Cowboys vs Cardinals Odds Preview: A Shocker in the Desert?!

Cowboys Now Favored by Nearly Two Touchdowns

The Dallas Cowboys ride into Sunday as the largest favorites, taking on the lowly Arizona Cardinals. With a line that now reads “-13”, Dallas needs to win by two touchdowns or more. That is lofty. But considering how Dallas has looked, it might just do it. But the Cardinals are being underestimated and are 2-0 against the spread (ATS). Maybe they’ll shock the world, but they could just topple the Cowboys vs Cardinals odds.

A Trap Game for the Cowboys?

There are no shortages of “trap games” this Week 3. But this one might take the top spot as Cowboys vs Cardinals odds get out of control. Dallas opened as 9.5-point favorites and is now at 13 points. Over 90% of tickets are on the Cowboys so this might continue swelling until its past the 14-point mark. Is everyone falling into a massive trap?

One look at the Cowboys schedule shows they are facing New England next week then visiting San Francisco then the Chargers. That’s a lot of more “serious” matchups so it’s plausible for Dallas, riding two dominant wins, to slightly overlook the Cardinals.

Of course, it’s hard to discount Dallas’s two wins. The Giants were a playoff team last season and Dallas 40-0’d them. The Jets, even without Aaron Rodgers, upset the Bills and have a top-five defense. Dallas easily beat them 30-10. We can’t blame folks for auto-betting Dallas on the NFL betting lines.

The Cowboys are also 5-2 ATS in their last seven games. They are also typically fast starters and are 7-1 ATS in their last eight games in September. But there is a caveat when it comes to the Cowboys, who can go from champs to chumps on a weekly basis.

Particularly, Dallas has struggled against Arizona in recent meetings. Dallas is just 1-6 in its last seven meetings with Arizona. That’s on both the moneyline and spread. In fact, Dallas was the favorite in all of these games.

Maybe these stats are largely irrelevant. Quarterback Dak Prescott is also 1-1 against Arizona with a whopping 117.3 passer rating. For the sake of this -750 betting line on Dallas, he better stay on point.

The Cardinals are Not Tanking

The Cardinals are 2-0 ATS so far this NFL season. After all, even if management looks to “tank”, the coaches and players have other plans. This is Jonathan Gannon’s first shot as an NFL head coach. The last thing he wants to do is keep losing. And several Cardinals are on short-term deals. They’re hungry.

“We’ve got to coach better,” Gannon told the media following the team’s collapse against the Giants. “We got outplayed in the second half. A tale of two halves. We have to do a better job to help our guys out because the effort’s there and the intensity is there — we’ve got to coach a little bit better.”

Indeed, the Cardinals could not finish the job against Washington and New York. But these are two sturdy NFC East teams. Who’s to say Arizona won’t stick to Dallas as they did here? At +13 on the Cowboys vs Cardinals odds, this team has a lot of leeway.

But Dallas could also be a tier above Washington and New York. This team might just finish atop the NFL standings. If Arizona wants to cover for a third straight game, it will need to find ways to pressure Dallas’s offense.

Arizona’s pressure rate of 19% needs to go up. Prescott can be prone to turnovers as he showed last season. The Cardinals need to force some. It’s a longshot at +520. And Arizona will likely lose since its offense is also averaging a pedestrian 3.6 yards per play. But don’t count it out just yet.

For NFL betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.

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