. Wide receivers Jarvis Landry and Michael Thomas have already been ruled out of action for this contest. Per CBS Sports, Andy Dalton is the only starting quarterback who has lost five consecutive primetime starts by 17 points or more since 1970. In his career, he is 6-18 in primetime matchups, which is the second-worst win percentage by any qualified starting signal caller since 2000. In Dalton’s three starts this year, New Orleans is 1-2, with a victory over the Seattle Seahawks, and losses to the Minnesota Vikings and Cincinnati Bengals. In that span, the Saints rank 10th in EPA/play offensively, and have been particularly strong on the ground – ranking 3rd in rush EPA/play as a result of the creativity of Taysom Hill. Assuming Dalton is the primary quarterback again on Thursday, this offense should be able to put points on the board once again.
Defensively, the Saints outlook is less rosy. Across the last three weeks, only the Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland Browns, and Detroit Lions have been worse on this side of the ball, measured by EPA/play. New Orleans has been particularly vulnerable through the air during this stretch – ranking 30th in Dropback EPA/play. Tonight, this group could be without cornerback Paulson Adebo, who was limited in practice this week with a knee injury. Marshon Lattimore has already been ruled out, and Payton Turner is also listed as questionable on the defensive line.
Arizona Cardinals
Arguably, the most important storyline for the Arizona offense heading into tonight is the return of DeAndre Hopkins. In 10 games last season, Hopkins totaled 42 receptions, 572 receiving yards, and eight touchdowns. His absence down-the-stretch in 2021 was a major issue for this group, and has continued to be an issue to begin 2022. Hopkins’ return should significantly help a struggling Kyler Murray, who enters play on Thursday ranked 12th in passing yards, 17th in passing touchdowns, 15th in interceptions, and 19th in QBR. Facing an injury-riddled New Orleans secondary unit, this duo has a good opportunity to make an immediate impact on the field.
Arizona’s season has not started well, but there are reasons to be optimistic that better days are ahead. Despite struggling to begin the new campaign, the Cardinals have still managed to consistently win the time of possession battle – ranking 7th in average time of possession through six weeks. The ability to sustain drives on offense enables the defense to be fresh in the latter portion of contests. Adding a strong pass-catching option such as Hopkins should only further help the Cardinals offense. If the Cardinals can improve at all upon their 28th ranked 3rd down conversion ranking, the defense is likely to benefit tremendously. Through six weeks, the Cardinals rank 4th in rush EPA/play, holding opponents to only 4.3 yards-per-carry. If this defense can force the Saints to beat them through the air this evening, they should have a good opportunity to do their part in securing a win.
Saints vs. Cardinals – Picks & Predictions
Both of these defense are banged up in the secondary, which could make it difficult to defend through the air this evening. Across the last three weeks, New Orleans ranks 30th in Dropback EPA/play. Tonight, they are tasked with slowing down an Arizona offense that will return DeAndre Hopkins to the field. The Cardinals have proven capable of slowing down opponent rush attacks, but only five teams are allowing a higher completion percentage this year than Arizona. Despite the lack of starpower in this matchup, the over has a reasonably strong chance to cash in this spot.
PICK: Over 43.5 (-110, FanDuel)
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