Patriots vs. Cardinals Odds & Prediction: Betting Line Shifts in New England’s Direction on MNF

In a primetime battle between teams on two-game losing streaks, the New England Patriots are scheduled to face the host Arizona Cardinals in an interconference game on Monday to close out Week 14 of the 2022 NFL season.

The Cardinals originally were listed as 3-point favorites when the spread for this game was posted in May, but the odds have flipped with the Patriots now the betting choice by 1.5 to 2 points at DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, and PointsBet.

Let’s take a look at our Patriots vs. Cardinals odds on Monday Night Football, as well as a prediction.

Both teams are currently out of the wild-card mix, but New England has by far the better chance to reach the postseason, standing only one game out in the AFC. The Cardinals are three behind in the NFC with five weeks left in the season.

Both squads will also be well-rested, with Arizona coming off a bye and New England having just enjoyed an extended break after playing last Thursday night.

New England has dominated this series over the past three decades, winning seven of the past eight meetings, including a 20-17 home victory in 2020 as a 2-point underdog despite QB Cam Newton having a worse-than-miserable 23.6 passer rating. It’s the second-lowest number for any starting quarterback in a victory in the past 10 years.

The Cardinals’ only win in this series in the past 30 years also was memorable, a 20-18 road triumph in 2014 as a 13.5-point underdog — the biggest upset in the NFL that season.

This year, New England (6-6 straight up/6-5-1 against the spread) had been one of the hottest teams in the league after winning five of six games in Weeks 5-11, wrapped around a bye. But two weeks ago, the Patriots were defeated on the road by NFC North-leading Minnesota, 33-26, and then last week at home by AFC East frontrunner Buffalo, 24-10.

Arizona (4-8 SU/6-6 ATS) has been on the skids pretty much since midseason last year when after a 7-0 start, the Cardinals lost six of their final 10 games and then were thumped by the LA Rams in the wild-card playoff round, 34-11.

The Patriots’ No. 7-ranked defense has been given much of the credit for what success the team has had in 2022. In the team’s back-to-back home wins over Indianapolis and the NY Jets in Weeks 10 and 11, New England prevailed 26-3 against the Colts and then 10-3 versus the Jets despite its offense not scoring a TD.

Even more impressively, Indy had only 121 yards of offense and NYJ 103, the two lowest totals by any squad in a league game this year. But taking the luster off those performances was that against the Colts, the Patriots faced backup QB Sam Ehlinger, who was making his second career start. He was benched the next week. And versus the Jets, they tormented Zach Wilson, the worst-ranked passer in the league. He not only was benched last week but rendered inactive.

If you take away those two games, New England’s defense is ranked only 20th. Arizona is 21st but has given up 37 touchdowns, tied for most in the league and 15 more than NE has yielded. All last season, the Cardinals gave up only 40.

This week, the Patriots will vie against QB Kyler Murray, known as much for his running (415 yards, 3 TDs) and scrambling ability as his passing. He’s only No. 23 on the passer-rating chart (14 TDs, 7 INTS), but that’s one notch above NE’s Mac Jones (7 TDs, 7 INTs), who briefly lost his starting job early on to third-stringer Bailey Zappe and has shown his frustration with the offense of late.

A side note: Both teams have scored four TDs on defensive/kick returns. Only Cleveland with five has more.