Andrew Wilsher
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The Arizona Cardinals have a great chance to move to 3-0 on the season when they head to Florida to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars. Fresh from their narrow victory over Minnesota, in which they relied on a last-second missed field goal to come away with the win, Kliff Kingsbury’s team will view this game as must-win as they look to be in the mix in the competitive NFC West. As for the Jags, things have not been good for new head coach Urban Meyer, and he will be hoping quarterback Trevor Lawrence can finally start living up to the potential that made him the first overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft.
To add some extra excitement to this Sunday kickoff, we’ve put together a same game parlay that pays over 11/1 odds. Let’s lay out the 3 legs.
Arizona Cardinals -7.5 (-104)
Under 51.5 points (-105)
Rondale Moore to score a touchdown (+220)
Parlay odds: +1123
The benefit of same game parlays is that you can combine plays that on paper appear slightly contradictory to boost the odds, when there isn’t actually too much crossover. That’s my strategy for this game, as the Cardinals win by more than a touchdown correlates nicely with the Moore touchdown pick. The odds get a nice boost though when adding in the under, when I don’t think it impacts it too much, especially seeing as the total line is in the 50s. Let’s break down the legs one by one.
Arizona Cardinals -7.5 (-104)
Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray has been looking like a serious MVP candidate through the first two games of the season, having thrown 7 touchdown passes already. He also threw for 400 yards against the Vikings last week. Now he gets to take on a Jaguars team that has looked fragile on defense and overall been incredibly flat this season.
Jags QB Lawrence has failed to live up to expectations thus far, and last week posted some woeful stats in the loss to Denver. He completed just 14 of his 33 pass attempts for 118 yards, and also threw two interceptions. Admittedly, the Broncos’ defense is looking like being one of the meanest in the league and Lawrence should have a bit more success here against a Cardinals secondary that struggled to deal with Kirk Cousins last week. But overall, the Jags have looked lackluster in both the passing and run game, and it’s hard to see how they keep up with Arizona’s juggernaut offense. Ultimately Jacksonville could have some success, but should still fail to finish within a touchdown of the Cardinals.
Be sure to check out our full game preview for Arizona Cardinals vs Jacksonville Jaguars
Under 51.5 points (-105)
Despite how hot the Cardinals’ offense is looking, I still like the under in this matchup. The line looks a little too high given what we’ve seen from the Jaguars’ offense, bearing in mind they managed just 21 points against the ailing Texans before scoring just 7 last week against the Broncos (the other touchdown came from a wild 102-yard kick return by Jamal Agnew). It’s difficult to see Jacksonville scoring more than 21, and that then puts a lot of pressure on the Cardinals to cruise comfortably into the 30s. While I expect Murray to have another stellar game, that is a lot to ask from him and the Arizona offense.
It’s also important to note that the Cardinals were wildly inconsistent in putting points on the board last season and I’m still not sold on those days being over. Further, the under is 10-1 in Arizona’s last 11 road games and 5-1 in Jacksonville’s last 6 home games against a team with a winning record. I’m forecasting a score along the lines of 28-17, which should see the under cash for this part of the parlay.
Rondale Moore to score a touchdown (+220)
Arguably the big booster here is taking Arizona’s rookie wide receiver Rondale Moore to score a touchdown. The Purdue product enjoyed a breakout game against the Vikings last week, recording 7 catches for 114 yards and a touchdown, and I think he’s got a great shot at finding the endzone again. There has been nothing but praise for Moore from the Cardinals’ camp and I’m expecting Murray to give him a similar level of service to what he gave him last week. Jacksonville has already proven vulnerable against the pass, having allowed 4 TDs through the air and the 7th-most yards per attempt, and Moore’s odds of +220 look too good to pass up for this same game parlay.
Make sure you check out the rest of our NFL same game parlays for EVERY GAME in Week 3!
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