Bills vs Cardinals: Five Bets to Watch

Five bets to monitor when the Arizona Cardinals and Buffalo Bills battle in Week 1.

Arizona Cardinals running back James Conner (6) catches the ball during training camp at State Farm Stadium on Aug 6, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. / Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

Hello, fellow degenerates - and welcome back to Arizona Cardinals football season!

I know that you've been dying to get your hands on some NFL betting and there's no shortage of lines and props across every sportsbook. It'll be a fun year to be sure, but we are interested in the Cardinals the most... especially on offense.

Game one of the year is out in Buffalo for a battle against Josh Allen and the Bills. In what could be a high-scoring game (more on that later), there should be lots of opportunities to hit on some prop bets for both teams. And that's what we're here to look at today.

The following lines and prop bets are provided by FanDuel.

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Points total: 48.5

If you believe in the Cardinals like I do, then you have to like the chances for overs in 2024. Kyler Murray is back to 100% and in a new offense under Drew Petzing, which could lead to his best season in his six seasons in the league. He has all of his new weapons, including fourth-round pick (and generational) receiver Marin Harrison Jr., plus the return of Pro Bowler and touchdown machine James Conner and breakout tight end Trey McBride. It could be a dynamite year for this offense.

On the other side of things, Josh Allen is one of the most prolific quarterbacks in the NFL and knows the endzone better than anyone. Allen has a whopping 174 touchdowns since 2020 and has scored 40+ touchdowns in each of the last four years. Although he's got a brand new cast of weapons this year, that shouldn't slow him down from finding the endzone.

With the combined offenses here, plus a suspect Cards' defense, we could easily have a 27-24 final score or even better. I expect this game to be one of the highest-scoring games in week one.

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Marvin Harrison Jr. receiving yards: 65.5

Harrison has some of the highest expectations for a rookie wide receiver in the last several years. Viewed as a generation prospect and compared to many as the next A.J. Green, MHJ is expected to produce immediately and in an offense with a former Pro Bowl quarterback in Kyler Murray, he could do just that.

Going up against the Bills will be a good start to advertise himself as worthy of his hype. Buffalo had one of the better passing defenses in 2023. They finished seventh-best defense in yards per game (196.6), eighth in yards per attempt (6.7), surrendered just 18 touchdowns (third-best), and tallied 18 interceptions (tied for fourth).

But with that being said... the Bills are replacing both former All-Pro safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde as well as their top corner, Tre'Davious White. It's unlikely this defense will be nearly as elite against the pass this year

MHJ could feast on this secondary and it would surprise no one.

BONUS: MHJ is +140 for an anytime touchdown. I like that quite a bit.

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Josh Allen rushing yards: 31.5

Allen is no stranger to running the football. He is eighth on the all-time rushing list for QBs with 3,611 yards in his first six seasons. Additionally, he averages 38.4 yards per game in his career. Last season was a down year in rushing yards, posting his lowest total (524) since 2020 (421) and averaging 30.8 yards per game. Thankfully, he ran in an NFL-record 15 touchdowns to make up for the yards.

Last season, the Cardinals were dead last in rushing yards allowed per game at 143.2. They also finished tied for 29th in yards per carry (4.7). Against quarterbacks, the Cards allowed 20.8 of those YPG to quarterbacks. That's nothing crazy until you consider Lamar Jackson only ran for 17 yards and the only other noteworthy running quarterbacks they faced were Justin Field (97), Jalen Hurts (25), and Daniel Jones (59).

The Cardinals' defense also didn't improve from last season and is expected to be one of the league's worst against the run again this year. The Bills will likely lean on their run game this year after losing their top two wide receivers from last season to start the year. I expect Josh Allen to be a big part of that and wouldn't blink twice if he passed 32 rushing yards.

Speaking of running the football...

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James Cook rushing yards: 86.5

Is this a massive total? Um, yeah, it definitely is. However, without repeating everything we just said, Cook is playing one of the worst run defenses in football and should see a lion's share of carries in 2024. There's little competition for carries with rookie Ray Davis listed as his backup. Fresh off a 237 carry season, Cook should easily match his total from a year ago at worst and I'd assume it's far more this season.

Against a porous run defense and, again, a Bills offense that will likely lean on the run game to start the year while they get the passing game figured out. That right there is opportunity.

It's far from a sure thing and it's a big total, but Cook could top 100 rushing yards in week one and could see 20+ carries.

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James Conner anytime touchdown: +165

A running back known for scoring touchdowns is always one to keep an eye on. Conner has 35 touchdowns in his three seasons (41 games played) in the desert including nine scores in 13 games last season where he wasn't 100% healthy for the majority of the season. In an offense that we expect to be good, he should be able to get near his 11.7 average per season and flirt with his 0.9 touchdowns per game average.

Last season, the Bills gave up 14 rushing touchdowns, tied for 11th most in the league. It's nothing crazy for sure, but that's still just under one per game. The Cardinals' offense scored 17 touchdowns on the ground with seven of them coming from Conner, who also added two through the air.

There are no guarantees for Conner to score in this game against a quality defense, but his ability to get into the endzone on the ground (29 rushing touchdowns with Arizona) and even as a receiver (six receiving touchdowns) makes him a threat to score in every game he plays. The Cards should be dynamite on offense and this should be a high-scoring game. I feel great for Conner to find the endzone at least once.