Cowboys’ Big Test Against Seahawks

The Dallas Cowboys looked like they were going to have a rough season at the beginning of the year when they got schooled by the San Francisco 49ers and barely hung on to beat the Tennessee Titans. However, since then they have yet to lose a game and sit at 4-1.  Those wins, however, came against the St. Louis Rams, New Orleans Saints and Houston Texans. These teams are not exactly the cream of the crop in the NFL at the moment. Later this afternoon, though, they get their first real test as they take on the 4/1 Super Bowl favorites, the Seattle Seahawks.

The Dallas Cowboys are -8-point underdogs in this match up but do not simply count them out. They have been riding on the back of the current NFL rushing leader DeMarco Murray who is not going to be easy to stop even for the fifth best defense in the NFL. Murrary has a reputation of losing the ball, he has given up four fumbles this season, and the Seahawks will likely try to hone in on that weakness to slow him down. The Seahawks allow 62.2 rushing yards per game, an NFL low.

The fact that the Dallas Cowboys are coming into Seattle does not bode well for them. The Seahawks, particularly Russell Wilson, excel when playing at home. Wilson ability to bring a zone read offense from college into the NFL has far surpassed the same attempts by his piers Robert Griffin III and Colin Kaepernick. He has ran for 122 yards this season. In his last game he ran for 122 yards, but do not call him a rushing quarterback. He also threw for 201 yards. This dual-threat makes Wilson the most illusive quarterback in the league in terms of trying to figure out how to defend him.

Dallas’ defense will be tasked with slowing down Wilson. The Cowboys give up 6.5 yards per play, something that Wilson will likely exploit. The Cowboys have only given up 17 points in the last two weeks, though, which means they tighten up in the red zone. This could pose a problem for Wilson.

Some important betting trends to make in mind when putting down money is that the Seattle is 40-18-1 in their last 59 home games. Against NFC opponents, the Seahawks are 20-6 against the spread. The Cowboys are 5-2 against the spread in their last seven games.

The total is set at 47. Seattle is 8-1 on hitting the under in their last nine games against NFC opponents. Overall the Seahawks are 9-3 on the under over 12 games.

The game starts at 4:25 p.m. ET and you can watch it on Fox.