Betting Against the Spread - Cardinals vs. Dolphins 2016 Week 14
The Miami Dolphins will be back home this week, as they prepare to host the Arizona Cardinals, and they hope that the warmer weather conditions will favor them as they seem to have frozen last week when they were on the road playing against the Baltimore Ravens.
Personally, that game cost me money last week, serves me right for betting on a team I have never liked just because they seemed to be on a hot rollÖ lesson learned! Not only did the Phins lose, they failed to show up to the game, Joe Flacco and crew have not been in top form the entire season, except for last week beating the Dolphins 38-6Öouch!
The Cardinals have a different agenda this week; try to save their razor thin chance of a wild-card spot. The former NFC West champions are in serious peril of missing the post-season this year, this could be the first time in 3 years that they do not make a playoff appearance, to avoid this from happening they desperately need to beat the Dolphins.
This may prove tricky for the Arizona Cardinals, who are probably kicking themselves for having allowed this to happen. Their main obstacle here is their road record for the season of 1-4. If there was ever a time to turn those stats around, it would be right about now, but that wonít be easy as they are playing against a team who has had a great season at home, the Miami Dolphins are 5-1 this year while playing at Sun Life Stadium.
None the less, the powers that be still believe that the Cardinals have a fighting chance, so much so that the line has flipped. As per AceSportsbook.com, the Dolphins opened as 2.5 home favorites early in the week, but as of right now, they are 2-point dogs. Thatís right folks, the Cardinals are road favorites despite their horrible away record.
You might be asking yourself, how could this happen?
Well, letís go back to the reason Iíve never been a fan of the Dolphins, consistency. Although I do believe Adam Gase, deserves an award for what he has been able to achieve in Miami this season, the team still seems to lack consistency. Some experts feel that the Dolphins will drop their guard in the final stage of the regular season and while they still might get a chance at the wild-card spot they might have to battle for it.
The Cardinals have been a winning team for 3 years in a row, and they will fight hard to try and keep that label. Their chances at a post-season start are slim, a lot must go very well for them and very bad for many other teams for them to have a wild-card spot, but anything can happen in this sport and Arizona has what it takes to make it happen.
This is an unusual situation to be in, there are not a lot of instances where the lines flip so dramatically in NFL games, so should you follow the trend? I know I said a never liked the Dolphins and I stand by that, but I do not agree with the line, I still think Miami at home is a though contender and one the Cardinals may not be able to handle. I will have to side with the Dolphins +2 on this game.
