Our Monday Night Football prediction this week features the the Tennessee Titans traveling to Dallas to take on the Cowboys. The Current line at Wannamakeabet.com is Cowboys (-4.5, 40). Join our free November sports betting league today to bet on the game and win cash. It’s free! If you’ve never bet on sports before, this is the perfect place to learn how. Click here to view our video and join
The Titans offense currently ranks 24th on the ground and 31st through the air. That’s awful. On the other side of the ball, Dallas has the 2nd ranked secondary in the league. This bodes well for Dallas. And when the Cowboys get the ball they will go to work on the ground. Tennessee’s rush defense is middle of the pack which is not good enough against one of the league’s best backs. Ezekiel Elliott is one of the league’s best rushers and, with the well documented struggles surrounding Dak Prescott and the passing game, expect Zeke to carry the load once again and get a lot of carries and 100+ yards.
The Dallas passing game ranks 30th in the NFL coming into Monday night. That’s part of the reason they went out and traded for former Raiders’ pro bowler Amari Cooper. The upgrade at wideout will certainly help Prescott and the Dallas passing game, but they face a Tennessee secondary that ranks 7th in the NFL and success through the air might be tough to come by. However, if the Cowboys can generate success along the ground they should be able to open lanes for Cooper and Cole Beasley downfield and ultimately allow them to score.
The Titans offense has been subpar all season long, and while Corey Davis offers some explosiveness down field it’ll be tough for him to find space against this secondary. Tennessee, meanwhile, should have success keeping the Dallas passing game in check as well, and with neither team being able to eat up chunks of yards at a time expect the kicking game to play a huge factor in this one.
The Total. That brings us to our total for this week. The total in this game is pretty darn low for a prime time Monday night game. With the inadequacies of each team’s offense highlighted above and the strength of each team’s secondary it’s no surprise to see the total at 40.
The Cowboys are going to run the football and hope to find some bad coverage downfield. The Tennessee offensive plan is going to be very similar as they don’t have many weapons to expose a very good Cowboys secondary. And so we appear to have ourselves a low scoring affair and a game the general public will perceive as boring.
The kicking game, running game, and defense of each team will be featured and Marcus Mariota and Dak Prescott will be relegated into game managers. The Cowboys have gone Under in 13 of their last 16 while the Titans have come in Under in five of their last six. Look for both of those trends to continue here in a game that finishes around the 36-point mark.
Side Prediction. The Cowboys are undefeated at home this season. Meanwhile the Titans are 1-2 on the road and have fallen well short of most expectations. Dallas was held in check on the ground two weeks ago and Zeke should have a nice rebound game. The Titans have not looked great this season. And even in their two game run where they beat the Jags and Eagles, the wins were ugly and low scoring.
Dallas is 6-1 ATS in their last seven following a game in which they accumulate fewer than 90 yards rushing. And 9-4-1 ATS in their last 14 against a team with a losing record. Although we see Dallas winning this game, we are not certain they will cover the number. It’s the time of game to be heavier on the total than you are on the side. So a small play for us on the side and a big one on the Under.
Chip Smith is a Wannamakeabet.com Staff Writer