The point of my quip about marriage is that whether you see the dollar version or the point version seems to depend on the primary cardholder's profile, not the card(s).
Also seems to depend on which cards you tend to use the same merchant's offer in the past.
We used the $10/$25 Carrabba's offers a lot when it was offered several times last year and in 2015. It was across the board on all cards except SPG. We used them all.
Now this offer instead of $10/$25, it is 1000 MR on the MR earning cards. HHonors used to see that but were passed out the last 2 times when the 1000 MR pts were offered.
i much prefer $10 than 1000 MR.
My guess is AMEX rather pay you the MR which it most likely will sit in the account for a long time before it is redeemed, versus the actual $ you immediately can use (to offset payment). A subtle form of devaluation in my eyes.