The Baltimore Ravens closed as 9.5-point favorites against the Arizona Cardinals today, the highest of any team during the Sunday games. After it was a close game in the first half, with the Ravens leading 14-7, they got out to a 24-7 lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter with 9:27 remaining. But as we found out, that left plenty of time for the Cardinals to make it a competitive game and backdoor cover the point spread.
Cardinals Backdoor vs. Ravens in Week 8
With 2:51 remaining in the fourth quarter, Gus Edwards scored his third touchdown of the day to put the Ravens up 16 points. With such little time left, you figured the Cardinals would only have time for one more possession to cover the spread, and they seemed well on their way after they drove down the entire field and scored a touchdown.
Marquise Brown scores a TD vs. his former team 👀#BirdGang | #RavensFlock
— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) October 29, 2023
The Cardinals then fell short of making it a one-score game when they failed at their two-point conversion attempt, which made it a 31-21 game with 1:14 left.
The Cardinals were out of timeouts, and given how rarely onside kicks are recovered nowadays, Ravens bettors felt very safe with their tickets on Baltimore giving 9.5 points. But little did they know that Nelson Agholor is on the Ravens’ hands team.
Cardinals recover an inside kick!
📺: #BALvsAZ on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/Quwvdzpx7G pic.twitter.com/KStZrQP5PY— NFL (@NFL) October 29, 2023
So after the Ravens had a 16-point lead with less than three minutes left and the Cardinals having zero timeouts, suddenly, the point spread was in major jeopardy. After running a few plays, the Cardinals elected to make it a one-score game with 26 seconds remaining and kicked a field goal, cutting the lead to seven and ruining Ravens +9.5 bets everywhere.
Cardinals backdoor cover (+10) 😱 pic.twitter.com/br0cErifAE
— Caesars Sportsbook & Casino (@CaesarsSports) October 29, 2023
This is, without a doubt, the worst bad beat of the week and a very tough loss to swallow for Ravens bettors. But if you backed the Cardinals, congratulations on the win!
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