NFL Sunday Night
The Arizona Cardinals and Indianapolis Colts play tonight in NBCs highly touted Sunday night match up and this one promises to be pretty good if week 2’s games involving these teams are any indication
The Cardinals (1-1), who alot of people had already written off pretty early as the mediocre team that they were before last season, jumped out to a 31-3 lead on the Jacksonville Jaguars last week and looked like the team that went to the Super Bowl last year. Kurt Warner completed 92.3 percent of his passes to set an NFL single-game record and was on the bench by the end of the third quarter. But then the Jags stormed back against Arizona’s second team and it looked like Arizonas coach may have put the second team in a little early. they held on to win with the final score being the Cardinals 31 and the Jaguars 17.
The Colts are coming off a interesting week 2 game as well on Monday night in Miami, as Indianapolis (2-0) took a 7-0 lead over the Dolphins on the first play from scrimmage when QB Peyton Manning found TE Dallas Clark for an 80-yard score. But from then on, Miami controlled the clock, holding possession for an pretty incredible 45:07 compared to Indy’s 14:53. (The Colts only ran thirteen plays in the second half.) But ball control doesn’t always win games, and Indianapolis rallied from behind four times and the Dolphins’ Chad Pennington was intercepted in the end zone on the game’s final play. The Colts ended up winning 27-23.
Tonight these two teams square off at University of Phoenix Stadium, in front of a national-television audience. It will mark the first time that the Colts will play in the Phoenix area since 1990.I am really excited about this game as we have two Super Bowl-winning signal callers in Warner and Manning squaring off on the same field.
There isn’t really anything new about the Colts’ offense, which is led by nine-time Pro Bowl QB Peyton Manning. For the past ten years, they’ve basically been running the same sets, augmented by RB Joseph Addai, nine-year veteran WR Reggie Wayne, and TE Clark, whose 183 yards receiving against Miami is the fourth-highest game total in league history. The Cardinals’ Defense will basically have their hands full.
When Arizona has the ball, sticking to a similar formula as last week’s dismantling of Jacksonville would be highly recommended. The Colts’ new defensive coordinator Larry Coyer likes to key on stopping the run , something Indianapolis has had major trouble with over the years.. MLB Gary Brackett is an underrated force that currently leads the squad in tackles, but his status for Sunday’s game is questionable due to a knee injury. The secondary, led by CB Marlin Jackson and SS Melvin Bullitt, continues to be one of the league’s best. CB Kelvin Hayden is also questionable due to an undisclosed injury.
These two teams don’t do battle much, as they have only met once since 1996. The Colts won their 2006 meeting 17-13, but Arizona did cover that game.. The home team has won all four meetings between these teams since 1990. All four games stayed ‘under’ the total.
I have to go with the home team in this one after the way they looked last week but its hard to bet against Manning so I am playing this one light.
Arizona -2.5 -110 22 to win 20
Betting lines supplied by Betus
429 Indianapolis Colts +2½ -110
430 Arizona Cardinals -2½ -110
TV Notes
Indianapolis 2-0 (Road: 1-0)
Arizona 1-1 (Home: 0-1) TV: NBC 8:20pm ET
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