JEFF ALLEN GAME PREVIEW : SEAHAWKS at CARDINALS
Tonight’s Sunday Night Football offering features a key NFC West matchup between 4-1 Seattle Seahawks and the 3-3 Arizona Cardinals. The Seahawks have won three straight since the 9-3 debacle at Los Angeles in Week Two. Russell Wilson appears to be reasonably healthy at this point after battling through some minor injuries early on thanks in large part to inconsistent offensive line play. His counterpart Carson Palmer has had a terrible start to 2016 and has battled through his own injuries, most recently a hamstring problem after the Arizona game against the 49ers while completing the concussion protocol. This is a must win game for Arizona who would fall three game back of Seattle with a loss in the H2H and we’re not even at the halfway mark of the season.
The line opened with Arizona at -2 and the total at 43 1/2. Seahawk and under money has dropped the line to Arizona -1 with the total 43. There is a 30% chance of showers at or around kickoff. University of Phoenix has a retractable roof than can be closed if need be. If the roof is open, temperatures are expected to be in the high 80’s so it will be hot.
Seattle has really come around offensively as the offensive line play has stabilized. The Hawks have scored 10 touchdowns in their last 32 drives after scoring just once in their first 22 drives the first two weeks of the season. The vaunted Seattle defense has been good at times but has shown chinks in its armor. The Seattle stop unit was shredded for 260 yards in the 3rd quarter alone in their last game versus the Falcons.
The Cardinals have struggled all year with and without Carson Palmer. They’ve gotten very little going on offense on the road against better competition. The defense has been nothing close to the stop unit of last year. As is the case with many teams, turnovers have been a problem for the Red Birds. Arizona is +9 in takeaways in their three wins and -6 in their three losses. Palmer will need to protect the ball aginst the opportunistic Hawk defense.
Arizona has won five of the last nine in the series and swept both games last year. Both teams thrive in spots where the number is three or less with Seattle going 7-3-2 in their L12 in this spot, the Cardinals are 15-3-1 under Arians. The under is 4-2 in Cardinal games this year while Seattle’s last three games have flown over the total. For Jeff Allen’s play on this game, please visit www.vegasscoresandodds.com