Does the Cards’ home crisis continue against the Colts?
Directly on Christmas Day there is a second game in the NFL and this one has it all. With the Arizona Cardinals and the Indianapolis Colts, two teams meet that still have very good playoff chances.
The Cardinals are currently 10-4, slightly better than the Colts (8-6), but the Colts have had the better run, winning seven of their last nine games. The Cards have only managed five wins in that time.
The negative highlight for Arizona was the clear 12:30 at the Detroit Lions, the worst team in the league up to that point. That was when the absences of Hopkins and Watt really made themselves felt for the first time. However, the two will be missing again on Saturday, which should make it difficult for the Cardinals.
So for Arizona vs. Indianapolis, our prediction is also the third loss in a row for the Cards, who don’t have enough to counter the Colts’ running game and especially Jonathan Taylor.
Kickoff of the Christmas Day game is Sunday night at 02:15 in Arizona. The game will be broadcast live by DAZN.
Arizona Cardinals – Statistics & current form
The Cardinals’ hype train has gotten a little stuck or just taken a wrong turn. While they still lead the NFC West, they could end up with a rude awakening in their current form.
Neither the division is safe, nor playoff qualification, although a lot more would have to go wrong for that to happen. But if you lose 12:30 to the Detroit Lions, you can lose to any opponent.
Cards’ confidence is completely in the basement
It would be too early to start a swansong on Arizona right now, of course, but there really isn’t much reason for hope. Both wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and defensive end J.J. Watt will be missing in the next few games as well.
Not only on the field, but also in the dressing room, these two are very important players, which can be seen week after week. Quarterback Kyler Murray is also missing these two anchors. In the last two games he threw three interceptions with only one touchdown.
The defense is also becoming more vulnerable
The struggle of Murray then naturally affects other parts of the team, even their defence. With the Cards’ game shares dropping, their defence is being asked to do a lot more than it was at the start of the season – with moderate success.
They still have a very good average of 20.3 points conceded per game, but in the last two games it has risen to 30.0 – far too many. And now they are facing the Colts, who are the next big-playing offence.
We don’t expect them to get back to 20.3 all of a sudden. We rather expect another game with 30 points against, which makes a bet on Indy for Cardinals vs. Colts promising – with even better value.
Key Players:
QB: Kyler Murray
RB: James Connor
WR: A.J. Green
WR: Christian Kirk
K: Matt Prater
Indianapolis Colts – stats & current form
We underestimated the Colts a bit against New England, which won’t happen to us now against the Cardinals. So there the stats of Indianapolis did not lie and they can currently be called one of the hottest teams.
Had it not been for that unfortunate loss to the Buccaneers, they would have won all of their last seven games – six of them anyway. Besides a solid Carson Wentz, this upswing is of course mainly thanks to one player: Jonathan Taylor.
Jonathan Taylor for MVP?
So very slowly, something is even happening that hardly anyone would have thought possible before the season. A running back is considered to have an outside chance of winning the MVP Award. For the betting public, however, quite rightly.
Why give the award to a quarterback again (Brady, Rodgers) when Taylor carries an entire team on his shoulders through the season? He has already run for 17 touchdowns and 1518 yards – by far the most of any running back.
And that despite the fact that he didn’t run a single one on the first three days of the game and wasn’t in good shape yet. Thus, his 17 touchdowns are spread over just eleven games. In his last four games he even ran for eight touchdowns – one of which came via the pass.
Defence tips the scales
As good as Taylor is, the Colts only have a chance to win or even make a deep playoff run if their defense holds up. If they don’t, it’s going to be like it was against the Bucs a few weeks ago (31-38).
However, since we don’t see the Cards as that dangerous right now and the Colts defence has excelled lately (8.5 counter points over the last two games), odds on the Colts are actually our favoured betting option for Arizona vs. Indy.
Key Players:
QB: Carson Wentz
RB: Jonathan Taylor
WR: Michael Pittman Jr.
TE: Jack Doyle
K: Rodrigo Blankenship
Arizona Cardinals – Indianapolis Colts Head-to-head comparison / H2H record
In this matchup, the head-to-head matchup serves a rather minor function. Although Arizona won the last two duels, these games took place eight and four years ago.
Much more interesting is the current form, which is clearly in favour of the Colts. Not only offensively, but especially defensively they make the better impression, which was confirmed against the strong Pats last Saturday.
Speaking of Saturday: Since they already played that day, Indy also has one more day of regeneration. Not a thought to be completely disregarded in Week 16. So for Cardinals vs. Colts, a prediction on Indianapolis is risky on one hand, but very worthwhile on the other.
Arizona Cardinals – Indianapolis Colts Tip
The Colts’ running game is currently almost unstoppable (238 yards against the Texans and 226 yards against the Pats!). The Cardinals, whose defence has been weakening lately, will feel that too.
We see little in Arizona’s favour, as even home field advantage is not expressing itself this season (only 3-3 wins). Thus, for Cardinals vs. Colts, a tip on Indianapolis at very good odds is our clear betting option No.1.
If this bet is too risky, you can also bet on a rushing touchdown by Jonathan Taylor. As mentioned above, he has scored eight of them in the last four games – at least one in each of his last eleven games.
