Football Betting – Cards, Cowboys Spend Christmas in Arizona

Football betting aficionados know that the Arizona Cardinals are playing out the string, and trying a rookie quarterback, while the Dallas Cowboys at least have some swagger at this time of the year, and on Christmas the two shall meet. Game time is set for 7:30 PM ET on Saturday at University of Phoenix Stadium (natural turf) in Glendale, AZ. The Cowboys, the road club, are priced as the seven-point favorites in the football betting odds, with the total posted at 44.5 points.

Dallas Cowboys (5-9 SU, 6-8 ATS) at Arizona Cardinals (4-10 SU & ATS)
Live at University of Phoenix Stadium
Glendale, AZ
Saturday, December 25 — 7:30 PM ET
TV:   NFL Network

Football Betting Odds:
Dallas  -7
Arizona +7
Total  44.5

Here are some of the trends as they impact football betting on this game:

·         Dallas has played its last eleven games OVER the total
·         Dallas has lost ten of its last 15 games SU
·         Dallas has won four of its last six games SU
·         Dallas has played four of its last five road games OVER the total
·         Arizona has played four of its last five games UNDER the total
·         Arizona has lost eight of its last nine games SU
·         Arizona has covered one of its last six games
·         Arizona has played six of its last eight home games OVER the total
·         Arizona has lost four of its last five home games SU
·         Arizona has covered one of its last five home games

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John Skelton, the rookie quarterback out of Fordham, will get another start for the Cards against the Cowboys on Saturday. Thus far it’s been kind of rough, as Skelton has completed only 32 of 70 passes for 342 yards and has committed two turnovers (one fumble, one interception). Still, they have to try him to see what he can do.

These teams used to play twice a year, and it was a colorful rivalry. Both were part of the geographically-incorrect NFC East at the time, and Dallas is still there, but since Arizona moved to the West, they played last in 2008. Dallas has covered four of the last five meetings in the football betting odds.

The Cowboys have also covered five of their six games since Jason Garrett took over as interim coach. His team has averaged 32 points a game during that time. Dallas has been able to get its running game going rather nicely, with 134 yards in last week’s contest against Washington, and they have outgained the opposition by a wide margin on the ground.

Here are the head-to-head football betting trends that have a bearing on this game:

·         Dallas has covered four of the last five meetings
·         Five of the last seven meetings have gone UNDER the total
·         Dallas has won 18 of the last 25 meetings SU
·         Arizona has won five of the last six meetings SU as the home team
·         Four of the last six meetings in Arizona have gone UNDER the total

I think Arizona is at the stage right now in its season where it has to figure out some options for next year. Obviously they were not diligent enough to find a real solution to the quarterback problem after Kurt Warner retired. So it was Matt Leinart, who was cut, then Derek Anderson. They have really suffered in the football betting odds, covering just four of 14 games. Now they have to figure out whether they need to draft a quarterback, sign a free agent, or make a trade.

Dallas has now played eleven straight games over the total. But maybe you figure that streak could be in jeopardy with the rookie quarterback on the other side. You might be onto something, since there really has not been someone so inexperienced under center for an opponent. But even inept quarterbacks have helped these totals go over, as the Cowboys have allowed a point for every 13 yards gained by the opposition. Did you realize that Dallas, when it plays in this part of the country, usually gets an awful lot of fan support? That probably goes back to the days when the Valley of the Sun was without an NFL team. We’re going over on the total, at 44.5 points in the football betting odds.

JAY’S PLAY:  OVER 44.5 ***

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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