The San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals square off in Week 8 with both teams eyeing a high pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. They are struggling for different reasons, but struggling nonetheless. Arizona is rolling out a rookie quarterback as they rebuild from the Carson Palmer years. San Francisco is playing with their backup quarterback thanks to Jimmy Garoppolo’s torn ACL.
It’s been a rough year for both fanbases, although Cardinals fans seem a little more in the dumps. The Cardinals are hosting this game, but Arizona fans are not exactly feeling it. In the weekly FanPulse survey, Cardinals fans in aggregate are predicting a 1-point loss. By comparison, 49ers fans in aggregate are predicting a 2-point win.
The line for this game has had some modest movement the past five days. It opened anywhere between Cardinals -1 and pick ‘em. As Friday gets going, it is anywhere between pick ‘em and 49ers -1.5, according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark. Online sportsbooks are seeing roughly 54 percent of money wagered on the 49ers. William Hill released their Thursday afternoon figures for the 100+ operators they have, and they have 66 percent of tickets and 60 percent of money wagered on the 49ers.
I have pondered whether I should take the 49ers in the SuperContest. Honestly, the only thing that has kept me from it is the switch to Byron Leftwich at offensive coordinator. He has no NFL experience as a play-caller, but he was a solid quarterback who has received a lot of praise for his mind as a future head coach. It does not mean he can put together a full game-plan, but he has to be better than Mike McCoy, right?
The 49ers are shaky at best right now, but they are the better team. Even at -1, this seems like a winnable pick. Thoughts?