Oakland Raiders vs. Arizona Cardinals Pick 8/15/19

Oakland Raiders (1-0 SU, 1-0 ATS) vs. Arizona Cardinals (1-0, 1-0), 8/15/19
Time: 8 pm ET Thursday, Aug. 15
Where: State Farm Stadium, Glendale, AZ
TV: ESPN

Point spread: Oak +4/AZ -4 (Bookmaker)
Over/Under Total: 40

The Raiders and Cardinals, both trying to instill a winning atmosphere, both won their exhibition season openers last week. Oakland did it without its new high-profile wide receiver, while Arizona did it with minimal help from its new Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback. Moreover, neither of those guys will play a big part in this game. Who do we like here for our free NFL pick?

NFL Betting Odds

Week 2’s (three if you go by NFL.com) NFL exhibition betting odds opened Arizona at -3.5 over Oakland, with an over/under of 41. Early betting action then bumped the Cardinals to -4 and dipped that total to 40.

Raiders vs. Cardinals Set-Up

Oakland opened its 2019 exhibition season with a 14-3 win over the Rams last Saturday. The Raiders, with Mike Glennon at quarterback, drove their opening possession of the game 70 yards to a touchdown to take the lead it would never relinquish.

On the night Oakland produced 407 yards of total offense while the defense held Los Angeles to just 190 yards. The Raiders also made 36 first downs to 18 for the Rams and won the time of possession by a 35/25 split.

Glennon finished 17/25 passing for 200 yards but also threw two picks. Third-stinger Nathan Peterman then went 9/12 for 66 yards and a touchdown and scrambled for a big 50-yard gain that led to an Oakland score.

Starting QB Derek Carr will probably see some action Thursday night, but Glennon and Peterman will again likely carry most of the load.

Arizona, meanwhile, opened its exhibition season with a 17-13 victory over the Chargers last Thursday. The Cardinals spotted the Bolts the first seven points of the game, then scored the next 17 and hung on from there.

Arizona rookie QB Kyler Murray played the first series last week and went 6/7 passing for 44 yards. He then watched the rest of the game from the sidelines.

On the night the Cardinals got out-gained by the Chargers 357-289 and out-rushed 179-83. However, they won the turnover battle 2-1, and that’s probably what won them the game.

Arizona’s back-up quarterbacks, Brett Hundley and rookies Charles Kanoff and Drew Anderson, combined to go 17/25 passing for 175 yards, with one interception.

Murray will probably get more than one series Thursday night, but not much more.

These teams just met last November, a 23-21 Raiders victory on a field goal at the buzzer. Josh Rosen quarterbacked the Cardinals that day.

NFL Betting Trends

• Oakland is now 4-1 both SU and ATS in pre-season games under Coach Gruden.
• Arizona is 1-0 both SU and ATS in pre-season games under new head coach Kliff Kingsbury.

Totals Report

The Raiders’ win over the Rams last week played way under a total of 36.

The Cardinals’ win over the Chargers last week played under a total of 37.

However, overs played 9-7-1 in Week 1 (plus the Hall of Fame game) of this exhibition season, as the games averaged 41 points against an average over/under of 36. The average over/under on this week’s games sits at right around 42.

Free NFL Pick

Oakland is one year ahead of Arizona in their progressions under their new head coaches. Also, while they’re not anything to bet the farm on we like the Raiders back-up quarterback situation better than the Cardinals. Also, Oakland’s getting points. We’ll take the Raiders for our free NFL pick in this spot.