The Dallas Cowboys started off the year 2-0 with Tony Romo under center.
Ever since he hurt his collarbone against these Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2 though, his club is 0-5 and is suddenly in a huge need for a victory to stick around in the NFC East race in Week 9.
ODDS ANALYSIS
Romo isn't walking through those doors for another couple weeks, and that's still giving a huge headache to Cowboys backers. Live bettors are having a tough time figuring out what to do with this game, knowing that the Eagles are generally accepted as the hardest team to handicap in the NFL. You never know what you're getting on a week-to-week basis out of Philly, and the fact that the team was on bye last week adds all the more mystique.
That said, Philadelphia opened up at -1.5 on Sunday, only to rise to a -3 road favorite by Tuesday morning.
The total opened at 45.5 and has since coming down a whopping point and a half to 44.
WHEN THE DALLAS COWBOYS HAVE THE BALL
Matt Cassel is still the starting quarterback for the Cowboys, but not even he can feel good about that. In fairness, he operated the game plan as was needed last Sunday against Seattle, doing very little in the passing game and getting the ball into the hands of Darren McFadden as often as possible. However, in reality, he didn't even throw for 100 yards, and live bettors need to be prepared for that to be the case once again.
If Dallas is winning this game, Run DMC is going to have to have himself a day. He's got 49 carries for 216 yards since sort of being rediscovered two weeks ago, and though eventually, Christine Michael is probably going to play a bigger role in this offense, for the time being, it's McFadden's ball.
The Eagles have had some tremendous games defensively (see: Giants, New York) and some god awful games as well (see: Panthers, Carolina and Redskins, Washington), so live bettors are going to have to go with the flow. One thing is for sure when Philly's defense is on the field, though. This team is out there with the purpose of getting the ball back. The single solitary reason the Eagles are anywhere near .500 coming out of their bye is because they've forced 19 turnovers, the most in the NFL.
WHEN THE PHILADELPHIA EAGLES HAVE THE BALL
Of course, when you turn around and look at that the other direction, the Eagles have turned the rock over 15 times, too. Against Dallas earlier this year, Philadelphia had three turnovers in a 20-10 defeat, and the game wasn't anywhere near as close as that final score indicates.
Sam Bradford is under a lot of pressure right now, knowing that he hasn't lived up to the hype which came with his acquisition from the Rams in the offseason.
The key though, is going to be getting this ground game going. Who could forget about the day DeMarco Murray had against his former mates back in Week 2? Murray had 13 carries for two yards on the day, and it took a couple runs in garbage time to get him above zero. Philadelphia as a team had just a total of 17 carries and seven yards. That won't get the job done for live bettors. If Bradford is forced to just drop back and throw it 45 times, the Eagles are going to get run out of Dallas, even if it is by a third-string quarterback and a backup running back who is well past his prime.
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Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook! The game between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles is set for Sunday, November 8, 2015, at 8:30 p.m. ET at AT&T Stadium. The matchup will be televised live on NBC.
