Hall of Fame Game Picks: Panthers vs. Cardinals Recap
Real NFL football is back, and that means Sean Green (@SeanTGreen) and Ryan Kramer (@KramerCentric) are locked in with their Hall of Fame Game picks for Thursday’s preseason opener in Canton, Ohio. Carolina Panthers vs. Arizona Cardinals kicks off the slate, and yes, it’s a sloppy exhibition game nobody will remember by September. Doesn’t matter. It’s real, it’s on a board, and this show has done well with this game historically. Carolina opened as a pick ’em and moved to a 1.5-point road favorite on the neutral site once Kenny Pickett was named the starter. Arizona sits as the home dog, and the total is set at 35.5.
Fading Dave Canales Again
Both hosts are handicapping this one through the coaches, same as every August. Canales is 0-6 against the spread as a preseason head coach, 1-5 straight up, and Carolina has been piling up injuries since the crew even taped its team preview. Depth is thin, and neither host expects Carolina to push the pace with backups filling holes. Arizona’s side is a bigger mystery. Its first-year head coach, off the McVay coaching tree, is walking into his first NFL game as the guy in charge, and Green figures that carries a little extra motivation for the Cardinals. Then there’s the quarterback math. Pickett is Carolina’s clear starter, but Green doesn’t expect him to survive the whole first half before rookie third-stringer Haynes King, a scrambler who moves a lot more than he throws, takes over. Arizona counters with Carson Beck, who reportedly looked like a different quarterback once the pads came on, backed by Kedon Slovis, a preseason specialist who posted a high completion percentage and three efficient outings last August. Kramer sees an edge at the position no matter how Arizona deploys its quarterbacks, and it points toward the Cardinals.
The Hall Of Fame Game Picks Card
The lock is Arizona Cardinals +1.5. Both hosts are there, and both treat it as close to a moneyline play given how ugly these games get late. A 21-20 or 17-16 finish is not a stretch. The total gets the same treatment: over 35.5, even with the number sitting lower than it has in past years, because the over has cashed in four of the last five Augusts, including last year’s 34-7 track meet. For the swing play, they combo Arizona -2.5 and over 37.5 at a juicy plus-511, calling the price a mistake this early in the preseason line-moving process. The prop of the day is Arizona Cardinals to score a rushing touchdown at -110, a far cheaper number than the passing and yardage props next to it, and the hosts can’t find a reason not to smash it. They also stitch together a boosted two-leg parlay: Slovis over 43.5 passing yards paired with King under 92.5 passing yards, betting Slovis keeps the offense humming while King leans on his legs more than his arm. With the boost attached, that combo pays out more than four times.
Lock, dog, and prop, all co-signed. Green and Kramer will be back live after Thursday’s game with a San Diego Chargers preview alongside Justin Decker. First, though, Canton gets the real bullets.
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Hall of Fame Game Picks: Panthers vs. Cardinals
Podcast Chapters
0:00 Download the SGPN App Today!
0:46 Real NFL Football Is Back: The Hall of Fame Game
2:49 Canton, Ohio Stories
5:49 The Hall of Fame Game’s Cursed History
8:51 D-Gen Jacket Giveaway
11:53 The Number: Panthers -1.5, Total 35.5
12:56 Handicapping the Coaches + the QB Battle
18:35 The Pick: Arizona Cardinals +1.5
21:03 Over 35.5 & Preseason Props
27:31 Arizona Rushing TD & the +511 Combo
36:48 Final Card + What’s Next
38:46 Hey Degen Song
