Dallas recorded their biggest win of the season when beating the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday Night Football without Dak Prescott in Week 8 and the Cowboys are expected to maintain that momentum when Denver visit Arlington.
The Cowboys are hopeful of having Prescott back for the Week 9 matchup and with him under center bettors can be confident of America’s Team extending their perfect 7-0 ATS record.
Despite sitting at 4-4 and still being in with a chance of making the playoffs, the white flag went up in Denver this week when it was announced that Von Miller had been traded to the LA Rams. Without their defensive leader, the last thing this underperforming Denver defense needs is to run into Dallas, who are favored by 9.5 points on the spread.
You can check out our full preview of Denver Broncos vs Dallas Cowboys here, while we have also put together a same-game parlay for the matchup.
Dallas Cowboys -6.5 alt spread (-170)
Dak Prescott over 276.5 passing yards (-110)
Dalton Schultz over 44.5 receiving yards (-110)
Parlay odds: +405
Dallas Cowboys -6.5 (-170)
For parlay purposes, I’m teasing Dallas below a touchdown on the alternate spread but wouldn’t put anyone off taking them on with the full 9.5-point handicap. The Cowboys have blitzed teams at home, putting 40 points on the Giants and Eagles, and should have Prescott back from his calf injury for this game. Understandably, the offense wasn’t as fluid with Cooper Rush in charge against the Vikings, while the loss of Tyron Smith on the offensive line made life that bit tougher for the back-up quarterback. The Cowboys still managed to put up over 400 yards of offense and should be able to comfortably move the ball against this Denver defense, despite the stats suggesting they are a tough nut to crack.
The Broncos have faced only one team, the Ravens, who rank in the top 10 for total offense (DVOA) and are coming to terms with Miller’s departure. They face a rude awakening up against a Dallas side registering 32.1 ppg. While Dallas’ offense is an elite, streamlined machine, Denver’s unit has been stuck in neutral for much of the year. Teddy Bridgewater remains reliable, completing over 70% of his passes in their 4 wins, but he’s limited in what he can do, while the play-calling has bogged down this team. They are averaging 19.6 ppg, posting fewer than 330 total yards on average and have a dreadful red-zone offense, hardly a recipe for a team to cover for what would be only the second time in the last 6 games.
Dak Prescott over 276.5 passing yards (-110)
Head coach Mike McCarthy gave a positive outlook on Prescott’s availability for this game so let’s take him at his word for this leg. Prescott put up a season-best 445 passing yards in his last start against New England, boosting his average for the year to 259 yards per game.
Prescott has pulled the strings for the offense with the third-highest ranked passing attack in the league, according to Football Outsiders. While Denver’s defenses hasn’t given up too many points this year, they have given up quite a large number of passing yards, particularly when you take into consideration they have faced the Jets, Jaguars, Giants, Steelers and Washington. They have given up a total of 1924 yards in 8 games and could find it tricky to slow down Prescott with their pass rusher options limited and a few injuries in the secondary to contend with.
Dalton Schultz over 44.5 receiving yards (-110)
Dalton Schultz had his worst outing of the season against the Vikings last week, recording 11 yards on 2 catches. With his stock potentially low, now looks a good time to get behind the tight end to have a bounceback game, especially if Prescott plays.
Entering Week 8, Schultz had strung together 4 games where he had registered over 50 receiving yards, helping himself to 3 touchdowns in the process. His target numbers have remained consistent throughout the year, despite all the options Dallas have and he could hurt a Denver team that is lacking depth at the linebacker position.
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