Will the return of Dez Bryant be enough to pull the Cowboys out of their malaise? We’ll find out Sunday when the Cowboys are anticipating their star receiver back in the lineup. He picked a bad week to get back on the field with the Seattle Seahawks looking like the dominant defensive team we’re all familiar with.
ODDS
The line opened at Seattle -5 with a total of 40. The ‘Boys have been atrocious when it comes to covering the spread, going 1-5 ATS and 0-4 ATS since losing Tony Romo. Seattle covered in a SU road win as 6.5-point faves over San Francisco last week, but is just 2-6-2 ATS in its last 10 games.
KEY INJURIES
Thomas Rawls – Missed practice this week as the team is still trying to figure out the severity of the backup running back’s calf injury. He started two games when Marshawn Lynch sat with an injury, but his snaps diminished when Lynch returned. Seattle signed Bryce Brown as insurance.
Barry Church – Suffered an ankle injury early in last week’s game but returned to action. He sat out practice early in the week and is listed as questionable. Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence also sat out practice with a back injury. Danny McCray is behind Church on the depth chart at strong safety.
KEY MISMATCH
The last two times the Cowboys played the Seahawks, they had major special teams blunders with blocked punts turned into touchdowns. A special teams faux pas last week, when former Cowboy Dwayne Harris returned a kickoff 100 yards, cost them a chance at victory. This week the Cowboys have to get ready for another dangerous returner in Seattle rookie Tyler Lockett. He is the fourth rookie since 1970 to record a touchdown on a reception, kickoff and punt. He had a 57-yard punt return for a score against St. Louis and set the franchise record with a 105-yard kickoff return against the Bears. Lockett averages 26.0 yards per kickoff return to rank third in the NFL, and is one of four players with a touchdown. Dallas has had difficulty covering kickoffs with a league-high 37.8 yards per return allowed. The simplest solution is kicking the ball out of the end zone. Dan Bailey has 23 touchbacks and only six kickoffs have been returned. But if given the chance, Lockett could be a game-changer.
KEY STAT
31.0 – Seattle’s quarterback sacks allowed. The Seahawks have allowed the most in the NFL by a good margin. Dallas has 13 sacks but seven have come in the last two games with the return of Greg Hardy from suspension.
BETTING ANGLE
In what has become a train wreck of a season for the Cowboys, a spot of good news never lasts long. Receiver Dez Bryant was feeling “great” after practicing with the team for the first time since he broke a bone in his right foot, and is eyeing a return this week. Bryant was able to participate in more team drills after a bone scan showed the foot was healed from the injury he suffered in the season opener. But that good news was tempered by running back Joseph Randle going AWOL from the team’s facility for personal reasons, a day after learning he had lost his starting job. Randle’s numerous off-field troubles have frustrated a Cowboys staff that has grown increasingly impatient with him. For the time being, at least Greg Hardy isn’t the center of media attention at Cowboys camp.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
Bryant might be back but the Cowboys are still without Tony Romo, the guy who directs the offense. Matt Cassel made his first start in a Dallas uniform last week and was underwhelming tossing three interceptions, which was one more than former starter Brandon Weeden threw in his three starts in place of Romo. After running for 152 yards against the Giants, Darren McFadden has claimed the starting job in the backfield and will need to have another monster game to soften up the Seahawks’ defense, and that’s not likely to happen. Seattle was back to its dominant ways last week, thoroughly throttling the 49ers limiting them to 142 total yards. Marshawn Lynch ran for 122 yards and a score as Seattle returned to the ways that made them so successful. Seattle’s four losses are to teams with a combined 21-3 record and the Seahawks have ruled the lesser teams. That trend continues with a cover road win.
Seattle 20, Dallas 12
BookMaker opened the spread for this Sunday game at -5 in favor of the Seahawks. The NFL odds total surfaced at 40. Minute-by-minute spreads, totals and props are available for this game using the live betting platform at BookMaker.
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