NFL Football: Arizona Cardinals VS San Francisco 49ers Prediction, Odds and Preview - 01/08/2023

 

Game Time: 4:25 PM ET,  Sunday, January 8th, 2023

Venue:  Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, California

Where to Watch:  FOX

FanDuel: 49ers -14, O/U 40.5

BetMGM:  49ers -14, O/U 40.5

PointsBet:  49ers -14, O/U 40.5

Cardinals: 4-12, 4th place NFC West

49ers: 12-4, 1st place NFC West

An NFC West mismatch of epic proportions.  There will be an odd sense of both teams going through the motions as the Cardinals have absolutely no where to go but on vacation after this one is completed.  The 49ers are locked into the postseason. Both teams had absolutely MAJOR quarterback drama this season.  The Cardinals have QB Kyler Murray signed to a huge contract even though they gave every impression that they don't like him or believe in him.  Kyler has been done for the season for a few games now with the very predictable injury to a very small running quarterback.  The Cardinals back-up QB Colt McCoy is also done with an injury… which leaves the limping Cardinals to rely on a 3rd string nobody as their starter.  The 49ers started the season with Trey Lance instead of Jimmy G at quarterback… the switch was so severe Jimmy git cut and then resigned as a back-up but wasn’t allowed to have a playbook to memorize.  Then Trey got instantly hurt and done for the year and possibly a big portion of next season.  Jimmy G took the reins and the 49ers began winning… They won a lot.  Everything was sunshine in Santa Clara… Then Jimmy G got hurt and is done for the season and will most likely play elsewhere for the rest of his career.  So now the absolutely loaded roster of the San Francisco 49ers is being run by a rookie Quarterback so overlooked he was declared Mr Irrelevant when he became the VERY LAST pick of the last draft… yet he has won a few games already.  Get ready world… due to Algebra rookie QB Brock Purdy is now better than QB Kyler Murray… and at a 95% savings.

The Arizona Cardinals are on a 6-game losing streak with no end in sight.  That streak started when THESE San Francisco 49ers beat them 38-10 way back on November 21st… and it is still going strong.  The Cardinals are underdogs of 14 points… and that seems generous to 49ers fans.  In their last game they lost 20-19 to the miserable Atlanta Falcons while getting 24 completions out of 40 attempts for 222 yards and 1 TD from QB David Blough… a guy who spent 3 seasons as a backup in Detroit and amassed 4 TD passes and  7 INTs in 7 games.  He is however a vet of quarterbacking rooms and that must count for something. In the loss RB James Conner got only 79 yards on 16 carries and that was against the Falcons porous defense.. He will be relied on to shoulder the load against the 49ers best defense in the league.  The selling point for the game is that it is most likely Pass Rusher JJ Watt’s final pro football game… He recently was discovered to have an irregular heartbeat, he has a young child at home, he has made plenty of money… and it is time to hang it up. Unless he decides to give it a year in Green Bay?... He is from Wisconsin… but he has nothing left to prove.

The San Francisco 49ers are on a league high 9- game winning streak.  A streak that spanned multiple quarterbacks and in that streak they are 7-2 ATS.  What might give you pause to bet them on a -14 spread against the Cardinals is that last week they won, but did not cover a -10 point spread against the Las Vegas Raiders and even had to go to overtime to get the win.  The Raiders are similar to the Cardinals in that they have a back-up QB at helm, 1 solid Wide Receiver and 1 solid pass rusher… and the Raiders lost to the Cardinals earlier this year?  In the 49ers last game QB Brock Purdy completed 22/35 for 284 yards, 2 TD, and 1 INT. RB Christain McCaffrey carried the ball 129 times for 121 yards and 1 TD.. he also caught 6 passes for 72 MORE yards.  WR Brandon Aiyuk caught 9 balls for 101 yards, 1 TD.  The reason the 49ers struggled against the Raiders was simply because their back-up QB had a GREAT day with 365 passing yards and 3 passing TDs… while Brock Purdy failed to find TE George Kittle most of the day.  George ended up with only 4 catches for 23 yards and 1 TD… You can bet the film room this week has been all about addressing that problem.

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ARI: 4-12, 8-8 ATS, 8-8 O/U, 3-4 in road games.

SF: 12-4, 10-6 ATS, 8-8 O/U, 7-1 in home games.

The Cardinals are 21st in scoring with 20.4 points per game, 21st in total yards with 327.8 per game, 18th in passing yards with 214.5 per game, and 20th in rushing yards with 113.2 per game.

The 49ers are 7th in scoring with 25.8 points per game, 5th in total yards with 369.1 per game, 13th in passing yards with 232.1 per game, and 9th in rushing yards with 136.9 per game.

The Cardinals defense is 21st in total yards with 351.3 per game allowed, 25th in passing yards with 235.8 per game allowed, 13th in rushing yards with 115.4 per game allowed, and 30th in points scored with 25.7 per game allowed.

The 49ers defense is 2nd in total yards with 303.4 per game allowed, 19th in pass defense with 224.7 per game allowed, 1st in rushing yards with 78.8 per game allowed, and 1st in defense of points scored with 16.5 per game allowed.

Our prediction for Sunday, January 8th is…  49ers 27 - Cardinals 9

 

Blow out alert.  The Cardinals are finished and abandoning their posts.  The big problem that the Cardinals will face is that they absolutely Do Not want to throw the ball… yet that leaves RB James Conner to try to grind it out against the BEST run defense in the league.  The lopsided finish will be the final straw in Kliff Kingsbury’s time in Arizona.

 

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Arizona is 2-0 ATS versus 49ers at 49ers the last 3 seasons.

The 49ers are 6-1 ATs as a home favorite this season.

The 49ers are 11-2 ATS after a non-conference game the last 3 seasons.

Cardinals: QB David Blough, RB James Conner, WR Marquise Brown, WR Robbie Anderson, WR Greg Dortch, TE Trey McBride, LT Josh Jones, LG Max Garcia, C Billy Price, RG Will Hernandez, RT Kelvin Beachum

49ers: QB Brock Purdy, RB Christian McCaffrey, FB Kyle Juszczyk, WR Brandon Aiyuk, WR Juaun Jennings, TE George Kittle, LT Trent Williams, LG Aaron Banks, C Jake Brendel, RG Spencer Burford, RT Mike McGlinchey

Showers, Humidity 77%, 60*... wind 11 mph.  Rain all day every day for Santa Clara this week all the way through next week. Levi’s Stadium brags about their “Green Roof”... which is basically a garden and some solar panels high atop the luxury boxes on the West Tower… the actual stadium has no roof.  It will be muddy and slippery.  A very good reason to bet the UNDER.