While fans and TV talking heads love to lean on it as pregame fodder, the point spread established by Vegas oddsmakers prior to a game is one of those things that doesn’t carry much weight inside the building of an NFL organization.
At least that’s what those actually inside will have you believe.
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy was asked at the end of his Thursday press conference if he’s ever used the betting line as a motivational tool with his teams in the past, and his initial reaction seemed to brush off the notion entirely.
“I don’t know if I ever have,” McCarthy squinted in answer, drifting off in thought until he thought to ask a follow-up question of his own.
“What is it this week?”
Upon being told that the 2-2 Los Angeles Rams are favored by 5.5 points heading into Sunday’s matchup, the shocked look on his face said it all.
“We’re… we’re underdogs???”
The room full of reporters broke out in laughter, and McCarthy joined in incredulously.
“Well, good,” he finally said. “You just wrote my Saturday night speech.”
“We’re nobody’s underdog”
Mike McCarthy on the Cowboys being 5.5-point underdogs at the Rams. @FOX4 pic.twitter.com/ZAfa7Ywff8
— Jeff Kolb (@JeffKolbFOX4) October 6, 2022
The reigning Super Bowl champs haven’t looked much like it so far this season, scoring fewer points than the visiting Cowboys have behind a backup quarterback and a supposedly watered-down offense.
Their wins- by a combined 12 points- have come against the Falcons and a struggling Cardinals squad, but they lost the season opener to Buffalo by three touchdowns and were held out of the end zone entirely by San Francisco on Monday night.
Dallas, meanwhile, is on a three-game winning streak; the defense hasn’t given up multiple touchdowns to an opponent yet.
The records of both teams and the stats compiled in that short sample size of games may be somewhat misleading, but McCarthy and the Cowboys obviously believe that their Week 5 clash will be a lot closer than the so-called experts are predicting.
That will apparently be the coach’s message to the team as gameday approaches, and it’s how he concluded his Q&A session with the media before heading out to oversee what was probably about to be a suddenly-ratcheted-up practice.
“I’ll just say this: we’re nobody’s underdog.”
Forget the official betting line. That just became the line you’ll hear about a million times or so leading up to kickoff.
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