One thing that was pretty much universally accepted in the football world before the 2023 season kicked off was that the Arizona Cardinals were the worst team in football. Now, three weeks into the season, they have a perfect 3-0 mark against the point spread and a victory over the Dallas Cowboys.
A week ago, the Cowboys went for a weekend in the desert and almost missed their football game on Sunday. Well, in a way, they did miss their game on Sunday. They took a 70-10 points for and against bulge that was gained over a pair of New York teams, the Giants and Jets, into Arizona and a date with the Cardinals.
The Cowboys headed to Arizona to play the worst team in football. A team that couldn’t hold a three touchdown lead in the prior week’s loss to the same Giants team Dallas had defeated 40-0 on opening day.
The Cardinals stayed with the Washington Commanders on opening day, losing by four points, 16-20, while getting seven on the line. Last week, appeared a perfect time for the Cowboys to relax by the pool and drift through game preparation knowing that they totally outmanned their opponent.
Their real opponent was motivation.
The Cowboys will be in the playoffs this season, the Cardinals will not. But in the right situation, the Cardinals are the side when talent is weighed against motivation.
Now what?
The Cowboys head home to meet a New England Patriots squad that got a win last Sunday on the road against the Jets and are looking to even their season record after four games. Dallas will be more alert but still have a true belief that they are going to beat New England. That means even off a loss, the Cowboys are not necessarily going to be motivated this week enough to cover the point spread.
The Cowboys opponent last week, the team that won straight-up as a double-digit home underdog, is poised for a predictable follow-up week.
The Cardinals beat the spread the first two weeks and had a huge victory last Sunday over the Cowboys, now they travel to San Francisco and battle the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium. Two spread wins followed by a straight-up victory is usually game, set, match for an underdog. On the other side of that trio of events, we can anticipate both the opponent of the Cardinals to be on higher alert, and the Arizona players off their game the following week.
Things are just falling right for the 49ers.
Even though San Francisco could have found themselves in a soft preparation week for a winless Cardinals squad, the Arizona win in Dallas serves to likely inspire better preparation for this game by San Francisco. Since 2014, the Cardinals have beaten the 49ers in 12 of their 18 meetings. But, last year, the 49ers twice downed the Cardinals while beating double-digit favorite roles with 38-10 and 38-13 decisions.
For the Cardinals, this is not a game where they are being overlooked, but rather against a team that is competing at a high level, scoring 30 points in each of their three games, and currently the favorite to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LVIII.
The Cardinals off a win is the perfect time for the underdog to get clobbered by a vastly superior squad.
Qoxhi Picks: San Francisco 49ers (-14) over Arizona Cardinals