Against The Spread: Forecasting Cowboys-Browns Week 4 tilt

The pick against the spread for the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns Week 4 matchup.

This hasn’t been a safe space for gamblers so far in 2020. It’s led people astray and for that, the Cowboys Wire has generously offered to give back all the money anyone’s paid to read these articles. Still, at this point there’s no where to go but up from here.

The Dallas Cowboys play host to the Cleveland Browns in the Week 4 match-up. These two teams are nightmare fuel for bettors, going a combined 1-5 against the spread so far in this young season. The Cowboys have yet to cover a spread, though it’s not as if they haven’t had their chances.

In the season opener against the Los Angeles Rams, a game Dallas was favored in by 2.5 points, a late pass interference call against Michael Gallup erased a chance to win and cover. In Week 3 against the Seattle Seahawks, a two missed extra points and a safety was literally the difference in whether or not the team covered. So while it looks bad, Cowboys backers have been more unlucky than bad through three games.

Dallas enters the game as 4.5 point favorites at BETMGM over the Browns. The recent trend in this exact game has not been kind to the team from North Texas. The last three contests when favored by between four and five points, the Cowboys have not only failed to cover the spread, they’ve lost outright, though the last time it happened was Amari Cooper’s first game with the team. Something’s got to give as Cleveland have lost their last five contests when underdogs by the same amount.

The Verdict: Things finally go right for the Cowboys and they put the Browns away, covering the 4.5 point spread while the under (55.5) hits.

On the season: 1-2 ATS, 1-2 over/under

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Madden 21 Ratings: Dak Prescott slotted behind MVP QBs

Madden 21 revealed the top 10 QB ratings, and day Prescott made the list.

The annual release of Madden ratings is synonymous with the approach of training camp and a new NFL season. Fans and players alike flock to the internet to find out and argue over their favorite players’ ratings.

Madden 21, the latest installment of the franchise, is slowly revealing the rankings this offseason. They started with skill position rookie players (CeeDee Lamb was the second highest rookie WR with a 75), and recently revealed the top-10 quarterback ratings in the league.

It’s no surprise that Patrick Mahomes took home the top spot with a 99, the highest possible number in the game, but Cowboys fans will be happy to hear that their quarterback, Dak Prescott made the cut as one of the ten best signal callers in the NFL.

Prescott tied his division rival Carson Wentz with an 84 rating overall, good for ninth in the league.

The Top-10

  1. Patrick Mahomes (99 overall)
  2. Russell Wilson (97 overall)
  3. Lamar Jackson (94 overall)
  4. Drew Brees (93 overall)
  5. Tom Brady (90 overall)
  6. Aaron Rodgers (89 overall)
  7. Matt Ryan (87 overall)
  8. Deshaun Watson (86 overall)
  9. Dak Prescott (84 ovreall)
  10. Carson Wentz (84 overall)

The ranking for Prescott could feel a little low for some fans’ liking, considering a year ago he was second in the league in passing yards, fourth in touchdowns, and fourth in QBR.

The names above Prescott have all earned their due. Five of the eight ahead of the Cowboys QB have won MVP at some point, and the others are Wilson, Brees, and Watson.

Check back for more Madden 21 rating updates as the season draws near.

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Cowboys open as 2.5-point favorites in Week 1 vs Rams

The Dallas Cowboys apparently are going to be heavy betting favorites early in the 2020 season. Everyone already knew who each team was going to play over the course of the season, but with the NFL schedule now released, sports books know when those …

The Dallas Cowboys apparently are going to be heavy betting favorites early in the 2020 season. Everyone already knew who each team was going to play over the course of the season, but with the NFL schedule now released, sports books know when those matchups will take place. Pandemic stay-at-home orders willing, the Cowboys are going to kickoff the season and christen the Los Angeles Rams’ new SoFi Stadium in Week 1.

The Sunday Night football matchup was one of our 6 likely primetime matchups and will feature what’s expected to be two high-octane offenses. The sports books are licking their lips at all of the possible prop bets, but the line is interesting to say the least. Traveling on the road, Dallas opens -2.5 according to the MGM Sportsbook.

The 50.5 over-under stands as the highest total on Sunday, only surpassed on opening weekend by the Thursday Night contest when the Houston Texans travel to Kansas City to take on the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs.

The Rams are undergoing a bit of a makeover on offense, releasing star running back Todd Gurley and trading away wideout Brandin Cooks. Without a first-round pick, the Rams waited until the second round and selected RB Cam Akers from Florida State to replace Gurley and Florida’s Van Jefferson to replace Cooks.

Dallas has been lauded for their draft class, and will roll out rookie CeeDee Lamb to join with Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup to take on a secondary led by Jalen Ramsey, acquired in a trade during the 2019 season.

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Rewind: Twitter went wild over slide, Cowboys’ shocking selection of CeeDee Lamb

Remember that time during the 2020 NFL Draft when the Cowboys were about to be on the clock and everyone was nervous they’d screw it up but then they walked away with the draft’s best receiver and all of Cowboys Nation unified like never before?

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The Dallas Cowboys created the biggest buzz of the 2020 Draft’s first round when they selected CeeDee Lamb from Oklahoma. Thought by most to be long gone from the board before Dallas even approached the clock, the buzz started building around Pick No. 11.

The reaction around the internet, as fans were watching the league’s organizations go through the first virtual draft in NFL history was electric and wild. It turned out to be the highest-viewed draft in history, by a whopping 35 percent.

Nothing could compare though to the build up and reaction to Dallas having Lamb  fall in their laps; the tension build up seemed to traverse the internet into every Cowboys fans devices.

A walk down memory lane…

The Build Up

The Pick Is In

We Now Go Live to the Lamb Household…

Mike McCarthy

Jerry Jones

Hater in the house.

Fans Are Overjoyed

Well, not all fans. Redskins superfan and platinum rapper Wale checks in from the DC area.

The Pros’ reactions


What a time to be alive.

 

The Collective: Cowboys take up 10% of NFL sales’ top spots, Elliott Top 5

Once again, the Cowboys reign supreme when it comes to popularity.

America’s Team indeed. No matter how many fanbases try to elevate their favorite team to the status, the efforts bear no fruit. Year after year, metric after metric, the Dallas Cowboys reign supreme, and the latest information from the sales department just confirms the undisputed title.

5 different Cowboys players landed inside the Top 50 sales list for the year-long period from March 1, 2019 through February 29, 2020.

If running backs don’t matter, no one has informed fans of the Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliott. As the only non-QB in the top five, the No. 4 overall pick from 2016 checks in at No. 4, after Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes, GOAT Tom Brady and 2019 MVP Lamar Jackson. Behind Elliott comes two more signal callers, Baker Mayfield (?) and Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers.

The next-ranked running back is the Giants’ Saquon Barkley, one of New York’s two entries (QB Daniel Jones, No. 28).

The Cowboys’ own QB, Dak Prescott, checks in at No. 12 on the list, five spots ahead of the Eagles’ Carson Wentz. The other 2016 draft class quarterback, the Rams’ Jared Goff, didn’t appear on the list. Eagles TE Zack Ertz represents at No. 31. No Washington Redskins player made the list.

Also represented as current Cowboys players are linebacker Leighton Vander Esch (No. 24) and wideout Amari Cooper (No. 30).

Rounding out the Cowboys Five is a player who returned to the field for what appeared to be one final hurrah. TE Jason Witten came out of retirement and a year as a broadcaster to play for Jason Garrett one more season. Now, he’s moved on to a supporting role in the new Las Vegas Raiders, but he ranked No. 36 in sales for 2019 with Dallas.

Just in case he ends up in a Dallas uniform for next year’s report, Jets safety Jamal Adams checked in at No. 41.

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Cowboys early odds to knock off Chiefs, win Super Bowl LV

Does Vegas have any faith in the Cowboys turning the corner and getting their sixth Lombardi trophy in 2020?

The confetti and dust is barely settled on the Kansas City Chiefs 31-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. The offseason hasn’t quite yet started for those two organizations after the great display of football they put on in Miami on Sunday night. For the rest of the NFL, though, the offseason already arrived.

With that, the betting world is not at all far behind, setting the latest odds for who will be the next champion of the NFL. The Chiefs are favored to repeat, but just barely and the Dallas Cowboys are of course in the mix.

With a new head coach, and a myriad of free agent questions from the most important position (quarterback) to the least thought about (long snapper) Dallas has a lot of question marks up and down their roster. There is also a lot of known talent for Mike McCarthy to organize and as such, the Cowboys find themselves rounding out the top 10 when it comes to odds to with Super Bowl LV, coming in at +2000.

For the gambling uninitiated, Bet MGM’s line means that for every $100 bet, the bettor would win $2000 if things worked out. Not a bad investment if one believes 2020 will finally be the year.

Here’s a list of the top teams:

Chiefs: +650
Ravens: +700
49ers: +1000
Patriots: +1100
Saints: +1200
Eagles: +1400
Packers: +1600
Steelers: +1800
Seahawks: +1900
Cowboys: +2000
Rams: +2000
Vikings: +2000

This could also be looked at as who Vegas sees as the favorites to make the playoffs. They have the 49ers, Saints, Eagles and Packers as likely NFC division winners, the Seahawks as the favorite for the wild card and the Cowboys, Rams and Vikings duking it out for the final NFC berth.

How will the team actually fare? Well first they’ll have to get their quarterback in the fold and navigate their way through 30 players who are now out of contract. Then, the focus will centralize and land squarely on draft season. It will be interesting to continue to track the odds as the team develops.

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Top 3 Cowboys reaction videos from Week 11

A look at the best video clips from the Cowboys Week 11 win, including two fan entries that will make you laugh.

The Dallas Cowboys emerged victorious Sunday night with a 35-27 win over the Detroit Lions and the celebrations are always sweet when left to Cowboys Nation. Two of the entries are all about being able to laugh at your own prosperity. The third, sandwiched in between is a great look into how the team feels about their own performances.

With the New England Patriots game right around the corner, and a chance to move the Cowboys up a notch or two in their public perception, it’s important to stay loose!

No. 3: Kountry Wayne

The comedian is always checking in on Facebook with hilarious videos and he wants you to know that this is a new team and not the same one that lost four games on the year.

https://www.facebook.com/KingKountryWayne/videos/478699129658527/

No. 2: Sounds of the Game

The Dallas Cowboys’ Sounds of the Game videos are great looks into what happens on the sideline when these grown men get paid good money to play a violent kid’s game. From Michael Bennett’s pre-game speech, to Jaylon Smith’s reaction after laying a big hit on a Lions running back, the pure emotion of this team is something to behold.

Check out the responses to Michael Gallup’s catch and faux yell, as well as when the ball somehow made it past the defender into the welcoming arms of Amari Cooper.

No. 1: Rahmel Dockery

I don’t know this cat, but this video right here is everything that is great about social media. Ezekiel Elliott wasn’t the only one highly impressed with Dak Prescott along with his pregame ritual. I dare you to not watch this multiple times.

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