The Dallas Cowboys’ duo of Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott has accomplished plenty since joining the league in 2016. They were missing one element for their collective resumes, but that changed last weekend when the Boys defeated Seattle in the Wild Card Round for the team’s first playoff success in four years. They stay in the NFC West this week for a confrontation with the division champion Los Angeles Rams. The teams were fixtures in the NFC playoffs, meeting eight times between 1973 and 1985, but they haven’t tangled since that last meeting.
Watch this Divisional Round game live on Saturday, January 12, 2019, at 8:15 p.m. ET from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California.
Opening NFL Odds at BookMaker.eu
Dallas Cowboys +7
Los Angeles Rams -7
Over/Under 49.5
Odds Analysis
The Cowboys rode the hot hand into the playoffs and it paid off with a win over Seattle last weekend, coming back from a fourth quarter deficit to get the 24-22 win. It was their eighth win in the last nine games, but they failed to cover the 2.5-point line and fell to 1-3 ATS in their last four. But it’s a win and it should put to rest any doubt over the job status of Jason Garrett. Now, the Boys have another hurdle to climb. They haven’t played for a conference title since the 1995 season, losing in the Divisional Round in each of their last five trips.
The Rams are hoping last year’s experience fuels a deeper postseason run. Breaking a 12-year playoff drought, the Rams entered the 2017 postseason as a favorite over the Atlanta Falcons, only to lose that matchup, 26-13, when the offense failed to show up. It was the first playoff game for Jared Goff, Todd Gurley and coach Sean McVay, and the nerves were evident.
In order to avoid another contest on the first weekend, the Rams finished as the No. 2 seed in the conference, matching the 13 wins the 1999 St. Louis Rams earned on their way to the only Super Bowl title in franchise history. A brief lapse near the end of the regular season cost them the No. 1 seed, but the Rams overcame losses to Chicago and Philadelphia in back-to-back weeks, getting their house in order by knocking off Arizona and San Francisco to close the season.
Player to Watch
This matchup features two of the top running backs in the NFL with Elliott squaring off against Todd Gurley. Zeke won the league’s rushing title with 1,434 yards despite missing the final regular season game to rest. And the move paid off with Elliott running for 137 yards and a touchdown in the win over Seattle. Zeke averaged 5.3 yards per carry and nearly doubled the Seahawks’ rushing yard total.
The Rams will have to contend with Elliott, who will get plenty of touches on the live betting lines at BookMaker.eu. But the bigger concern is for Gurley, who missed the Rams last two games with a sore knee. The additional week certainly helped in his recovery and Gurley is expected to suit up, but how effective will he be?
There is no player more important to the Rams offensive success than Gurley, who led the league with 21 total touchdowns and was the only non-kicker among the top-12 in scoring. He ran for 1,251 yards and 17 scores with an additional 580 yards on 59 receptions. C.J. Anderson filled in nicely with two 100-yard rushing games in Gurley’s absence, and he’ll get some shots. But the Rams need Gurley to enhance their chances of advancing to the conference title game.
Matchup to Watch
The Cowboys are fairly predictable in their offensive approach. They will give the football to Elliott a lot and if they have success, he’ll get the ball even more. And that’s where the battle up front comes into play. Dallas’ line did nice job against Seattle, blowing out holes for Zeke to run through and the Boys amassed 164 yards on the ground.
For the talent the Rams have on the defensive line, they ranked 23rd against the run giving up over 122 yards per game and a league-worst 5.1 yards per carry. We know Aaron Donald can get to the passer, but making him and Ndamukong Suh stop the run all day will take a toll. And the Rams’ weakness on D is Dallas’ strength.
Cowboys at Rams Live Betting
The Boys won’t survive in a shootout so it’s in their best interest to pound Elliott against the Rams porous run defense and keep the ball out of Goff’s hands. Taking the final regular season game off helped Zeke last week and he should be fresh, so expect he’ll get plenty of touches and yards on the live betting lines. As good as the Rams offense has been, they struggled in the red zone, converting just 57.5 percent of their trips into touchdowns. Three playoff teams had a worse percentage, one of them being the Boys, so we could see a prop bet winner on field goals.
NFL Betting Odds: Rams 30, Cowboys 23
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