NFL Preseason Betting Free Picks: Arizona Cardinals at Tennessee Titans

Added on Aug 23, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

Week two of the NFL preseason concludes on Monday night as the Arizona Cardinals travel east to take on the Tennessee Titans. Arizona came back to beat Houston in their opening preseason game, while Tennessee lost at Seattle. The Titans did mount a late game comeback to get a backdoor cover and break the Seahawks’ 10 game ATS preseason winning streak. This game will be televised nationally in the US on ESPN.

Arizona Cardinals at Tennessee Titans
August 23—5:00 PM Pacific

Arizona won their first game of the preseason, but sure didn’t look good doing it as their top two quarterbacks struggled to move the offense and put points on the board. Starter Matt Leinart didn’t do anything and Derek Anderson managed to score a touchdown against the dregs of Houston’s defensive depth start. Houston led 16-0 after three quarters, but rookie John Skelton from the football powerhouse of Fordham University led two touchdown drives to get the team a victory. Obviously on a written test Ivy Leaguer Skelton would make mincemeat of Leinart and Anderson, but he could end up being the steal of the century. He’s got to learn the ropes of playing in the NFL and one preseason game isn’t anything to base a conclusion on, but he’s a sharp kid with a ton of upside that could be the next Kurt Warner with a few breaks.

The Cardinals have a lot of work to do filling roster positions up and down the lineup, and that’ll be a bigger priority this year than winning preseason games. Tennessee is pretty well set in their lineup, and making their home preseason debut here. They’re a much more physical team than Arizona and with many of the Cards’ skill players seeing little or no action (Larry Fitzgerald won’t play) won’t be able to counter that with finesse.

Neither team has been a great preseason bet, but Arizona has really phoned it in during the exhibition campaign over the past few years. Cards went 0-4 in the 2009 preseason and were 3-9 ATS in exhibition play heading into this season. With the Cards’ offense struggling and player evaluation the top priority, Tennessee’s more physical play should be enough to get the job done against a team in transition making a long trip for an essentially meaningless game. This game opened at -2’ and has moved right through the ‘key number’ of 3. Even so, we think the money move is right in this case.

Bet Tennessee -4 over Arizona