49ers vs Cardinals Betting Odds: NFC West Rivals to Thrill Mexico
San Francisco Faces Arizona in Bid for Top Spot
The NFL Returns to Mexico for First Time Since 2019
After a three-year hiatus, Futbol Americano is back south of the border in Mexico City. This time around, the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals meet in an NFC West tilt with the top spot of the division at stake for the former. The 49ers vs Cardinals Betting odds favor the visitors by at least 9.5 points thanks to Arizona’s two quarterbacks being potentially hurt or unavailable in this game.
Game Information
San Francisco 49ers (5-4) vs Arizona Cardinals (4-6)
Date, time (TV):
Location: Estadio Azteca, Tlalpan, Mexico City
New-Look San Francisco Offense Heating Up
The 49ers are 2-1 since acquiring Christian McCaffrey in a blockbuster deal with Carolina. The “swiss army knife” of a football player already has four touchdowns for the team. San Francisco is averaging 25.3 points and 400 yards in the three games with “CMC” versus just 20.3 and 340.2 without him. The team is slowly getting better even if Kyle Shanahan is downplaying it.
“We added one new running back and we lost our leading rusher,” the 49ers head coach told reporters in a press conference. “I don’t feel like we’ve added all these new guys. We brought in [RB] Christian [McCaffrey] and we lost [Miami Dolphins RB] Jeff [Wilson Jr.] and I’m real excited about having Christian here, but it’s not changing up a ton of stuff. We do what we do and I thought our guys did it at a pretty high level last night, but when you end up scoring only two times and you’re inside the ten five times, it’s tough to get more than 30 points.”
With McCaffrey, the 49ers are averaging the 10th-most points per game. This may be the best version of the team as it is fourth in the NFL in scoring defense. This is considering all the injuries the team continues to weather. San Francisco is one away from tying Seattle for the lead in the NFC West per the NFL Week 11 standings.
The former Panther gives the Niners a higher ceiling on offense. This team won’t need to keep limiting opponents to under 20 points to win a game (they are 5-2 when this happens). San Francisco is 3-0 when it scores 24 or more points this NFL season. With continued improvements here, this team can improve on its 4-5 record against the spread (ATS). It starts by covering the steep 49ers vs Cardinals Betting odds.
Wounded Cardinals Facing Steep Odds
Without Murray, the Cardinals soundly defeated the Los Angeles Rams last week. Credit Colt McCoy for taking over for Murray but also the football team’s defense. The unit forced a pair of turnovers and held the Rams to one field goal until halfway through the third quarter. Still, the oddsmakers are unconvinced. Arizona is an even larger underdogs this week on the 49ers vs Cardinals Betting odds.
Against San Francisco, the Cardinals are 7-1-1 ATS in its last nine games. Kliff Kingsbury is 3-1 against Shanahan in their last two seasons. However, both Murray and McCoy are banged up. They could be sitting ducks against the Niners’ pass rush, which is third in the NFL in sacks per game (3.2) per the 2022 NFL stats.
“We want to continue to progress him and see where that thing’s at,” Kingsbury said about Murray’s hamstring injury. “We’re playing the 49ers — that’s a D-line that you better be full speed and be able to run, move and do the things that he can do.”
As for McCoy, who is also dealing with a leg injury, Kingsbury indicated “he wasn’t able to really separate like he can when he gets in those open spaces”.
It may behoove Kingsbury to turn to the running game if either Murray or McCoy are compromised in the game. Alternatively, third-string quarterback Trace McSorley may even start the game. He’s played a total of five NFL games and has one touchdown against a completion rate of 35.7 percent.
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