The bad news for the Dallas Cowboys just keeps on coming. A week after losing Dez Bryant for around half the season, Tony Romo has now been lost for about the same amount of time as well. That leaves Brandon Weeden to take over an offense without any truly notable skill players, and that could really mess with the prop betting against the Atlanta Falcons this coming Sunday.
The biggest question that we have in relation to props for this weekend isn't what Weeden is going to do against a suddenly aggressive Atlanta defense. It's what Matt Ryan is going to be doing against the Cowboys.
However, in order to accurately try to put numbers on Matty Ice's props, we have to look at that Dallas offense anyway.
Clearly, running the ball is going to be en vogue again for Big D. Dallas cannot afford to try to throw the ball all that often, and it doesn't have the wide receivers capable of stretching the field out anyway. Weeden's passes are all going to be short and safe that he does put out there, and it would be a shock to see this team throw the ball anywhere near as often as it runs it.
In the end, that's going to give the Cowboys a big edge in time of possession and limit Ryan's opportunities with the football.
So though it might be tempting to see Atlanta as a 1.5-point favorite on the road in this game along with a modest total of 44, that doesn't mean that Ryan is going to be throwing the ball all over the field.
The big issue that we have for the Atlanta offense is that it is completely one-dimensional. Roddy White has been nowhere to be found this season, and of the team's 798 total yards of offense in two games, Julio Jones has 276 of them, or 34.5 percent of the entire offense.
Tevin Coleman is banged up, which could leave Devonta Freeman to carry the load by himself in the backfield, and that might further slow down this offense as well. Dan Quinn wants to keep this offense at least somewhat balanced, which means Freeman is going to get the ball at least 15 times or so in this one. He's only averaging 2.0 yards per carry this year, and that could put the passing game in a lot of bad situations.
There's also this general feeling out there that Ryan just drops back and slings the ball 50 times every single game. When we're looking at the prop numbers for this duel, we fully expect to see Matty Ice with a number floating right around 300 yards, especially after he threw for 363 yards and a TD last week against the Giants.
That said, we don't see him getting there. Thus far this season, Atlanta's offensive line hasn't been tested against an aggressive defense the likes of which we are going to see Dallas play on Sunday. Sean Lee could end up being a huge factor in this game, and he knows that he has to really captain this team while the offense is going to be struggling.
Throw in the fact that we'd bet the Falcons get limited to around nine or 10 drives in this game, and we just don't see the offensive numbers being all that great, especially if you really believe the Cowboys are going to be playing this game from behind most of the way. Quinn will be happy to be a little more conservative in Dallas to get out of Dodge as quickly as possible, and that could keep Ryan in the mid-200s in passing yards for the first time this season.
The NFL odds for this Sunday contest were first released by BookMaker, and the Atlanta Falcons were positioned as 1.5-point favorites with a total of 44. Now you can wager in-game while the action unfolds with BookMaker's live betting option.
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook! The matchup between the Atlanta Falcons and Dallas Cowboys will take place Sunday, September 27, 2015, at 1:00 p.m. ET at AT&T Stadium. The game will be televised on FOX.
