Sunday Night NFL XBOX Simulation Pick - Minnesota vs. Arizona

The Arizona Cardinals (7-4, 6-5 ATS) will look to bounce back from their gutwrenching Week 12 defeat at Tennessee when they welcome in the Minnesota Vikings (10-1, 7-3-1 ATS) for a NFC non-divisional NFL betting clash at University of Phoenix Stadium; kick-off is set for 8:25 ET and can be seen nationally on NBC.

The Vikings hold a 6-2 ATS advantage in the L/8 meetings with Arizona. They are just 1-6 ATS in their L/7 December games though, and are 2-6 ATS in their L/8 games against teams with a winning record. The Cardinals have covered seven of their L/8 games against teams with a winning record, and are 5-1 ATS in their L/6 as home underdogs. Arizona is also 11-5 ATS in its L/16 overall and 8-3 ATS in its L/11 against the NFC.

Weather: Cloudy with lows in the 50s to lower 40s

The action was nonstop in this one, and it began right from the start when destined to be rookie of the year Percy Harvin returned the Cardinals offering 97-yards to pay dirt to put the Vikes up 7-0 before the stadium was even filled. Arizona struck right back when a less than 100% QB Kurt Warner led his team on a 7-play 83-yard drive that was capped off by WR Jerheme Urban’s 4-yard TD reception. Fast forward – AZ held a 10-7 lead after the 1 st quarter.

The Vikes outscored the Cardinals 10-7 in the 2 nd quarter, and the game was all knotted up at 17 apiece at the break. The scoring cooled off in the 3 rd quarter with Minny holding a 24-20 lead. Arizona cut the lead to one after K Neil Rackers converted a 47-yarder, but the Vikings extended the lead to eight when RB Adrian Peterson danced in from 6-yards out.

Down 8 with less than 4 minutes remaining, the Cardinals charged the field much like Tennessee did to them on their final drive last week. WR Larry Fitzgerald then hauled in the TD grab to pull the hosts to within two, and all that was needed was a successful 2-point conversion to send the game to OT. MIN DE Jared Allen was having none of it however, as the Pro Bowler stormed passed his blocker and sacked Warner from behind to end the game.

Warner didn’t know what hit him and had to be checked out on the field before he limped over to the sideline. The Vikes picked up yet another victory, but this time, they failed to get the NFL pointspread cover for their betting backers.

This was one of the best SNF match-ups of the year. There was over 1150 combined yards and marvelous scoring plays galore! For the second year in a row, the Vikings stormed the desert and came out victorious! Kudos to NBC for phasing this one out and giving Belichick and the Pats the axe…

Take Arizona (+3) +100 and Over 48.5 –110 in the BetUS Sportsbook.