I had to back away from capping the Cards for a few weeks. There was no precedent on what I was seeing, so better to be on the sidelines before announcing anything public. However, I think I have a better read on them now, so let's try this again..
Some interesting facts for SNF tonight:
* SEA beat AZ in Glendale past 3 visits, but 1st visit was when Carson first joined AZ with Arians. 2nd visit was some backup was playing. 3rd visit was late last year, where SEA was not going to lose 2 in a row going into the playoffs and AZ was walking through the motions (read: no motivation)
* AZ the last couple games finally getting back to form defensively. RBs are no longer running wild like in first 4 games of the year. However..
* Eye test shows Honey Badger not 100%. He is getting beat in routes across middle, where as pre-acl injury last year he was batting down those passes.
* Pay attention to SEA's OT named Bradley Sowell. He was the guy I said had naked pics of Arians; otherwise why would they keep the turnstile on the team (when he was with AZ for a few years).
* AZ bookends Markus Golden and Chandler Jones are getting more pressure on opposing QBs than the stats show.
* AZ finally tweaked their offense; more 10-15 yd passes, less bombs. (About time!) That said..
* Arians finally figured out teams are blitzing and 5-7 step drops are killing Palmer, so last week was the first week I've seen Palmer get rid of the ball quickly. (And it neutralized the Jet's dominant D-line.)
* David Johnson is a stud. Period. The whole package, but SEA tackles as well as anyone in th league.
* The way Wilson beat AZ is by getting rid of the pass quickly. Expect him to do the same until AZ stops him from doing so.
* Remember that guy who was Fire Marshall Bill's stunt double playing starting CB opposite of Patrick Peterson? He's been inactive the past few weeks. Yep. He was that bad.
* Kam Chancellor is out! That is huge.. He was Sherman's safety blanket, which made him extremely aggressive.
* WR John Brown being out no big deal. A speedster FASTER than him named JJ Nelson should fill in nicely.
* Floyd has generally done well against SEA as he gets the DB opposite of Sherman.. Watch a lot of passes go his way.
* Under Arians, AZ plays much better when they're fighting with a lesser record (instead of a sizeable favorite). Guess who I'm backing tonight? :)
My pick: Arizona ML -120 **3 unit** GL to all (even though it seems like a lot of folks here like SEA)