Against The Spread: Cowboys big dogs against Eagles, should you bite?

Sunday Night Football is the crown jewel of the NFL schedule. Nearly every week, two teams with everything to play for battle it out for supremacy. And then there’s the matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, the game no one asked for.

Traditionally this exact game has been a staple of NBC’s schedule. After all, it’s two division rivals in big markets and, much to everyone’s chagrin, someone’s leaving Lincoln Financial Field in first place and the inside track to the playoffs. The oddsmakers at BETMGM believe it to be the Philadelphia Eagles, who are nine-point favorites. This marks just the third time since 2010 that Dallas has found themselves to be this big of an underdog. They won both.

In 2010, the Jon Kitna led Cowboys took down the New York Giants 33-20 in a season that was just about as abysmal as this one. Tony Romo went in the sixth game of a 1-5 start and head coach Wade Phillips was fired shortly after. 2014’s game was quite memorable, with Dallas beating the heavily favored Seattle Seahawks with Romo at the helm.

Still, this Cowboys team has one thing no other NFL team has to date, a goose egg against the spread. That’s right, Dallas has yet to cover in 2020. The stinky cheese stands alone. And while history says that they perform well in this scenario, it’s hard to imagine exactly how.

At the time of publishing, it’s unclear who will be under center for Dallas. Andy Dalton has still not practiced due to the concussion suffered in last weekend’s game, so all signs point to Ben DiNucci, a seventh-round draft pick out of the football factory that is James Madison. Whoever it is, they’ll have legitimate problems up front handling a pass rush that ranks No. 5 in sacks per game.

Still, at the end of the day, the Eagles have done nothing to deserve being favored by so many points. This division is too terrible and too ugly for a team to win a Sunday Night game in blowout fashion.

The Verdict: The Cowboys cover their first game of the year (+9) and the over (42.5) hits.

On the year: 4-3 against the spread, 4-3 over/under

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