Cardinals vs. Seahawks Week 11 Picks: Arizona to Dominate Seattle's Defense

The Arizona Cardinals are aiming to right the ship, while the Seattle Seahawks would love to get a signature divisional win this season. We give our thoughts with our Cardinals and Seahawks picks.

The Cardinals are now 8-2 straight up and 7-3 against the spread, and to everyone’s surprise, they won and covered against the San Francisco 49ers and not against the Carolina Panthers. It becomes even more surprising when you consider Colt McCoy was the quarterback of this team for the past two weeks. Arizona has lost two of three now, but with Kyler Murray nearing a return, the winning should as well.

Seattle is just about cooked at this point in the season. After an opening week win over the Indianapolis Colts, the Seahawks have won just two of eight, though they’ve managed to cover four times in that span. They were struggling even with Russell Wilson in the lineup, but an injury that kept him out multiple weeks drove the Seahawks even deeper down the ranks. Wilson returned in Week 10, but he was shut out for the first time in his career.

Here are my picks and predictions for the NFL Week 11 matchup between the Cardinals and the Seahawks (odds via FanDuel Sportsbook; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale).

Cardinals vs. Seahawks Game Info

Date/Time: Sunday, November 21, 4:25 p.m. ETTV: FOXLocation: Lumen Field, Seattle, WAWeather: 46 degrees, cloudy

Cardinals vs. Seahawks Odds Analysis

The Cardinals opened short one-point underdogs but as of this writing, they’re now the favorites across the board. FanDuel has made them 1.5-point favorites while most other books are laying 2.5 points.

The total has fallen from its open of 50.5 points all the way to 48, where it currently sits at most books. Some are hanging 47.5 points (you can get that on FanDuel) while BetMGM actually has kept this at 48.5.

Cardinals vs. Seahawks Picks

Cardinals -1.5 (-112) ?????Under 47.5 (-110) ???

SEE ALSO: Top 3 Underdog Picks of Week 11

Cardinals vs. Seahawks Predictions

Cardinals -1.5 (-112)

This line is a drastic overreaction to Arizona’s blowout loss at the hands of the Panthers last week. The fact is, the Cardinals remain a top-five defense according to the metrics and they’ll now likely get Murray back under center.

Even with McCoy at the helm, the Cardinals offense was able to exploit a bad defense when it faced the Niners, and now it will face one of the very worst secondaries in football in the Seahawks. Seattle has allowed 275.3 passing yards per game, which ranks 29th in the league, and they’ve ranked 29th in interception rate as well. This unit has been able to do absolutely nothing against even average quarterbacks, so you should expect Murray to light this team up if he’s in there.

The Seahawks offense has also been incredibly inefficient. It has thrown the ball just 28.9 times per game, which ranks 31st, and Seattle is also gaining just 202.4 yards per game through the air. Arizona is the fourth-best defense against the pass by DVOA, eighth-best against the run, and second overall. If what we’ve seen all season is any indication, the Seahawks will struggle to move the ball. This should open things up for the Cardinals to dominate.

Under 47.5 (-110)

I don’t think the oddsmakers or the public want to admit it, but Wilson and Seattle's offense is a mess right now. Against a stout Cardinals defense, it simply doesn’t seem likely that they will be able to put up much of a fight when they have the ball.

While the Cardinals should be able to gash the Seahawks through the air, the one thing we need to remember here is that Seattle has actually been effective against the run, ranking 11th in DVOA. That could slow the scoring down once Arizona tries to run the clock.

SEE ALSO: Washington vs. Panthers Week 11 Picks

Picks made on 11/18/2021 at 9:39 p.m. ET