Commanders And Cardinals Won’t Bother With Defense Today

Commanders vs. Cardinals, 4:05 ET

Commanders vs. Cardinals, 4:05 ET

It is only Week 4 in the NFL, but I feel like I have a better feel for certain teams than others. Some of it is that I try to find plays for games on prime time because I know that is the most interest to people (it should be winning, but the casual bettor wants to win and bet on the main games). That means there are times when I end up betting on games with the same teams involved as some just play more often in prime time. This game came to me though because I feel like I have a good read on both of the teams. Let’s take a shot on the game between the Commanders and Cardinals.

The Commanders come into the game with a shocking win against the Bengals on Monday Night Football. The question shifted from if the Commanders are a good team (I’m not sure if they will be by season’s end, but they look decent right now), to a question of just how bad Cincinnati is this season. Jayden Daniels looks like he is a true quarterback and could be the leader of the team – I’m not willing to say he will be better than Caleb Williams long term, but right now he is playing great football. Daniels finally started making connections with his receivers and was able to toss a couple of touchdowns, the first of his career, in the game against Cincinnati. What is most impressive is his accuracy – he is 61-for-76. That’s good for 80% completion. While Washington isn’t asking him to throw constantly, averaging just 25 passes per game, he is very effective with his choices to this point and hasn’t thrown an interception yet. The Cardinals are decent against the pass – about middle of the league. That is fairly similar to the running defense as well. The Commanders seem to trust Daniels and the team looks more confident each week.

Sep 8, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third quarter at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The Cardinals lost the game to the Lions this past week, but it wasn’t a terrible performance. That put them at 1-2 for the season, but they have at least been competitive in all three games. Kyler Murray – viewed as one of the worst quarterbacks and contracts in the league a few years ago – has been fairly impressive through the first three weeks. The game against the Rams was a bit of an outlier for the Cardinals as they racked up 41 points and probably put that game out of reach within the first quarter. The other two games were a bit more back-and-forth, but Arizona just didn’t have enough to get it done. I think the team will continue looking for ways to find Marvin Harrison Jr. as his rapport with Murray grows. I would guess he will have a nice game this week as the Commanders have the second-worst pass defense in football, allowing the second-most yards through the air per game. Murray will likely have opportunities to target multiple receivers in this one. The running game has been solid for the Cardinals and there is no reason to think it takes a backseat in this one as the Commanders are middle-of-the-pack against the run as well.

There isn’t much to be impressed about with the defenses in this game. Neither has a shutdown unit and both allow enough yards through the air and on the ground that I think both offenses will look good in this game. I would be very surprised to see this as anything but a bunch of points being scored. It isn’t easy for a road team with a rookie to get a lot of scoring, but the teams aren’t as familiar with each other either so their strengths tend to show out. I’m going to back the over 50.5 in this one. 

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