The Arizona Cardinals are undefeated entering Week 3 of the 2021 NFL season, while the Jacksonville Jaguars are still in search of their first win of the year. Which streak will come to an end this week? Check out our preview of this game below.
The Cardinals are looking scary this early in the season. The NFC West is super-stacked, but Arizona is arguably the best team in the division thus far. They have pulled off the most impressive wins among NFC West teams, and now, they’ll get what seems to be a freebie in Week 3 against a messy Jaguars squad. The main driving force of this terrifying Cards unit is quarterback Kyler Murray, who passed for 400 yards and three touchdowns on 29/36 completions in their 34-33 win over the Minnesota Vikings over the weekend. He also rushed for 31 yards and a touchdown on five carries. Jacksonville’s defense is having all sorts of problems against the pass and run, as it is allowing 30.0 points per game and over 420 total yards per contest through two weeks. Jacksonville’s problematic secondary is also looking like chicken barbecue for DeAndre Hopkins and Christian Kirk.
The Cardinals are 11-5-2 against the spread in their last 18 road games.
Trevor Lawrence and the Jags are off to a bad start. Urban Meyer must be missing his time as a successful head coach in college, as he’s not used to being involved in something this bleak in football. The Jaguars are coming off a 23-13 home loss to the Denver Broncos. The score could have been a lot closer if not for Josh Lambo’s multiple field-goal attempt misses. Meanwhile, Lawrence went 14/33 for 118 passing yards and two interceptions. He’s still working out his rapport with his receivers, who needs to be better catching the rookie’s passes. Perhaps, the Jags can turn to running back James Robinson early against Arizona and see if he could set the tone for the team. Robinson has been underused in the first two weeks because the Jags played catch-up on both occasions, but he can feel excitement over the prospect of testing Arizona’s defense that allowed the Vikings to average 6.6 yards per carry in Week 2.
The under is 5-1 in Jaguars’ last six home games against a team with a winning road record.
