The Arizona Cardinals are the only team in the NFL that are still without a single loss six weeks into the new season. They’re expected to extend that streak to seven straight games by beating the Houston Texans in Week 7.
Considering that Houston is 1-5 in the 2021 season, it’s no surprise that Arizona is seen as a clear favorite. In fact, the moneyline odds on the Cards are as short as -1250.
Judging by the odds, it seems that anything but a dominant Arizona win would be a major surprise. The question is, how dominant will it be?
Can the Cardinals cover the 18-point spread?
Texans vs Cardinals Odds (NFL Week 7, 2021)
All odds are per DraftKings as of October 20.
Moneyline
| Houston Texans | +750 |
| Arizona Cardinals | -1250 |
Spread
| Houston Texans +17.5 | -110 |
| Arizona Cardinals -17.5 | -110 |
Over/Under
| Over 47.5 | -110 |
| Under 47.5 | -110 |
Where and When to Watch
- Date: Sunday, October 24
- Time: 4:25 PM ET
- Location: State Farm Stadium
- Watch: CBS
Coach Kliff Kingsbury to Miss Week 7
Head coach Kliff Kingsbury and general manager Steve Keim aren’t going to be at State Farm Stadium on Sunday. The reason? They both tested positive for COVID-19.
Should this worry the Cardinals? Probably not. They were without Kingsbury in Week 6, as well, but then ended up grabbing an important win.
The Cardinals entered the Week 6 game as a 3-point underdog, but still managed to beat the Browns 37-14 in Cleveland.
This time, they’re playing in front of their own crowd at State Farm Stadium. That’s where their all-time record against the Houston Texans is 4-0.
Can the Cards Cover the 18-Point Spread?
Bookmakers have set the spread to 18 points, the largest spread we’ve witnessed in the 2021 season. It sounds like a lot of points to cover, but the Cardinals have already beaten two teams with a higher margin than that.
One of those teams was Cleveland in Week 6. What we saw in that game is another brilliant performance by Kyler Murray.
Arizona’s third-year quarterback is definitely making a claim on the MVP award, for which he’s currently the co-favorite with Dak Prescott. At DraftKings, the odds on Murray winning the award are +400.
So far, Murray has thrown for a total of 1,741 yards and 14 touchdowns. This could mean trouble for the Texans, whose pass defending has been horrible in 2021.
Unfortunately for the Houston faithful, their team hasn’t been much better in the offense either. Their total scoring tally is 92 points in six games. That accounts for 15.33 points per game, which is the league’s second-worst.
Further, the Texans scored a single-digit number of points in three of their past four games. It’s very likely this trend will extend to Week 7.
What this means is that we could see the Cards destroying the Texans on Sunday. By ‘destroying,’ I mean winning by more than 18 points.
Pick: Arizona Cardinals to win and cover the 18-point spread; “under” will probably hit due to Texans’ anemic offense