Cardinals vs. Jets NFL Week 5 Vegas spread, betting odds: Sam Darnold reportedly out, Joe Flacco in for Gang Green

Despite the fact that New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold said he was "fine" following last Thursday night's home loss to Denver in which Darnold had to leave briefly with a shoulder issue after a big hit, the team reportedly will hold out the former No. 3 overall pick from Sunday's matchup against the visiting Arizona Cardinals. Kyler Murray & Co. are currently 6.5-point favorites on the William Hill NFL odds, but that number has moved up a bit at other books with the news that Joe Flacco will start in Darnold's place.

In games in which he has thrown at least one pass in the NFL, Darnold is 11-19 straight up and a horrible 10-20 against the spread. His teams lose on average by a score of 24.69-19.93 per our friends at SDQL. This year, the winless Jets are also one of four teams yet to have an ATS victory along with Dallas, Tennessee and Houston (which fired its coach Monday). New York's minus-66 point differential is the league's worst, yet somehow Coach Adam Gase is still employed coming off a mini-bye week.

Darnold has the third-worst passer rating in the NFL of 70.7, ahead of only the Giants' Daniel Jones (68.3) and Eagles' Carson Wentz (66.9). Darnold is completing 59.4 percent of his passes for 792 yards, three TDs and four picks. He has been sacked 12 times behind an awful offensive line. It's not clear yet if Darnold would play if Flacco gets hurt. According to the New York Daily News report, Darnold wants to start, but the team prefers to be cautious with his AC joint sprain.

The Jets signed Flacco, the former Super Bowl MVP, to a one-year deal back in May worth $1.5 million in base salary with a chance to make another $3 million in incentives. New York did that even though Flacco was coming off fairly serious neck surgery that left him inactive the first two weeks.

Mike White had served as Darnold's backup but never took the field. White was released last week. Flacco went 2-for-2 for 18 yards in the loss to the Broncos while Darnold was getting his shoulder tended to.

Flacco was 2-6 SU & ATS as Denver's starter in 2019 before going down with that neck problem. In his career, Flacco is 98-73 SU as a starter in the regular season and 82-84-5 ATS. On a plus-six-point teaser, Flacco's teams are 127-39-5 ATS, covering by an average of 7.76 points. Thus, his teams play a lot of close games.

The Jets could get at least two offensive players back this week in running back Le'Veon Bell and rookie wideout Denzel Mims. Both are eligible to come off of injured reserve if their hamstring injuries allow it, and Gase was confident of that last week. Check the team's injury reports going forward. 

Who wins every NFL game this week? And which teams cover more than 50 percent of the time? Get picks here from the SportsLine Projection Model, which simulates every NFL game 10,000 times and ranked in the Top 10 on NFLPickWatch three of the past four years on straight-up NFL picks.