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It looked like the New England Patriots had turned it around. Winners of two in a row, including a Sunday Night win over the Baltimore Ravens, the Patriots started creeping up the AFC playoff standings. With a game against the Houston Texans ahead of them, they were one win away from being declared relevant again.
Then, Deshaun Watson happened, and the New England defense had little to no answers for the young quarterback. Watson had only nine incompletions en route to passing for 344 yards and two touchdowns against this once vaunted defense. Cam Newton finished with 365 yards through the air and a touchdown, but they fell 27-20. Speaking of Newton, a facet of his game has been missing of late. The quarterback has logged just 43 yards on the ground on 24 carries over their last three contests.
Time is running out on the Patriots. At 4-6, they have to get red hot now in a stacked AFC conference. Their first test is with the Arizona Cardinals this week, and if Watson gave them trouble, you might expect the same from Kyler Murray. That's unless Bill Belichick has the perfect scheme.
New England has seen the under hit in their last two games. The Patriots (+2.5) have also covered their last two contests as underdogs. They've played in four-straight single-score games where opponents have outscored them by a single point.
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At this point, everyone is taking Arizona seriously. They came close to taking down the Seattle Seahawks once again, but missed opportunities combined with an ailing Murray was too much to overcome in their 28-21 loss. They now sit in third place in the NFC West with a record of 6-4, and are looking to rebound in New England.
Murray threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns, but was held to just 15 yards on the ground, dealing with an ailing shoulder. His injury looked to have an impact on his willingness to run the ball and take chances down the field. In the end though, Russell Wilson was too much.
Arizona's games have had some high point total lines. The team has an over/under record of 3-6-1 this season partly due to the higher lines. They've struggled ATS of late, failing to cover in three-straight. As a favorite, the Cardinals are 2-4 ATS. New England certainly represents a challenge here.
It’s a little surprising to see the spread of this game be only 2.5 points in favor of the Cardinals, but this may be taking into account how desperate this Patriots team should be playing. With a loss, they’ll essentially be eliminated from the playoffs. For Arizona, they’re in the playoffs at the moment, but need to continue stacking together wins. The last thing they need is to go into the home stretch of the season on a losing streak. Expect both teams to come out ready to play, and for a close game that goes down to the final quarter.
New England has covered 3-of-5 times at home this season. This pairs well with the fact that they've covered as underdogs in two-straight, and again, Arizona has covered in 2-of-6 as favorites.