ARIZONA CARDINALS @ PHILADELPHIA EAGLES 
Vegas Line: Cardinals + 14
Rob’s Line: Cardinals + 10.5
Well, look at this. I could be very wrong here and may have underestimated the spread because Arizona is being asked to play at 1pm Eastern Time, 10am on their own body clock. However, the rule is not to bet on bad teams giving up two touchdowns. The Eagles have a bunch of outstanding players, but a severe lack of chemistry so obviously they’re not a very good team.
While I don’t doubt that Philadelphia will win this (and they need to win it, badly), there’s no way I’d lay down my own hard earned on the Eagles -14. I guess we’ll see come Sunday evening, but straight away I’m declaring myself on Arizona plus two touchdowns.
There’s a multitude of reasons for Vegas to see this spread as they do and I should probably highlight them. The first, and perhaps most obvious reason, is the running game. Philly leads the league in running the ball, averaging 172 rushing yards per game, but this stat alone tells you how erratic they are, being a 3-5 team. They should be controlling the clock a lot more than they do and seeing out games, but rarely do so. Granted, they have lost to some good teams this season (all five of their losses have been to good teams), but they were meant to be a good team themselves.
I have to admit to being a little bitter towards Philly this week as they let me down badly last week on MNF against the Bears. Has that clouded my judgement for this week? I still say no because I have no faith in them at all covering two touchdowns.
Another reason for the spread is the injury concerns in Arizona. It’s extremely unlikely that quarterback Kevin Kolb will be fit to face his former team on Sunday as he hasn’t practiced all week with a turf toe injury. This is a bigger blow than it seems as Kolb was a popular figure in Philadelphia so he wouldn’t have gotten that difficult a time from what can be a rabid crowd; John Skelton will once again deputise. He took his first snaps of the season last week as the starter against the Rams and finished with favourable stats, but this week is entirely different as last week he didn’t look downfield to see cornerbacks Nnamdi Asomugha, Asante Samuel and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie staring back at him.
In addition, running back Beanie Wells is playing hurt with a knee injury, but the Eagles have struggled against the run this year so if he remains healthy, then he may be able to exploit a gap or two.
Everything points to a comfortable win for the Eagles, as we know, but I stand by my pick of the Cardinals and the points.
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