Look for big game from Kyler Murray on TNF

We have a "Thursday Night Football" game tonight, the second game of the ALCS, 12 NHL games, and two NBA games. Is that enough action for you?

Expecting a jolt to the Cardinals' offense tonight

We once again have a primetime game that doesn't quite move the excitement needle, but that shouldn't stop us from finding some betting value. To us, the most exciting development involves the Arizona offense. Star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins is making his season debut, having served a six-game suspension for PEDs, and the team also acquired speedy WR Robbie Anderson from Carolina. Anderson is expected to play tonight, and while Marquise Brown is out, these two join Rondale Moore and Zach Ertz to form quite a pass-catching group for Kyler Murray to take advantage of.

These new faces favor the Cardinals in our eyes. It's going to be difficult for New Orleans, on a short week, to game plan for an offense they haven't yet seen on the field this season. The Saints' secondary has had its leaks through six games. They've allowed a completion of 40+ yards in five straight weeks, each time to a wide receiver and typically the team's best. Their six passes allowed of 40+ yards is tied for second-most in the NFL, and they are allowing 11.9 yards per completion, the eighth-highest in the league.

We're taking all of this and looking to Kyler Murray to have himself a big game. His passing yards prop is 242.5 yards, which he's surpassed three times. Three straight starting quarterbacks have gone over their yards against New Orleans, and the big chunk plays they've been able to grab certainly help the cause. It's for that reason we plan to double dip on Murray and bet his longest completion of the day surpasses 35.5 yards. He hasn't yet completed a pass over 32 yards this season, but in the five home games he played with Hopkins last season, Murray went over this total four times.

Betting: Kyler Murray longest pass over 35.5 yards (+100 DK) & Kyler Murray over 242.5 passing yards (-113 FD)

Game 2 of Yankees-Astros

Houston won Game 1 yesterday 4-2 and will look to take control of the series tonight. First, a look at the pitchers:

Luis Severino (NYY)

• Regular season: 3.18 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 112 Ks in 102 IP
• Playoffs: 4.77 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 6 Ks in 5.2 IP

Framber Valdez (HOU)

• Regular season: 2.89 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 184 Ks in 196.1 IP
• Playoffs: 3.18 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 6 Ks in 5.2 IP

Justin Verlander struck out 11 Yankees last night, so if Valdez may be able to get far in this game having struck out seven Yankees when he saw them in June. Severino faced Houston twice, allowing eight total hits and five runs across 12 innings. New York's lineup does fare well against lefties, so the slight nod ultimately goes to the Yanks on our end. Valdez has struggled against New York in his career, 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in three starts, while Severino has had issues in the postseason against Houston, 0-2 with a 4.15 ERA in three starts of his own.

To us, we see a higher-scoring game tonight, with New York evening the series.

+210 SGP: Over 5.5 runs, Yankees' moneyline

In the news ...

Padres beat Phillies, even NLCS — After trailing 4-0, San Diego blew it open with a five-run fifth inning and never looked back. Both Blake Snell and Aaron Nola were hit hard, allowing 10 earned runs between them. The series will take its lone day off today and return on Friday in Philadelphia. The Phillies remain slight -105 favorites to win the series, but the Padres aren't far behind at -115. It's likely to be Ranger Suarez of Philly and Joe Musgrove of San Diego next on the mound for a massive Game 3.

Big names in golf back on the course with the CJ Cup starting this morning — This weekend's PGA Tour event is by far the best field we've seen since the new season began. The CJ Cup in Ridgeland, South Carolina has the big names you'd expect to see from a premier event, from Rory McIlroy (+650 favorite) to Jon Rahm to Scottie Scheffler and more. It's Jordan Spieth who has seen the largest betting handle up to this point, with BetMGM reporting that nearly 20% of the money is on Spieth winning this weekend. His odds are currently +2800.

Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog expected to miss three months — The defending Stanley Cup champs will be without their top-line captain for quite some time, as Gabriel Landeskog had knee surgery that will keep him off the ice for 12 weeks. The Colorado offense has remained an explosive unit and should be able to weather his absence. The Avs are the favorites to win it all again at +380.

Today's Bark Bets is written by Griffin Carroll