San Francisco 49ers @ Arizona Cardinals, NFL Preview

Thursday Night Football Bet

THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL KICKS-OFF AT 1.20AM (Friday UK time)

Game Spread – San Francisco 49ers -10 | Game Total – 43 points

NFL Week 9 kicks-off with the unbeaten (7-0) San Francisco 49ers visiting the 3-4-1 Arizona Cardinals on Thursday Night Football.

It is a big game for Arizona who need wins but also because they drafted Kyler Murray over Nick Bosa (2nd pick) it will be interesting who come out on top.

Key Stats

San Francisco dominating – Not only do they have a 100% record but they have also covered the spread in 5 of their last 7 games. Their points differential is +130 (207 scored vs 77 conceded) which is so high with only 1 other team in the 100s (New England 189).
The Cardinals struggle at home – You would think they would be able to leverage a bit of home advantage but it doesn’t seem to help with a record of 2-9-1.
Under the total looks solid – 5 of the 7 49ers games this season have gone under the total combined with 4 of Arizonas 6 game when underdogs.

Can the Cardinals protect Kyler Murray

Well so far they have struggled to protect the mobile quarter back who has been sacked 26 times which ranks 3rd highest in the NFL. So it seems this is going to be a huge mis-match unless they can workout some plays to keep him out of trouble as the 49ers landed 7 sacks against Carolina last weekend, 3 coming form Nick Bosa.

A lot of people thought the Cardinals had turned a corner when winning 3 straight but they were against some awful teams (Bengals, Giants & Falcons) and as soon as they played a decent side last week in the Saints they were blown away 31-9.

Will the 49ers stick with the run game?

Kyle Shanahan said he wanted teams to fear their run game and he looks to be coming up with plenty of runs plays to keep them moving. Against the Panthers Tevin Coleman ran it for 118 yards scoring 4 touchdowns and in tandem with Raheem Mosaert who added 60 more yards you can see why they are ranked 2nd in the NFL for rushing (160 yards per game).

The run game should flourish again against the 29th ranked defence in the league.

Thursday night football verdict and bet

As I mentioned early this is a huge mis-match with a team who can’t protect their quarterback against one of the best pass rushes around. I expect plenty of sacks on Kyler and as a result San Fransisco should go to 8-0 and cover the spread in the process.

I will be doubling this up with the under as the stats look solid and you can see the 49ers run game chewing up the clock.

San Francisco 49ers @ Arizona Cardinals (Double)

San Francisco 49ers to win -10 points

Under 43 points

Pays 2.64/1 with Bet365