Cote: NFC West weakest link will show in Seattle at Arizona Thursday. Our pick
GREG COTE’S NFL WEEK 4 THURSDAY PICK
SEAHAWKS (2-1) at CARDINALS (2-1)
Line: SEA by 1 1/2.
Cote’s pick: SEA, 27-16.
TV: 8:15 p.m. Thursday, Prime Video.
The NFC West enters Week 4 as the best top-to-bottom division in football by combined record (9-3), but I see Arizona as the weakest link — and this division matchup will underline that. Seattle isn’t flashy but is solid, sneaky good, with the second-best points differential in the NFL and Sam Darnold-to-Jaxon Smith-Njigba an unheralded-but-potent hookup. Defensively, the Seahawks bedeviled Kyler Murray last year (seven sacks, three picks in a two-game sweep) and the Hawks’ D is better now. Compounding all of that, the injury-loss of underrated Cardbirds RB James Conner really hurts that offense and heaps added heat on Murray. Arizona has a poor track record at home in prime time (18-32-2) and has lost seven games in a row and four straight in the desert to Seattle. Make it eight and five.
Note: Betting line courtesy ESPNBet as of midday Wednesday.
