An NFC West showdown will close out week 11 of the NFL season, where the San Francisco 49ers (5-4) and Arizona Cardinals (4-6) head to Mexico City, in a first for the NFL since the 2019 season. This is the first meeting between these two teams this season, with the second matchup scheduled to take place in week 18. Whilst mathematically you could argue otherwise, a loss here for the Cardinals could very well signal the end of their season. The 49ers will be looking for their 3rd straight win, as they continue to get big names back on defence, and their offense continues to evolve with the mid-season addition of Christian McCaffrey. With Kyler Murray currently listed as questionable, this could get ugly for the Cardinals.
A nice little winner on Thursday Night Football, with the Tennessee Titans winning the game outright as 3.5-point underdogs over the Packers. We now sit at 17-14-1 (+6.58u) for our primetime bets this season.
San Francisco 49ers at Arizona Cardinals Preview & Betting Tips
Estadio Azteca, Tuesday 12:15pm AEDT
Last Week
The 49ers throttled the Chargers las week, after going down early. Down 16-10 at halftime, the 49ers began the squeeze in the second half, shutting the Chargers out to comfortably win 22-16. They were led on offense by Elijah Mitchell, who ran for 89 yards on 18 carries, and Brandon Aiyuk, who had 84 receiving yards. But the defence was the story, and if they can keep up these types of performances, the 49ers are going to be hard to beat moving forward.
The Cardinals played in an odd game, with backup quarterbacks starting for both teams, with the Cardinals coming home 27-17 winners against the Rams. The Cardinals were better on 3rd down and in the redzone, thanks largely to James Conner and DeAndre Hopkins. The Cardinals will be desperate to get Kyler Murray back this week, and if they don’t, I don’t know that Colt McCoy will have enough to get the job done.
Injury Report
San Francisco 49ers
Arik Armstead / Maurice Hurst / Javon Kinlaw (DT) – OUT
Jason Verrett / Emmanuel Mossley (DB) – OUT
Jordan Matthews (TE) – OUT
Samson Ebukam (DE) – QUESTIONABLE
Arizona Cardinals
Byron Murphy (CB) – OUT
Marquise Brown (WR) – OUT
D.J. Humphries (OT) – OUT
Rashard Lawrence / Antwaun Woods (DT) – OUT
Zach Ertz (TE) – OUT
Nick Vigil (OLB) – OUT
Rodney Hudson (C) – OUT
Will Hernandez / Justin Pugh / Marquis Hayes (OG) – OUT
Kyler Murray (QB) – QUESTIONABLE
DeAndre Hopkins (WR) – QUESTIONABLE
Match Preview
The biggest question mark surrounding this game is who will play quarterback for the Cardinals? And if Kyler Murray does play, will he be effective, particularly on the ground? Given the importance of the game for the Cardinals season, if Murray is even close to fit, he must play.
The lookahead for this was 49ers -5.5, however after Murray was a late scratching last week, the number re-opened at 49ers -7, and has since been bet up to -8. To me, this number seems like a bit of an in between number, as the market isn’t sure who will play quarterback. I would suggest if Colt McCoy were confirmed to start, this number will push up towards 9.5/10.
So, despite my numbers saying the Cardinals are the bet, I’m going to lean 49ers to cover, hoping that Murray is either out, or severely limited in his capabilities. If the 49ers can get out to an early lead, they can lean on the run, and even if Murray does play, this 49ers defence should be good enough to shut him down if he is physically restricted.
Given it’s a gamble on the most critical position, the stakes will be minimal, but I’ll take the 49ers to cover.
San Francisco 49ers (-7.5)
$1.96 (1.5 Units)
