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Denver Broncos at Arizona Cardinals Line

This Sunday two of the worst teams in the NFL will do battle, as the 3-9 Denver Broncos go on the road to take on the 3-9 Arizona Cardinals. Denver fell 10-6 at Kansas City last week, and after the loss the Broncos decided they had enough of Josh McDaniels, firing him after just 28 games on the Broncos sidelines. McDaniels will be replaced by Eric Studesville, who will try and turn things around for a team that has won just one of their last eight games.

Things aren’t going much better for the Cardinals, after Arizona started the season 3-2, they have lost seven straight, including a 19-6 loss at home against the Rams last week. Despite their identical records, the oddsmakers seem to think Denver has the edge in this one, as the current odds have the Broncos favored by 5.5-points over the Cardinals on the road.

Denver (3-9): It will be interesting to see how the Broncos offense looks without McDaniels running the show. While McDaniels might not have been the best head coach, he did an excellent job of calling plays and turned Kyle Orton into one of the leading passers in the NFL.

With Studesville being the running backs coach before getting the recent promotion, you have to think he is going to put more focus on the running game, and that is probably a good idea against the Cardinals. Arizona comes in ranked 30th in the league, allowing 144 yards a game on the ground, and Denver running back Knowshon Moreno is coming off a 161 yard performance against he Chiefs.

The problem for the Broncos hasn’t been the offense, it has been the defense. Denver ranks 31st against the run, giving up 145 yards a game, and are 22nd against the pass, allowing 234 yards a game. This should be a favorable matchup for the Broncos defense, as the Cardinals have scored just 25 points in the last three games, but if this unit continues to struggle, so will this team’s record.

Arizona (3-9): It looked as though the Cardinals were going to make a game of it last week against the Rams, as they jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the first quarter, but the offense didn’t manage anything the rest of the game, and the Cardinals lost their fourth straight game at home.

The Cardinals just can’t get anyone to play well at the quarterback position. Last week Derek Anderson went just 7 of 20 for 93 yards with an interception. Both Max Hall and John Skelton got into the game, but neither of them looked any better.

Tim Hightower led the way on the ground with 81 yards on 15 carries, and with the way the Broncos have struggled against the run this season, we should see a lot of action from Hightower and Beanie Wells.

Looking at the Odds: I think you have to take the Broncos at -5.5 in this one. Interim head coaches are already 2-0 this season in their first game, and you couldn’t pick a better matchup for Studesville. Denver now has a reason to come out and play hard, while the Cardinals season is over. It also helps that the Broncos are 10-1 ATS  in road games after failing to cover the spread in 6 or 7 out of their last 8 games since 1992. My final score prediction is Denver 34, Arizona 20.