by Ian S. Palmer
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The Arizona Cardinals fly east in week 15 NFL action as they will clash with the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, December 20. The Cardinals clinched a postseason spot last Thursday night by beating the Minnesota Vikings 23-20. The club has now won seven straight games and enters the weekend in top spot in the NFC West Division at 11-2. The Cardinals can also clinch their division with a victory over the Eagles on Sunday. Philadelphia is still in the running to take their division as they sit in a first-place tie in the NFC East with the Washington Redskins at 6-7. They took down the Buffalo Bills by a score of 23-20 last weekend and will be looking for their third win in a row when they meet Arizona.
Cardinals vs Eagles – bet365 NFL BETTING LINE:
- bet365 currently lists the Cardinals at -3.5 at 10/11 with the Eagles -3.5 at 10/11 and the over/under at 50 points at 10/11 each
The Cardinals had to work hard last week to beat Minnesota, but they failed to cover the spread which was 10 points at the hometown favorites. They’re now 3-4 against the spread during their seven-game winning streak. The Arizona offense has been tough to handle on the road this season and they’ve racked up a 6-1 record away from home and are 5-2 against the spread in those contests. In addition, they’ve managed to score an average of 31.7 points per game on their road trips.
As usual, quarterback Carson Palmer had a solid outing against the Vikings by throwing a pair of touchdown passes and gaining 310 yards in the air. Michael Floyd helped him out big time as he caught five of Palmer’s passes for a touchdown and 102 yards. It was the first time Floyd has reached the 100-yard mark at home this campaign, but he has hit 100 yards three times on the road. Palmer and Floyd could excel again this weekend since Philadelphia will be without inured cornerbacks Nolan Carroll and Eric Rowe.
Rookie David Johnson chipped in with close to 100 yards on the ground for the second straight outing as he’s getting more playing time while Andre Ellington and Chris Johnson are on the shelf with injuries. Arizona will be facing a 27th-ranked Philadelphia run defense so they could enjoy some success. The Arizona run defense held Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson to three yards per carry last week and is facing an Eagles offense that has struggled on the ground.
The Eagles have climbed back into the playoff and divisional race after putting a couple of wins together over New England and Buffalo. Sam Bradford has taken over at quarterback from Mark Sanchez and the team’s offense has been reaping the rewards. Bradford threw a touchdown pass to Nelson Agholor and gained 247 yards against the Bills and it came in hand since the team is still struggling on the ground. The backfield of Darren Sproles, DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews averaged only 3.4 yards each carry against Buffalo. Bradford will be up against a tougher defense in Arizona this weekend though. The Eagles defense has also been up to par the past two weeks and could cause the Cardinals some trouble, but fans should look for an Arizona win on Sunday.