Mondo's Premium Picks offers our expert's best bets for the Cardinals-Seahawks matchup on Thursday Night Football
The Arizona Cardinals (6-3) and Seattle Seahawks (6-3) face off on Thursday Night Football in a Week 11 clash for first place in the NFC West. These two teams combined for one of the most entertaining games of the NFL season in Week 7, a 37-34 overtime win by the Cardinals.
The Cardinals are coming off of a miraculous Hail Mary win over the Buffalo Bills. DeAndre Hopkins’ phenomenal catch could very well go down as the play of the year. The team’s offense continues to score at a blazing pace, recording 30-plus points in five straight games.
Fortunes have not been as kind to the Seahawks, who are coming off of back-to-back losses. The defense remains a mess, and the electric offense from early in the season has lost its spark. Despite the issues, they remain a three-point favorite for the game.
This has the makings of an incredibly entertaining game with high-flying offensive flair. In this piece, I’ll go over my best bets for the contest, and provide my reasoning behind the picks.
All odds provided in this piece are courtesy of William Hill, and as always, please play responsibly.
Game Info
Kickoff: 8:20 p.m. ET
Moneyline: Cardinals +130, Seahawks -150
Spread: Seahawks -3
Total: 57
Chase Edmonds Over 2.5 Receptions (-143)
Kenyan Drake returned to the Cardinals’ lineup last week, expectedly cutting into Edmonds’ playing time as a rusher. Alas, Edmonds remains the primary pass-catcher out of the backfield. He still played 49 percent of the team’s offensive snaps in Week 10, which was his third-highest total of the season.
Edmonds has had at least three receptions in three straight games and in 77 percent of his games this season. He had seven catches for 87 yards in the Week 7 game against Seattle and looks poised to make an impact again. With this game expected to be a shootout, Edmonds looks like a sure bet to catch at least three passes.
Kyler Murray Over 56.5 Rushing Yards (-120)
Murray is one of the most exciting players in the NFL, and I still do not think bookmakers accurately set his lines. The 23-year-old has gone over this total in 77 percent of his games this year. Likewise, his usage as a runner is only getting higher as the season progresses. Between Week 2 to Week 5, Murray averaged seven rushing attempts per game. Over the past four weeks, Murray is averaging 11.5 rushing attempts.
Couple that with the fact that Murray is averaging 6.9 yards per carry, and we hypothetically only need eight rushing attempts to cash that bet. With how explosive Murray is, he could pick up over half of this total on just one designed run. He also had 67 yards in the Week 7 game against the Seahawks, so let’s ride with the young star for tonight’s action.
DK Metcalf Over 77.5 Receiving Yards (-120)
For the last prop, I’m going to dive into the Seahawks. The last time these two teams played, Metcalf had two receptions for 17 yards. His teammate, Tyler Lockett, dominated the passing game, catching 15 balls for 200 yards and three touchdowns. I do not expect this to happen again.
At the time of writing this, Lockett remains questionable for the game with a knee injury. The expectation is that he will play, but it is likely he is a little less than 100 percent. I fully expect Russell Wilson to get Metcalf involved early and often in this game, as the pair had a miserable outing in Week 10 against the Los Angeles Rams.
If this game is as high scoring as expected, Wilson should throw at least 35 times tonight. This bodes well for the imposing Metcalf, who will surely want to leave his mark on this pivotal matchup.
