The Dallas Cowboys have been outright dominant against teams below .500 but they have failed to record a single win against teams with a winning record. Can this week’s TNF matchup against a sliding Seattle Seahawks team be the first of the season?
Welcome to Week 13, Bolts From the Blue.
Tonight’s game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Seattle Seahawks is a treat when you compare it to the dross we saw on Monday Night Football where the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears played out a desperately bad game where the only touchdown went to the losing team. When Mike McCarthy’s Cowboys host Pete Carroll’s Seahawks later today we should see some actually competent football to kick off Week 13 as the season rolls into December and into crunchtime for those in the playoff hunt.
The Dallas Cowboys are a team who are the absolute definition of a ‘flat-track bully’; they have absolutely eviserated teams with a record below .500 with an average score surplus of 26 points across their eight wins and only the Chargers have finished within three scores of them over these wins. In stark contrast to this is their record against teams with a winning record, they were blown out of Levi’s stadium losing by 32 points to the San Francisco 49ers as well as losing to their NFC East rival Philadelphia Eagles a month ago. Dak Prescott has entered into the MVP race since their loss to the 49ers, he has been lights out with an 18:2 touchdown to interception ratio, his prolific play has the Cowboys scoring an average of 31.5 points per game which leads the league. Dan Quinn’s defense has been just as impressive allowing only 16.8 points per game led by Micah Parsons’ consistently assertive play in the box and DaRon Bland’s record setting play in the defensive backfield.
On the opposite side of AT&T Stadium will be a Seattle Seahawks team that has seemingly lost the spark they started the season with. At the end of Week 7 they sat attop the NFC West with a 5-2 record with everyone viewing them as true challengers in the NFC. Since then they have gone 1-3 losing two division games in this four game span. Geno Smith has been disappointing since injuring both his elbow and oblique but he is meant to be back to full health with Pete Carroll describing the difference as ‘night and day’ as he is off the injury report. One player they have certainly missed is sophomore running back Kenneth Walker who has been held to under 50% of snaps since Week 7. One player on the defense who could make a difference is Devon Witherspoon, I was a huge fan of his coming out of Illinois and he has been nothing short of sensational in his rookie season. He can play in the slot and be a true nuisance to the prolific CeeDee Lamb who has been Dak’s outlet on a lot of important plays.
DraftKings Sportsbook have set the line at a huge 9 points thanks to the Cowboys’ impressive 13-win streak at home. Now whilst I have my reservations about Dallas’ Super Bowl aspirations due to their lack of form against complete sides, however the Seattle Seahawks are not playing to the level required to end this streak right now. Their offense has flatlined and I think that Dan Quinn’s defense will be just way too much for them to handle. I like a fully healthy Dallas Cowboys to cover the 9-point spread at -110 and the under 47.5 total points at -118.
Injuries to Consider
Seattle Seahawks
Phil Haynes is Out. Kenneth Walker III and Dareke Young are Doubtful. Leonard Williams, Will Dissly and Dee Eskridge are all Questionable.
Dallas Cowboys
No injuries to report.
Here is how the BFTB staff sees this game breaking down:
What do you think, BFTB? Any of you placing bets tonight?