Thursday Night Football Preview
Line: Arizona Cardinals (-2) | O/U 46
Week 7 is here and the season could not be moving any faster. In the past couple of weeks, Thursday Night Football has been a pit of despair for any and all things football-related. Two weeks ago, we had a surprisingly terrible matchup between the Colts and the Broncos that was unfortunately followed up by a snoozefest between the Commanders and the Bears.
This week’s matchup, while not box office, offers a glimmer of hope for something resembling the game of football. In Week 7, the New Orleans Saints will be making a trip to the southwest to take on the Arizona Cardinals.
Team Breakdowns
Both of these teams are entering Week 7 with a 2-4 record as they’ve performed below expectations. The Saints have struggled with injuries so far and they’re coming off of a close loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at home. The Cardinals have had major coaching issues so far and they’re coming off of an ugly loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
The Cardinals are entering this game as two-point home favorites with the over/under set at 46 points. Fans could be in for a close game on Thursday considering Vegas thinks it’s a fairly even match.
The Saints:
Notable Injuries: WR Jarvis Landry (Questionable), WR Michael Thomas (Questionable), CB Marshon Lattimore (Questionable), LG Andrus Peat (Out), QB Jameis Winston (Questionable), QB Andy Dalton (Questionable)
The Saints have been dealt a bad hand this season as their roster has continuously been weakened due to injury. On both offense and defense, they have been depleted at important positions as a result. However, they’ve still been able to keep games close despite losing four.
On defense, the Saints have been below average in most metrics. They’re 17th in yards allowed per game, 16th against the pass, and 20th against the run. The unit, overall, isn’t terrible. But it’s a little mediocre compared to the ones fans have grown accustomed to in these past few seasons.
One concerning aspect of this defense is how often they allow opposing offenses to score. The Saints are currently allowing an offensive score 43.7 percent of the time on defense, good for fourth highest in the league. They’ll need to tighten up a lot more if they want to hang with high-flying offenses for the rest of this season.
The unit is led by a crew of solid players including the safety duo of Marcus Maye and Tyrann Mathieu, a strong linebacker in Demario Davis, and two solid edge rushers in Marcus Davenport and Cameron Jordan. One defender who will be missing from this matchup is Pro Bowl cornerback, Marshon Lattimore. The Saints will miss him when attempting to limit the Cardinals’ receivers.
On offense, this team has been missing key talent for solid portions of the year. Running back Alvin Kamara has missed two games, wide receiver Michael Thomas has missed the last three games, wide receiver Jarvis Landry has missed the last two games, and their quarterback Jameis Winston has been out for the past three weeks.
TAYSOM HILL TAKES IT TO THE HOUSE!!!!!! ⚜️
the 3rd rushing TD of the day for Hill #SEAvsNO ⚜️ 📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/VoS0SGgKgi
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) October 9, 2022
Even with their offensive mainstays all out for significant portions of time, this group has still managed to rank as the sixth most productive offense in the league in terms of yards per game. That production has come from an interesting group composed of rookie wide receiver Chris Olave, gadget player Taysom Hill, and a combination of other playmakers.
It’s looking like the team will be without Jarvis Landry and Michael Thomas once again, so they’ll have to rely on their assortment of playmakers to pick up the slack once again.
The Cardinals:
Notable Injuries: WR Marquise Brown (Out), RB James Conner (Questionable), RB Darrel Williams (Questionable), RB Eno Benjamin (Questionable), LG Justin Pugh (Questionable), FS Jalen Thompson (Questionable), ILB Zaven Collins (Questionable), C Rodney Hudson (Questionable)
The Cardinals have been a strange team all around so far this season. On paper, they have a roster that looks like it can compete in most matchups with a quarterback who is supposed to be one of the top players at his position. But, it just hasn’t been that way, as playcalling has been predictable while lacking innovation.
On defense, this team started out poorly, but they’ve been locking teams up recently. In their past two games, they’ve played the Eagles and the Seahawks, two teams that rank top-10 in offensive points per game. Arizona’s defense in those last two matchups allowed just 20 points and 19 points, respectively.
Their personnel isn’t eye-popping, but they’ve been meshing as of late. They have a solid safety duo of Jalen Thompson and Budda Baker, two improving young linebackers in Isaiah Simmons and Zaven Collins, and a blast from the past in JJ Watt.
The one player that’s been turning heads the most has been cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. Now in his fourth year in the league, Murphy has been making life miserable for teams’ top receivers as of late. Some stud receivers he’s shut down include Davante Adams, Cooper Kupp, A.J. Brown, and D.K. Metcalf. We’ll see if he can keep up this run of dominance against a Saints offense that will have just Chris Olave from its starting receiver corps.
Byron Murphy matched up with DK Metcalf. Metcalf looks to sell the outside vertical to free space for the curl.
Murphy stays calm and square. A nice job being disruptive and interfering with timing. Sticky coverage 🤙🏾#BirdCityFootball
— Full-Time Dame 💰 (@DP_NFL) October 18, 2022
On offense, this team could use some work. They’ve been a shell of what they were in the first half of last season as they’re putting up just 19 points per game this season. Against the Seahawks in Week 6, they scored only three points as a unit. Keep in mind that Seattle’s defense was allowing the second most points per game in the entire NFL at that point.
It appears as though Kliff Kingsbury, Kyler Murray, and the rest of this offense relied way too heavily on DeAndre Hopkins for this offense to work. Hopkins was suspended for the first six weeks of the season due to PEDs, but he is able to return for this matchup. We’ll see if his presence helps this offense find itself again.
It was looking like Hopkins would have a strong WR2 paired with him in this offense, but unfortunately, that will have to wait. Marquise Brown has been the lone bright spot in this offense during Hopkins’ absence, but he was injured near the end of Arizona’s Week 6 loss and he won’t be back until later in the season. So, when Hopkins returns to the field, Brown is unfortunately leaving. The Cardinals will have to rely on wide receiver Rondale Moore, tight end Zach Ertz, and newly acquired field stretcher Robbie Anderson to fill the hole that Brown has left.
Saints vs. Cardinals Prediction
With injuries piling up for the Saints recently, it’s tough to not go with the Cardinals in this matchup. New Orleans will be without two of their top receivers, their top cornerback, and possibly their QB1 and QB2 with Jameis Winston and Andy Dalton questionable. If both quarterbacks are unavailable, that leaves them with Taysom Hill as the starting quarterback. While Hill at quarterback is a wild ride full of crazy usage, it isn’t a formula that leads to winning football. I’d expect Dalton to suit up for the team, but his availability is still in question.
This matchup should be one with more offensive scoring than the previous Thursday night games, making it a somewhat enjoyable viewing experience at least. We’ll see if the Cardinals are able to pick themselves up, and this could be the perfect opportunity against a Saints defense that has been allowing some solid passing performances over their past few games.
The Pick: Cardinals -2
NFL DFS Showdown Flex Targets
WR – Chris Olave ($7,400)
With Michael Thomas and Jarvis Landry both out for this matchup, Chris Olave is looking like the only healthy receiver from the Saints’ starting lineup. As long as Andy Dalton is at quarterback, Olave should be seeing the lion’s share of receiving opportunities on Thursday. There is the looming threat of shutdown cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. to look out for, but Olave should be able to pick up some solid volume based on who New Orleans has left at wideout.
WR – Rondale Moore ($5,800)
Rondale Moore has been the poster boy for volume-based receivers over the past few weeks. Since his return from injury in Week 4, he’s seen 23 total targets in the past three weeks, and his targets per game have gone up every week. With Marquise Brown out and Robbie Anderson being a newcomer, I’d expect Moore to continue seeing 8-10 targets in this matchup as well.
RB – Keaontay Ingram ($400)
Consider this one a long shot, but if you’re looking for a player that could provide some major value on Thursday, look no further than Keaontay Ingram. Ingram is currently the RB4 on the Cardinals’ depth chart, but they’re dealing with a slew of injuries in their backfield that could cause the three ahead of Ingram to miss Thursday’s game. That development would push the rookie running back into the starting role against a defense that has been below-average against the run.
