Free NFL betting tips: Preview and odds for Thursday night as Seattle travel to Arizona
David John has a 14/1 first touchdown scorer suggestion as Seattle face Arizona in the NFL on Thursday night.
Seattle at Arizona (Friday, 0125 GMT, Sky Sports Main Event and Action)
Arizona kept their season alive with a 20-10 success at winless San Francisco last weekend but hosting Seattle will perhaps give us a clearer idea whether or not they represent a potential play-off outfit.
My gut feeling is no, based on this being the oldest roster in the NFL, performing erratically and their four victories chalked up so far have been against teams with an aggregate record of 5-21.
Their previous outing had been a pitiful 33-0 drubbing at Twickenham before a bye week to freshen up and led by old warhorse Adrian Peterson, who carried the ball a franchise-record 37 times for 159 yards, had enough in the locker at a half-empty Levi’s Stadium.
Peterson has impressed with his fitness and physicality in relief of the sidelined David Johnson but the 32-year-old will need to dig deep into his reserves given a limited amount of time to recover.
Head coach Bruce Arians may have been wiser to put his foot down and give him a breather – Peterson apparently demanded to be kept in the game - with his rushing yardage record with the Cardinals over three games now reading 134-21-159 and looks primed for another downward swing on the dreaded short week.
Back-up quarterback Drew Stanton is 7-3 as the Cards starter after Carson Palmer broke his arm in London and played well enough as he completed 15 of his 30 passes with a couple of touchdown strikes to Jaron Brown and Jermaine Gresham along the way.
He might have to produce even more in what is a very important divisional showdown against the Seahawks, themselves reeling from a 17-14 defeat at home to Washington as head coach Pete Carroll bemoaned "we played against ourselves all afternoon".
They committed 16 penalties, dropped two interceptions and kicker Blair Walsh hooked three field goal attempts wide of the upright before allowing Kirk Cousins to complete two big pass plays on the way to what turned out to be the winning score in the fourth quarter.
It rather sloppily brought a four-game win streak to an abrupt halt, leaves them a game behind the upstart Los Angeles Rams in the NFC West and still hard to weigh up in terms of whether they remain at Super Bowl level.
A pretty hopeless offensive line has been boosted by a trade for veteran Duane Brown but Russell Wilson remains the fourth most-hit quarterback in the league and a season which has seen some big names head to IR with regularity, it may only be a matter of time before Wilson joins them if he continues to take a battering.
That said, Wilson is 3-0-1 on his last four trips to Glendale, having thrown for 996 yards, eight touchdowns and no interceptions with his mobility outside of the pocket always allowing him the opportunity to uncork a big play or two.
Wide receiver Paul Richardson has certainly helped in the terms of the latter with a couple of spectacular catches as he at last begins to emerge as a consistent threat in his fourth season in the league.
He might be worth a play at big odds to score the opening touchdown with question marks still swirling around the Seattle running game after the cumbersome Eddie Lacy tweaked his groin against the Redskins and Thomas Rawls struggles to make an impact.
The Cards secondary has already allowed six passing plays of over 40 yards with the longest of 72 going for a score so it could all rather play into the hands of Richardson early on with his exceptional downfield speed.
Prediction: Seattle 24-19 Arizona
Recommended bets:
1pt Paul Richardson to score the first touchdown at 14/1
Click here for our transparent tipping record.
Posted at 1735 BST on 08/11/17.