Cardinals vs Broncos: Thursday Night Showdown Analysis

The 2-4 Denver Broncos will travel to Arizona to take on the 1-5 Cardinals in this week’s Thursday night matchup. Both teams have lost 4 of their last 5 games including last week. The Broncos lost their fourth in a row with a 23-20 home defeat to the Los Angeles Rams. They tried to make a comeback as they were losing 20-3 late in the third quarter but fell just short. The Cardinals lost to the Minnesota Vikings on the road 27-17. They couldn’t convert offensively when it mattered most as they were 0-12 on third and fourth downs. Both of these teams are desperately seeking a win as they are close to playoff elimination and they haven’t even reached the halfway point of the season.

The Broncos defense could not stop the rush last week as the Rams gained 270 yards on the ground. They allowed Todd Gurley to gain 208 of those yards and 2 touchdowns. In the past 2 weeks alone the Broncos defense has given up 593 rushing yards. They did sack Jared Goff 5 times and intercepted him once. For the year, the Broncos defense has allowed their opponents to average 25.7 points and 422 yards per game. Offensively, Case Keenum had a mixed day finishing with a passer rating of 91.7. He completed 25 of 41 passes for 322 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. His favorite target was Emmanuel Sanders who had 7 catches for 115 yards and a touchdown. They struggled running the ball gaining just 60 yards on 17 carries and their longest run from scrimmage gained just 9 yards.

Josh Rosen played very poorly for the Cardinals last week finishing with a quarterback rating of just 20.6. He completed 21 of 31 passes for 240 yards, 0 touchdowns and 1 interception. His favorite target was Christian Kirk who had 6 catches for 77 yards. They struggled running the ball with 61 yards on 20 carries. David Johnson led the team with 55 of the 61 yards and the team’s only offensive touchdown. Defensively, they sacked Kirk Cousins 4 times and sacked him once. They also scored a touchdown on a fumble recovery in the second quarter. They did a poor job against the run as the Vikings gained 195 yards on 32 carries which is an average of 6.1 yards per carry. On the year, the Cardinals defense has allowed their opponents to score 23.2 points and gain 415 yards per game.

Arizona will have home field advantage in this game and are considered 2 point underdogs. They have gone 3-3 against the spread this season including 2-1 at home. Denver has gone 1-4-1 against the spread including 0-2 on the road. The Broncos haven’t been able to stop the run in recent weeks which means Johnson could be in for a big day. This could be just what the Cardinals need as they have averaged just 62 rushing yards in their past 5 games.