Cardinals
vs.
Eagles
NFL Pick
Analysis
12/1/13
The Arizona Cardinals (7-4, 2-3 away) will travel to take on the Philadelphia Eagles (6-5, 1-4 home) at 1 PM ET on Sunday. Both teams appear to be streaking towards playoff appearaNCe, thanks in large part to superb play by their QBs. Arizona’s Carson Palmer is showing some of the early career form he had before a season ending injury in the playoff with the Bengals. Palmer has 8 TDs versus 2 INTs in his last Four Games and an average RAT of 110.6 in that span.
Nick Foles has been even better and is official the starting QB of the Eagles, releGAting Michael Vick to the sidelines. Foles has a RAT of 128 (NFL best) to go along with 1,554 YDs and 16 TDs. He has yet to fumble or throw an INT. The second year QB figures to get better with more experieNCe. He faces a stellar Eagles defense that allows only 81.3 YPG on the ground, which is good for second best in the NFL. They defend the pass well too, ranking 17th at 235.8 YPG. RB LeSean McCoy (1,009 YDs, 5 TDs) has his work cut out for him, but if he can get the ball moving on the ground it should be a good offensive day for the Eagles.
The visiting Cardinals are 3 point underdogs at 5 dimes sportsbook, with a total of 49. The total has gone OVER in 4 of Philadelphia’s last 6 Games when playing at home against Arizona. The Cardinals have won the last three meetings against Philadelphia, dating back to 2009. They covered in all three Games.
Carson Palmer got off to a rocky start in Arizona, but is finally hitting his stride. Early in his career he was known as the man throwing the ball to WR Chad Johnson. Now, he’s got WR LArry Fitzgerald on his side. Not a bad switch! Fitzgerald (50 rec, 606 YDs, 8 TDs) is one of the toughest covers in the league. He has a TD catch in every road Game minus Arizona’s visit to New Orleans. Palmer can hurt you with WR Michael Floyd (49 rec, 761 YDs, 3 TDs) too, but he is questionable as of Thursday morning. Together, they form the 13th best passing attack in the NFL.
Location is a big factor for this Game. Arizona is forced to head northeast and play in the cold Philadelphia weather. Both of their road wins came against awful teams (Jacksonville, Tampa Bay) and they looked bad when they traveled to play New Orleans and San Francisco. On the flip side, the Eagles are just 1-4 at home. This is a big Game for both teams. The winner will be allowed to keep pace with their respective divisional foes, while the loser will take a step back with time running out on the season.
Our model has this one as a close Game with two of Our 3 sets of predictions having the Cards winning outright. We’ll take the points here. Cards +3