Arizona Cardinals at Seattle Seahawks: ATS Prediction & Analysis

Arizona Cardinals (6-4 SU, 7-3 ATS) vs. Seattle Seahawks (5-5 SU, 3-6-1 ATS)
NFL Football Week 12
Date/Time: Sunday, November 24, 2024 at 4:25PM EST
Where: Lumen Field, Seattle, Washington
TV: Fox

The Arizona Cardinals take on the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field on Sunday in an important NFC West tilt. The Cardinals currently hold a tenuous lead in the NFC West at 6-4, with all three other teams at 5-5, illustrating this is still up for grabs. A 20-17 road win for the Seahawks over the 49ers last week tightened things even further in this division. More importantly, it allowed Seattle to start emerging from a long funk. After beating San Fran, a win over the visiting division leaders would go a long way. It won’t be easy, however, with a Cardinals team coming off the bye, which followed a fruitful period of four straight wins. Can they keep it rolling, or will the Seahawks serve notice at home that they’re still a serious contender in this division? Let’s break it down!

Points to Ponder

This is the first matchup of the season for these divisional rivals, with Seattle having recently dominated this series. The Cardinals have not beaten their NFC West counterparts since 2021. This seems to be as good a spot as any to reverse course, with the Cardinals nice and rested with the wind of four straight wins having filled their sails. On the other sideline is a Seattle team that has been put through the wringer with last week’s win, only their second in 7 games. They did come off the bye last week, though, so there was a break in there, and they were able to come off it and get back on the right track with a big win over San Fran.

If one wanted, they could perhaps nitpick some of Arizona’s success. They could say they had the right opponents or that three of their games were decided by one or two points. But they still have some nice notches on their belt, including wins over the Chargers, Niners, and Rams. And even if their last two opponents in Chicago and the Jets weren’t tip-top, the margin in which they won deserves some attention, as the Cardinals won their last two games by a combined 60-15 score. In other words, I’m not sure there’s as much smoke and mirrors to the Cardinals as some might suspect.

What the Cardinals Look to Do on Sunday

Quarterback Kyler Murray is having an understated nice season. That goes ditto for RB James Conner, who has been a really reliable weapon through ten games. Rookie Marvin Harrison will have the growing pains of a rookie but is capable of big games sporadically. And we see TE Trey McBride getting more into the swing of things lately. They also have some nice supporting pieces both on the ground and aerially that give Murray a lot upon which he can lean. They look to wield this with good effect on Sunday against a hot-and-cold Seattle defense. The erratic nature of the Seahawks’ defense makes it difficult to determine what you’re getting week to week. But they have struggled in enough spots to make you think that a Cardinals’ offense that is rested and in good form could do some damage.

There is a flip side to that coin and with Seattle and Geno Smith generally playing better at home, this is a challenge for the Arizona defense. On the surface, they’ve been good. They may have also benefitted from playing some teams whose offenses were in bad shape. Against the Dolphins, Packers, Commanders, and Bills, they gave up 137 combined points. It’s far from a defense where you can bank on them having trouble. In addition to those games, there are more flattering spots, like when they gave up just 15 to the Chargers, 20 to the Lions, and 10 to the Rams. But a desperate Seattle team that is more or less healthy with all its weapons is ultra-dangerous in this spot.

Good Spot for Seattle?

It’s hard to say with the Seahawks, as a lot of their results fail to follow any rhyme or reason that you can sink your teeth into. But therein lies some of their appeal, as well. A team that is more appealing in a betting sense when they’re sneaking up on someone, they aren’t getting points in this divisional battle at home, but it’s a near pick-’em with the Seahawks laying a single point as of press time. But while they haven’t always fired this season, with both sides of the ball plagued by inconsistency, they’re in a decent position to see some things work in the event they can get things cooking.

It was nice to see Seattle come off the bye with some fire, with no other team having held San Francisco to fewer points this season than what Seattle allowed on Sunday. With Arizona chipping away with Conner and a lot of other weapons to employ, the Seahawks are going to need to buckle down with so much weaponry to contain. But despite leading the division and having surpassed expectations this season, there’s nothing about Arizona that suggests Seattle can’t continue along the path they started to forge last week in another divisional spot.

Take the Small Home Favorite

This might be not be the ideal spot to start looking for positions to take against Arizona, coming off the bye and chastened for this final stretch of games as they look to start making their postseason case. I just like the way Seattle looked last week, especially on defense. Any version of that this week will allow Geno Smith to do his thing, connecting with guys like DK Metcalf and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, while Kenneth Walker maybe gets back to having some big games. I like Seattle this week.

Loot’s Prediction to Cover the Point Spread:

I’m betting on the Seattle Seahawks minus one point.