Two very disappointing teams meet to finish Week 14 in the NFL on Monday night as the Cincinnati Bengals visit the Dallas Cowboys with the loser essentially eliminated from wild-card contention.
The Bengals are favored on the NFL odds.
| Opening Cincinnati at Dallas MNF Lines Subject to Change: Bengals -5.5 (total 49.5) Expert Prediction: Bengals 31, Cowboys 27 |
Cincinnati Bengals MNF Line -260
In the last three games, the Bengals have scored 99 points against the likes of the Ravens, Steelers and Chargers, and have still lost all three games. They were 44-38 home losers to Pittsburgh in Week 13. Burrow completed 28 of 38 passes for 309 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. While the effort marked his third straight game with more than 300 yards and fourth straight contest with at least three passing scores, Burrow did make a few critical errors by throwing a pick and losing a pair of fumbles — the worst of which was a lost fumble that was returned for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Burrow is only the second QB in NFL history to have three straight games of at least 300 yards passing and three scores and lose them all.
A cause for optimism in the Bengals locker room heading into the final stretch comes from the team’s offensive production. Cincinnati boasts the NFL’s top-ranked passing offense (264.3 yards per game) and has scored 27 or more points in each of its last four outings.
Zach Taylor
“I think it’s normal for emotions to run high, but at the same time we’ve just got to take accountability for anything we can and stick together,” Coach Taylor said. “We’ve got to get ourselves some momentum. That’s three games in a row now that have all been one-possession games. We haven’t done enough to earn the win. It’s as simple as that. It’s nobody else’s fault but our own. So now, there’s still opportunity in front of us to get some momentum for ourselves.”
Joe Burrow
Burrow doesn’t look like a quarterback of a 4-8 team. His stats don’t as well, as he entered Week 14 leading the NFL in completions, attempts, passing yards and passing touchdowns. The Bengals are tied for fifth in the NFL, scoring 27.9 points per game. But they’re the only team in that top five with a losing record.
"He's a complete quarterback. He does everything you need a quarterback to do in the league. He does it at a high level almost every time out." – @kurt13warner on @JoeyB
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) December 8, 2024
📰: https://t.co/0n3aq2u5Ok pic.twitter.com/piL93oFgUq
Receivers
The Bengals have arguably the best 1-2 receiving duo in the NFL when healthy. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are quite a combination, led by Chase, who leads the NFL in both receiving yards (1,142) and touchdown catches (13). Higgins has played just seven games but is averaging 6.1 catches and 79.2 yards per game and has a receiving TD in each of the last three games.
The Bengals have scored a touchdown or a field goal on 37 consecutive drives that reached their opponent’s 20-yard line, dating back to the third quarter of Week 1 vs. New England. It is the longest active streak in the NFL, and the longest streak by a Bengals team since they scored on 40 straight red zone trips from Week 14 of the 2005 season through Week 10 of 2006. Cincinnati has scored a TD on 71.1 percent of its red zone drives this season (27 of 38), the second-highest rate in the NFL behind Baltimore (75.0).
Evan McPherson
The Bengals have a terrific kicker in McPherson but he landed on IR this week. In a corresponding move, Cincinnati added Cade York to the practice squad. York, a fourth-round draft selection by the Browns in 2022, was most recently with the Commanders following a trade by Cleveland in August. He missed both of his field goal attempts in Washington’s team’s season opener against the Buccaneers and was released.
Logan Wilson
Cincinnati’s defense has been among the worst in the NFL and now linebacker Wilson is expected to miss the rest of the season after a surgical cleanup this week. Wilson is second on the team in tackles with 104 and tied for the team lead in forced fumbles with two.
In the regular season, the Bengals are 28-57 at night, including 4-17 on SNF, 14-27 playing on MNF, 10-9 on TNF, 0-1 on Friday night and 0-3 on Saturday night.
^Dallas Cowboys MNF Line +204
The Cowboys (5-7) has kept their slim wild-card hopes alive with back-to-back wins as they come off a 27-20 victory over the Giants on Thanksgiving to snap a six-game home losing streak, including the playoffs. Backup QB Cooper Rush completed 21 of 36 passes for 195 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions. Rush wasn’t asked to do much, as the Cowboys cashed in a pick-six and also scored on a short field to begin the third quarter. As a result, Rush didn’t have to be aggressive in pushing the ball down the field, but he didn’t turn the ball over and didn’t take a sack.
Cooper Rush during the Cowboys two-game win streak:
— NFL on DAZN (@NFLonDAZN) December 9, 2024
🏈 442 yards
🏈 3 TD
🏈 0 INT
📺 Cowboys vs. Bengals tonight on NFL Game Pass on DAZNpic.twitter.com/7Z5mwgRFrh
Rico Dowdle
Dowdle rushed the ball 22 times for 112 yards and a touchdown in the win, adding three receptions on three targets for 11 yards Dowdle found plenty of running room with a season-high 22 carries and ripped off long gains of 22, 18, 17 and 13 yards. That led to first 100-yard rushing game of his career, and also marked the first time a Cowboys running back has topped the century mark since Week 3 of the 2023 campaign.
Micah Parsons
Since Parsons returned from a high-ankle sprain, he’s not only on a tear, but he’s leading a defensive charge as well. Parsons had just one sack in the first four games before his injury. In the four games since he’s returned, Parsons has 5.5 sacks, including three different multi-sack games. He’s now up 6.5 sacks and on pace to lead the team in sacks for the fourth straight year.
Parsons draws a lot of attention, which has opened up space for DeMarvion Overshown, who had his first career pick-six in the Thanksgiving win. In his first season playing after suffering a torn ACL last year, Overshown is second on the team in tackles (84) and sacks (5) and seems to make a new highlight play every week.
Mike Zimmer
“He’s a guy with a lot of speed, physicality, tackles well,” Cowboys defensive coordinator Zimmer said of Overshown. “I feel like he continues to get better and better, and the more ways that we can use him, the better it is.”
The Injuries
Injuries have been a major storyline for the Cowboys all season long, highlighted by the loss of Dak Prescott for half of the season, not to mention injuries to key Pro Bowlers such as Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, DaRon Bland, Trevon Diggs and Zack Martin – who this week was ruled out for the season. The news came only hours after Martin discovered he is the team’s nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. Martin has missed the past two games with ankle and shoulder injuries. And now comes a question whether he will be back in 2025 as he will be a free agent.
The offensive guard was named to the Pro Bowl nine times in his first 10 years and an All-Pro seven times. Only Hall of Famers Bob Lilly (11), Larry Allen (10) and Mel Renfro (10), plus 11-timer Jason Witten, who is not eligible for the Hall of Fame yet, have been selected to more Pro Bowls than Martin in Dallas history.
Mike McCarthy
“He’s gonna be missed,” said Coach McCarthy. “We’re not gonna replace Zack Martin, by any means. … He brings so much to the team and the team culture. We all recognize what kind of player he”s been here in Dallas, but the type of person he is — people gravitate to him. His leadership, he’ll definitely be missed in that area.”
Currently, the injury front looks somewhat positive as they got Brandin Cooks back last week and now Diggs could return for this game. Lawrence remains on IR with a foot injury and is considered to be a “long shot” to play Monday night, but he’s getting closer to a return.
CeeDee Lamb
Star WR Lamb is a bit banged up with a shoulder injury, but he’ll be out there. Lamb said he dealt with a similar type injury before during his time at Oklahoma, but was able to play through it back then as well. Thanks to an 11-day break in between games, Lamb has been able to give the shoulder some much-needed rest.
^How to Bet Cincinnati at Dallas MNF Lines
When: Monday, 8:15 PM ET
Where: AT&T Stadium
TV: ESPN, ABC
Stream Option: ESPN+
Bengals vs Cowboys Series History
These teams have played 14 times in the regular season overall, with Dallas leading 10-4 and on a five-game winning streak. The last meeting was early in the 2022 season also in Arlington and the Cowboys were 20–17 winners. Backup QB Cooper Rush started that game for Dallas due to an injury to Dak Prescott and will start here. It was Joe Burrow under center for Cincinnati.
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