The Minnesota Vikings will look to remain unbeaten when they host an Arizona Cardinals team that is in the beginning stages of a massive franchise rebuild. With the Vikings looking to finally live up to their recent Super Bowl hopes and the Cardinals looking for as much success as realistically possible in 2019, let’s find out which team is offering the best value against their NFL betting odds.
Cardinals vs Vikings 2019 NFL Preseason Week 3 Lines, Analysis & Prediction
- When: Saturday August 24, 2019, 1:00 PM ET
- Where: U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, MN
- TV: NFL Network
- Radio: Arizona / Minnesota
- Live Stream: NFL Network
- NFL Preseason Week 3 Odds: Minnesota -7 / Total: 42
Weather Forecast
- Partly Cloudy: 26°C/78°F
- Humidity: 58%
- Precipitation: 10%
- Wind: 13 mph SSE
- Cloud Cover: 48%
- Type of Stadium: Indoor
Why Bet On Arizona at +7?
One week after recording an encouraging 17-13 win over the Chargers, the Cardinals fell to Oakland 33-26 in a mostly ugly affair for Kyler Murray, the top pick in this year’s draft. The Heisman winner out of Oklahoma went an uninspiring 3 for 8 for 12 yards while suffering two sacks, including one for a safety.
Arizona is counting on the offensive scheme of first-year head coach Kliff Kingsbury and the hand-picked Murray to help them improve on last year’s three-win campaign under one-and-done former head coach Steve Wilks. The good news for the Cardinals is that they got a trio of touchdown passes from Brett Hundley, Charles Kanoff and Drew Anderson in the loss.
Heading into Week 3, Murray has gone 9 of 15 for 56 yards with zero touchdowns or interceptions and even though he is clearly talented, this is a team that finished dead last in scoring last season (14.1 ppg) and an awful 26th in points allowed (26.6 ppg).
Why Bet On Minnesota at -7?
One week after subduing New Orleans 34-25 in their preseason opener, the Vikings improved to 2-0 in preseason by getting past the Seattle Seahawks, 25-19 last weekend. Starting quarterback Kirk Cousins went 6 of 8 for 68 yards before backups Kyle Sloter and Sean Mannion completed a blistering 22 of 27 passes for 204 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
“I honestly thought it was a really positive night,” said Cousins, who went 6 for 8 for 68 yards. “It’s a small sample size. It’s the preseason. You try not to read too much into it, but I came away feeling good about the first two drives and also really the rest of the offense the rest of the way.”
The Vikings have overhauled their entire offense under new offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski and offensive adviser Gary Kubiak and are hoping to be far more dangerous in 2019 and this preseason, they’ve been quite effective in getting the ball to a lot of different players.
Cardinals vs Vikings NFL Preseason Week 3 Betting Trends
- Cardinals are 3-6 ATS in the last 9 games
- Cardinals are 1-5 SU in the last 6 games
- The total went UNDER in 10 of the Cardinals’ last 14 games against an opponent in the NFC conference
- Vikings are 4-1 ATS in the last 5 games
- Vikings are 4-1 SU in the last 5 games
- The total went OVER in 6 of the Vikings’ last 8 games played in August
Expert Analysis and Prediction for Cardinals vs Vikings
I don’t think it matters much that the Cardinals are 9-4 ATS in their last 13 Saturday games or 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games overall, seeing as how this year’s team has absolutely nothing to do with past versions. However, it does matter that Minnesota is by far, the superior team on both sides of the ball and they’re playing for a head coach that loves to win in the preseason.
The Vikings are 6-2 ATS in their last 8 Saturday games and an insanely value-packed 36-16-1 ATS in their last 53 home games. That, combined with Mike Zimmer’s impressive 19-4 preseason record makes Minnesota my pick to win and cover the chalk, even if I don’t necessarily like the high, touchdown spread.
Pick: Minnesota 27 Arizona 17
