The New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals will be playing on Thursday night football. With both of these teams having their first standalone primetime game of the year, they Both will work to get back on track as they are two of the more underachieving teams in the NFL thus far.
With the Cardinals having so much off-season drama with the Kyler Murray contract situation and the DeAndre Hopkins suspension, this team has been one of the more disappointing teams in the league, considering the expectations coming in. For the Saints as the expectations weren’t as high they still are disappointing for reasons of superstar wide receiver Michael Thomas coming back, Jameis Winston having another year under this system and signing free agent Tyrann Mathieu the Saints team has just overall been disappointing.
Let’s go through each team and figure out what the biggest X factors are for them to win this game. First let’s start off with the Cardinals I believe their biggest X Factor is pro bowl wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins coming back off a suspension and facing one of the better cornerbacks in Marshon Lattimore, the Cardinals pass game will definitely be there biggest mismatch and key to winning this game
For the Saints their biggest key to winning this game is getting pressure on Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, if the Saints can get real pressure and force Kyler Murray into making bad decisions they have a real shot at winning this game as teams have figured out if they force Kyler Murray to stay in the pocket and throw in passing lanes he isn’t nearly as effective as he would be normally.
Overall I think the Cardinals will win this game solely because of Kyler Murray, making plays with his feet and DeAndre Hopkins being fresh to start the season. My prediction is the cardinals win 27-21.
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