Arizona travel to New Orleans tonight in the NFC Divisional playoffs hoping to cash in on the poor recent form of their opponents. The Cardinals went 11-6 in the regular season but were not as impressive as the Saints, who looked on course fr a perfect season at 13-0 before losing their last three games. Some have speculated that the collapse was due to a lack of incentive but Arizona will hope it was merely a sign of a deeper problem in the New Orleans ranks.
The hosts are still solid favourites for the game on the money line at -285 (bet $285 to win $100 profit), leaving the Cardinals as underdogs at +250 (bet $100 to win $250 profit). Betting on the money line so far has heavily favoured Arizona and 90% of money has backed an upset tonight.
The point spread for the game has been set at seven, making the Saints favourites at -7 points and giving the Cardinals a handicap of +7 points. Betting against the spread has also leaned towards the underdogs and 62% of action has backed them to beat the spot. When the teams last met, however, in August 2008, a far weaker New Orleans beat an arguable stronger Cardinals side 24-10 in Arizona.
Both teams performed better on the field during the season than they did against the spread, with Arizona going 9-7 versus the spot despite winning at 11-6 and the Saints, who went 13-3 on the field, only managing to cover at an even rate of 8-8.
The Over/Under line for the game has been set at a very high 57.5 points after Arizona were involved in the highest scoring game in playoff history last week. Betting so far has seen 81% of money backing the Over, but this seems difficult to fully justify as over the course of the season both teams leaned towards the Under and combined recorded only twelve Overs and twenty Unders.
The Saints have seen their odds for the Super Bowl lengthen after their form declined so noticeably but are still third favourites at 4/1. Arizona are not fancied and at 15/1 are definitely considered outsiders.
Arizona vs New Orleans betting odds
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