NFL Betting – Oakland Raiders at Arizona Cardinals Preseason Week 2

We are expected to get a longer look at top draft pick Kyler Murray when the Arizona Cardinals host the Oakland Raiders on Thursday in Week 2 of the NFL preseason. Murray’s NFL debut lasted one series as the Cards opened the Kliff Kingsbury era with a victory.

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We’re also expecting to get our first look at Derek Carr and a number of Oakland regulars after they sat out last week’s win over the Rams. What does it all mean? Well, the total hit the board at 40 suggesting the two quarterbacks are going to score some points.

Oakland Raiders at Arizona Cardinals

Date and Time: Thursday, August 15, 2019, 8 p.m. ET

Location: State Farm Stadium, Glendale, AZ

Opening NFL Odds: Cardinals -3, O/U 39.5

Raiders at Cardinals TV Coverage: ESPN

Odds Analysis

Both coaches said they plan on playing regulars causing a spike in the total. It’s typical to see starters play a series or two in Week 2 of the preseason, and with the Raiders scheduled to play next week in Canada, Jon Gruden suggested some changes; mainly that his first-teamers would see more action on Thursday than they would in the dress rehearsal. Thus, the total jumped from an opening 39.5 to its current 41. A typical preseason spread is in place with the home team laying a field goal.

Oakland Raiders

The Raiders should actually be tested on Thursday. Facing the Rams ‘B’ team last week, they covered the line but struggled to a 14-3 victory. Fair enough, Oakland sat a number of its top players, but not as many. We will see those guys, with the exception of Antonio Brown, take the field against the Cards.

Gruden said he wants to get his starters some work this week and hinted that he might treat this as the ‘dress rehearsal’ with a trip to Winnipeg on tap in Week 3. “We’re going to try to get a couple of the starters some work in Arizona,” Gruden said earlier in the week. Carr will start and play at least one series after sitting the opener. Having a capable backup is an issue that’s plagued the Raiders the last few seasons when Carr missed time with injuries.

The competition between Mike Glennon and Nathan Peterman will continue. Both played a half against the Rams directing a touchdown drive, however, neither played particularly well. Glennon had the better passing numbers throwing for 200 yards, but he was picked twice. Peterman’s 50-yard scamper set up a touchdown pass, but he struggled getting the ball down the field. Take away the long run and Oakland managed just 3.3 yards per carry. Josh Jacobs will try and bolster those numbers against a defense that surrendered 179 rushing yards to the Chargers.

Arizona Cardinals

The Cards won three games last preseason, so don’t get all giddy over their rather dull victory over the Bolts last week. There is, however, plenty of excitement surrounding this edition thanks to the addition of Murray. The No. 1 overall pick debuted last week playing one series against the Chargers. It was a long series consisting of 10 plays, seven of which were pass attempts. Murray completed six of them for 44 yards and failed to get points.

If you were hoping to see Murray operate the elaborate offense of his coach, you’ll have to wait until the regular season. The Cards worked without a game plan and ran a vanilla offense, which was all by design. Kingsbury doesn’t want to give to many secrets away. That’s expected to change a bit this week with more schemes incorporated. “Not a ton but enough to go out there and be able to execute at a high level,” Kingsbury said.

Defensively the Cards are hoping to have a better showing against the run. They were shredded for 179 yards by the Bolts last week with 73 of those coming in the first quarter when a number of starters were on the field. The Cards have to do some maneuvering up front after releasing Darius Philon, who started last week’s game.

Bet Raiders at Cardinals at BookMaker.eu

We saw some bland stuff from both teams last week, which was expected being the first preseason game and all. With Arizona’s first-team offense getting more time and Oakland’s playing, things should be spiced up a bit, which has me leaning to the over on the point total. The outcome is secondary and I think Murray will have a big night after getting the first game jitters out of the way.

NFL Score Prediction: Cardinals 24, Raiders 18

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- Phil Simon, Gambling911.com Special Contributor (Article Courtesy of Bookmaker.eu)