Very intriguing Sunday Night Football matchup this week as it could be the beginning of a great quarterback rivalry in the NFC East as Eagles rookie Carson Wentz and Cowboys rookie Dak Prescott square off for the first time in their NFL careers. First place in the division is on the line. The Cowboys are favored in NFL betting.
Take a Sneak Peek at the Philadelphia at Dallas Free Pick, Betting Spread & TV Info
When: Sunday, Oct. 30, 8:30 PM ET Where: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas TV: NBC Radio: Philadelphia / Dallas Stream Option: NFL Live Opening NFL Lines: Cowboys -4.5 (43)Why Bet on Philadelphia?
The Eagles beat the previously unbeaten Vikings 21-10 last week as the Philly defense was outstanding with six quarterback sacks and holding Minnesota under 300 yards. Wentz struggled early, tossing two interceptions. But he recovered to lead the Eagles on a couple of scoring drives, including a 5-yard TD pass to Dorial Green-Beckham in the third quarter for an 18-3 lead. Wentz has won four of his first six starts and has completed 118 of 185 passes (63.8 percent) for 1,324 yards with eight touchdowns and three interceptions for a 92.7 passer rating. In his first four starts, he had a 103.5 passer rating and 67.4 completion percentage, and averaged 7.5 yards per attempt. In his last two starts, he has a 63.5 rating and a 54.0 completion percentage, and has averaged just 6.3 yards per attempt. The Eagles are the only team in the NFL this season to return a kickoff for a touchdown – and they’ve done it in back to back weeks. In Week 6, Wendell Smallwood had an 86-yard kickoff-return touchdown and last week, in the win over Minnesota, Josh Huff returned a kickoff 98 yards for a score. Philadelphia is only the fifth team since 1970 to have a kickoff-return touchdown by a different player in consecutive weeks. Eagles coach Doug Pederson said he is not “down on” running back Ryan Mathews despite his two late-game fumbles. Mathews has fumbled twice in the last three weeks with the Eagles trying to hold a lead late in the game. But you could see more of Smallwood and Darren Sproles. “We don’t want to see it, especially in those situations – four-minute situations there at the end of the game,” Pederson said. “But by no means am I down on Ryan at all. We just have to make sure that he understands that he can’t obviously do that.” The Philadelphia defense will be tasked with stopping Dallas’ top-ranked rushing attack in Week 8. The Cowboys have rushed for 161.2 yards per game this season, including 191 per game over their last four outings. Philadelphia is surrendering 4.5 yards per carry but has allowed just one 100+ yard rusher in 2016 (Matt Jones, Week 6).Why Bet on Dallas?
The Cowboys come out of their bye week. They will get back top receiver Dez Bryant. He missed the team’s previous three games with a leg injury. The Cowboys might have won three games without Bryant, but they miss their star receiver’s big-play ability, as well as his presence creating one-on- one opportunities for other receivers. Bryant has 11 catches for 150 yards and a touchdown in three appearances this season. He needs 25 receiving yards to become the 6th player in team history with 6,000. Prescott has won five of his first six starts and completed 125 of 182 passes (68.7 percent) for 1,486 yards with seven touchdowns and one interception for a 103.9 passer rating. Prescott has scored three rushing touchdowns. Prescott and Wentz are the first rookie quarterbacks with a combined winning percentage of .750 (with a minimum of three starts) since the 1970 merger. They played against each other at the Senior Bowl in January (Prescott’s South team beat Wentz’s North team coached by the Cowboys). Rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott leads the NFL averaging 117.2 rushing yards per game and is the first rookie in NFL history to rush for at least 130 yards in four consecutive games. Elliott rushed for a career-best 157 yards in the team’s Week 6 win at Green Bay. With 130 rushing yards against Philadelphia, Elliott would become just the seventh player in NFL history to rush for at least 130 yards in five consecutive games. The Cowboys are averaging an NFL-high 33.7 rushing attempts per game. After giving up 230 rushing yards to the Redskins, the Eagles held the Vikings to 93 yards on 27 carries. With the exception of the Washington game, the Eagles have done a good job against the run, holding their other five opponents to 3.7 yards per carry.
