The betting line for this week's game between the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals opened up at -4 in favor of the Cardinals at Bodog Sportsbook. The line has now jumped to -6.5 as of Saturday morning. The total opened at 38 and has been bet down to 37. Right now, 80% of the betting public is on Arizona and 55% are on the over.
Bobby Babowski's Prediction: This matchup features two of the worst teams in the NFL as far as records are concerned , with the Cards finishing 5-11 and the Panthers 2-14 last year respectively. The Panthers, who obviously struggled on both sides of the ball with only two wins, particularly had MAJOR offensive shortcomings as they averaged less than 13 points per game in 8 of the 16 games played. Jimmy Clausen wasn’t the answer as he struggled losing 8 of his 10 starts, and now its the CAM NEWTON era for the Panthers, and they are throwing him into the fire week one, vs an ARIZONA team that also features a new starting QB, Kevin Kolb, Philadelphias cast off 65 million dollar man. Arizona hopes to regain its elite NFL status from two years ago, but may have to have a little patience, as the Offense, although having numerous solid threats, WR Larry Fitzgerald, TE Todd Heap (Bal) etc, looks to be a mediocre at best NFL team, this season. This play on ARIZONA is STRICTLY a GO AGAINST CAROLINA WITH A ROOKIE QB MAKING HIS FIRST NFL START, vs as previously mentioned a mediocre ARIZONA team, but laying -6.5 (if 7 buy half point down to 6.5) is actually a pretty solid play, in my opinion. Reason being is that the majority of the NFL teams that would have been hosting CAROLINA would probably be laying two tds or more vs rookie Cam Newton. So with that being said, we feel confident that ARIZONA will stack the box, and send the cavalry (for what its worth ) all day long, and the Cards should easily defeat the Panthers by ten points or more, without a problem. TAKE the CARDS –6.5 (lay the 7 if you have to, shouldn’t be a problem)
Arizona -6.5
