The San Francisco 49ers have the edge versus both the Arizona Cardinals and the Week 9 NFL odds this Sunday at the Field of Jeans.
Sunday, November 07, 2021 – 04:25 PM EST at Levi’s Stadium
The cleat is on the other foot now. It’s been two injury-plagued seasons for the San Francisco 49ers (3-4 SU, 2-5 ATS), knocking the former NFC champions out of Super Bowl contention – and allowing the Arizona Cardinals (7-1 SU, 6-2 ATS) to take over first place in the West division. But here we are with Arizona all banged up heading into Sunday’s tilt with the Niners. QB Kyler Murray (ankle) and WR DeAndre Hopkins (hamstring) are both questionable for this matchup, among several others.
That hasn’t prevented the fine folks at Intertops from putting San Francisco on their NFL odds board as 2.5-point home dogs. Maybe Murray and Hopkins will be fine despite sitting out Wednesday’s practice, or at least the part that was open to the press. But even if there’s only a small chance these gentlemen don’t play, or that their performance will be negatively affected, the Niners have to be the right choice for your Week 9 NFL picks.
Let’s pretend for now that everything is hunky-dory with the Cards. As a baseline expectation for Sunday’s contest, FiveThirtyEight have Arizona winning by two points; Jeff Sagarin at The USA Today has it Arizona –3.64. We’ll split the difference and say –2.5 is a tight line to work with.
So what’s going on with Murray? Already visibly limping, Murray got rolled upon at the end of last Thursday’s 24-21 loss to the Green Bay Packers (+6.5 away) while throwing the pick that sealed the victory for Green Bay and was seen leaving the stadium with a walking boot on his left leg. Having those extra three days to recover might be enough to get Murray back on the field – and it might be enough for Hopkins, too. We shall see.
There are worse things happening in Glendale, though. The Cardinals put DL J.J. Watt (shoulder) on injured reserve last week, depriving them of their premium run-stuffer for what will likely be the rest of the season. LB Zaven Collins (shoulder) also got knocked out of that Green Bay game; his status for Sunday is up in the air. Arizona has the league’s second-ranked defense at Football Outsiders through eight games. They’ll be hard-pressed to maintain that level of play going forwards.
All of which plays nicely into the hands of the 49ers. They still have 10 players on injured reserve, but their best offensive weapon, TE George Kittle, is expected to return this week. The Niners also have QB Jimmy Garoppolo back under center, unlike in Week 5 when they lost 17-10 to Arizona as 6-point road dogs.
Garoppolo might not be Joe Montana, but he is an average NFL quarterback, sitting at No. 16 on the efficiency charts at Football Outsiders – in between Jameis Winston and Ben Roethlisberger. We’ll buy that undervalued commodity for a dollar.
NFL Pick: 49ers +2.5 (–105) at Intertops (visit our Intertops Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.