Turkey Day Football: Raiders vs Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys look to get one step closer to the playoffs as they host the 13 point underdog Oakland Raiders this Thursday at 4:15 at Cowboys Stadium in a Thanksgiving Day clash.
BetUS NFL Betting Odds:
Oakland Raiders +13
Dallas Cowboys -13
O/U 40
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Cowboys’ QB Tony Romo (probable) is currently the most blitzed QB in the league since OT Mark Colombo broke his left fibula two weeks ago. Expect the Raiders to attack Romo with their big defensive line, especially with the QB is suffering from back problems.
“We’ve already talked to Tony and he says he feels a lot better. …. He had a little bit of stiffness. He had quite a bit during the ballgame, but says he feels a lot better,” coach Wade Phillips said.
Romo may feel the heat from a familiar face too, as he has to face DE Greg Ellis this week. “That’s the game that Al Davis told me about when he first called me,” Ellis said in the preseason. “He said, ‘Greg, guess where we’re going to be on Thanksgiving.’ I said, ‘Where?.’ He said, ‘We’re going to be in Dallas playing your Dallas Cowboys.'”
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Also expect Nnamdi Asomugha to keep pace with Romo’s best target Miles Austin. Austin was limited to four catches for 47 yards without a score against Washington’s top pass defense.
With Roy Williams not clicking with Romo, Patrick Crayton, who scored Dallas’ only TD last week, could be the answer. “We know we’ve got to start picking it up. Not just for our fans, but for ourselves too,” Crayton said. “It’s going to be good for us to come out Thursday and be sharp and be crisp. It’s got to look like we are really doing something out there.”
Dallas best chance to avoid an upset will be with the ground game with Marion Barber or Felix Jones running against the 30th ranked run defense.
On offense the Raiders will counter with QB Bruce Gradkowski, who didn’t have great numbers against the Bengals, but he did enough to help the team pick up its third win of the season.
Gradkowski threw two TD passes and one interception and ran the ball six times for a total of 8 yards and a fumble lost.
Consider these NFL trends: Dallas is 7-3 ATS in its last 10 games at home but Oakland is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games when playing Dallas. Also if you’re betting on the game total keep in mind it has gone OVER in 4 of Dallas’s last 6 games at home but it has gone UNDER in 6 of Oakland’s last 9 games.
My pick: Dallas. Under.
