Experts Make Cardinals-Chiefs Predictions
The time for talk is nearly over, as we're just hours away from kickoff at State Farm Stadium between the Arizona Cardinals and Kansas City Chiefs.
Excitement has been building throughout the week on both sides of the matchup, with premier players such as Kyler Murray, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce among many others headline the national broadcast game for CBS in the afternoon slot.
Arizona currently finds themselves as underdogs in the betting market, but what do analysts across the league think?
Experts Make Cardinals-Chiefs Predictions
Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
Eric Moody's pick: Chiefs 36, Cardinals 30
Seth Walder's pick: Chiefs 34, Cardinals 30
"Both quarterbacks -- Arizona's Kyler Murray and Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes -- will have favorable matchups Sunday. Each will be facing a cornerback unit ripe for the picking; the Chiefs' corps is young, while the Cardinals' group is thin on depth and experience. And Mahomes is typically fantastic in September, where his 86.6 Total QBR is the best of any player in a calendar month since the metric's debut in 2006. Expect the ball to be thrown a lot. -- Josh Weinfuss"
"The Cardinals drew the short straw. It’s one thing to have the superior quarterback and play-caller in a shootout. It’s another when Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid are also buttressed by superior line play on both sides of the ball."- Gregg Rosenthal.
"Tom Brady skipped 11 days of training camp and Aaron Rodgers went on a South American bender, and yet, somehow, it might be Kyler Murray who had the weirdest offseason of any NFL quarterback. ... The relationship between Murray and the Cardinals feels like it's at the tipping point, and a few ugly losses to start the season could lead to a full implosion and those losses might actually happen. With the Chiefs, Raiders and Rams in the first three weeks of the season, the Cardinals could be in three shootouts to start the year and they won't have DeAndre Hopkins for any of those games.
"Not only do the Cardinals have to deal with all of this, but they also have to play against Patrick Mahomes , who has never lost a regular-season opener. In four seasons as the Chiefs' starter, he's 4-0 in Week 1 and the Chiefs have scored an average of 36.25 points in those games. I would predict Kansas City to score 36.25 points on Sunday, but I'm told that's not mathematically possible in the NFL, so I'll go with 37." -- John Breech
This will be our first chance to see Patrick Mahomes as more of a point guard than a superstar, full-court scorer. The Chiefs are ready for this stage of his evolution, using Mahomes’s arm talent without taxing him as a backfield escape artist. Hill is gone to the Dolphins, which means Kansas City will have to beat teams more strategically. It has all the components—the burner, the possession receiver, the blocking-receiver hybrid, the bully—but spread out over five players who will be shuffled in and out of lineups. Personally, I think there’s a chance this makes the Chiefs even better. Ask those close to Mahomes and they’ll attest: He has otherworldly physical gifts, but it would be great if he didn’t have to use them all the time. — Conor Orr
"We think the Cardinals could combust this season — all that stuff about having to write studying time into Kyler Murray’s contract extension and then taking it out due to public ridicule isn’t going to just go away. But dang if we don’t like them getting six points here.
"The Chiefs’ defense struggled with mobile QBs last season, ranking last in total rushing EPA on QB runs and 29th in success rate (34.4 percent) on QB runs. Murray doesn’t need to spend more time in the playbook to keep making plays with his legs.
"On the other side of the ball, the Chiefs are changing their offense and it will be interesting to see what they do without game-breaker Tyreek Hill.The Cardinals love to blitz — third-highest rate last season (35.7 percent) — and will have to now with Chandler Jones gone, but that’s dangerous as Patrick Mahomes II was first in first downs/pass attempt versus the blitz (55.3 percent) and had the lowest sack rate of any QB versus the blitz (2.1 percent, minimum 300 total dropbacks). This should be a high-scoring game, with whoever scores last covering the spread.
Cardinals +6"- Vic Tafur
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