The Arizona Cardinals will look to get their new era off to a positive start when they host the Detroit Lions in their regular season opener on Sunday, live from State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. With the Cards in the beginning stages of a massive rebuild and the Lions looking to bounce back from their uninspiring season in their first year under head coach Matt Patricia a year ago, let’s find out which team is offering the best value against their NFL odds in this intriguing matchup.
Lions vs Cardinals 2019 NFL Week 1 Odds, Analysis & Prediction
- When: Sunday September 8, 2019, 4:25 PM ET
- Where: State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona
- TV: FOX
- Radio: Detroit / Arizona
- Live Stream: NFL Game Pass
- NFL Week 1 Odds: Detroit -2.5 / Total: 47.5
Weather Forecast
- Sunny: 39°C/102°F
- Humidity: 36%
- Precipitation: 0%
- Wind: 14 mph SW
- Cloud Cover: 13%
- Type of Stadium: Retractable
Key Head-to-Head Trends
- Home team is 12-2 ATS in their last 14 meetings.
- Over is 10-4 in the last 14 meetings.
- Underdog is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 meetings.
Why Bet On Detroit at -2.5?
The Lions look like a good pick in this contest because they have the better defense and a more experienced quarterback under center in veteran Derek Carr. The bad news is that Detroit is looking to rebound after going a discouraging 6-10 last season and they didn’t look good at all in going 0-4 in the preseason while getting held to 23 points or less in each contest. The Lions finished a discouraging 25th in scoring (20.3 ppg) and mediocre 16th in points allowed (22.5 ppg).
Why Bet On Arizona at -2.5?
The best reasons to back the Cardinals are that Arizona is playing at home and looking to get off to a positive start under first-time head coach Kliff Kingsbury. In addition to that, Arizona now has a gifted signal-caller in quarterback Kyler Murray and will almost certainly have a much better offense than they did a year ago when they finished dead last in scoring (14.1 ppg). The Cards went 1-3 in the preseason, but the good news is that Murray looked pretty ready to handle the rigors and faster speed of the NFL after winning the Heisman at Oklahoma a year ago.
Lions vs Cardinals NFL Week 1 Betting Trends
- Lions are 3-6 ATS in the last 9 games against Arizona
- Lions are 3-7 SU in the last 10 games
- The total went UNDER in 7 of the Lions’ last 7 games
- Cardinals are 2-5 ATS in the last 7 games
- Cardinals are 1-7 SU in the last 8 games
- The totalwent OVER in 11 of the Cardinals’ last 15 games against Detroit
NFL Week 1 Betting Prediction for Lions vs Cardinals
Detroit was solid, but definitely, not great, defensively last season, but I contend that the Lions made the wrong move by hiring head coach Matt Patricia when they would have been better off hiring an offensive-minded head coach to help Matthew Stafford reach his full and as of yet, unfulfilled potential.
For this Week 1 regular season opener, I’m going with Arizona to get the big upset win in a contest that looks like a flat-out shootout just waiting to happen. I know the Lions have gone an impressive 6-2 ATS in their last 8 road games and 11-5 ATS in their last 16 games in Week 1, but the home team in this rivalry has gone a blistering 12-2 in the last 14 meetings while the underdog has gone 5-2 ATS in the last seven meetings. With the Lions going 1-7 ATS in their last eight road dates against Arizona, I’m going with the electrifying Kyler Murray to lead the Cardinals to the outright win and ATS cover as a slight home dog!
Pick: Arizona +2.5
