Sunday Night Special – Colts / Cowboys Preview

Sunday Night Special – Colts / Cowboys Preview

by NFL analyst Thomas Quaynor for Wannamakeabet.com

The Indianapolis Colts (4-7-1) go on the road to face the Dallas Cowboys (8-3) on Sunday Night Football. Dallas opened as an 8.5-point favorite, the line is now up to 10.5, so the public (or the Vegas Wiseguys!!) is putting a lot of money on Dallas. The Colts are coming off a tough 24-17 loss at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football, while the Cowboys beat the visiting New York Giants, 28-20, on Thanksgiving.  The Giants scored a touchdown in the final seconds of the game which allowed for the backdoor cover +10.5. 

Why The Colts

The Colts fired head coach Frank Reich after an embarrassing 26-3 loss at New England in Week 9 that dropped them to 4-5.  It was their third straight loss. They made the curious decision to hire their retired former All-Pro center Jeff Saturday as head coach. The fact that he had no significant NFL coaching experience seemed to bother a number of people. Jeff Saturday has gone 1-2 as the Colts head coach, he won his first game, 25-20, at Las Vegas and suffered two close losses at home to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh over the past two weeks. 

He’s come under some scrutiny after the 24-17 loss to Pittsburgh because of how he mismanaged the potential game-tying drive in the final seconds.  He let lots of seconds run off the clock after a running play, instead of using either of his 2 timeouts to set up better scoring opportunities. The Colts offense is led by star, workhorse running back Jonathan Taylor, who led the NFL in rushing last year with 1,811 yards. He’s 10th in rushing this year with 779 rushing yards but has missed 3 games due to injury. 

37-year-old quarterback Matt Ryan, the 2016 NFL MVP, is the latest option the Colts have turned to fill the void caused by Andrew Luck’s sudden retirement in August/2019. The Colts defense doesn’t get a lot of fanfare, but they are very good led by defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, defensive end Yannick Ngakoue and cornerback, former New England Patriot star Stephon Gilmore. 

Why Dallas

Ezekiel Elliot displayed his early career form in the Cowboys last game against the Giants on Thanksgiving, he rushed for 92 yards on 16 carries and scored a touchdown. Quarterback Dak Prescott and tight end Dalton Schultz are also playing a lot better after being hampered by injuries earlier in the season. If the Cowboys offense really starts to get going, they could be considered a favorite to make a long-awaited return to the Super Bowl when you see how well the Cowboys defense has played this year led by All-Everything linebacker Micah Parsons who has 12 sacks, 3 forced fumbles and a “Scoop N’ Score” fumble return touchdown.

The Pick

Even though Dallas is now resembling a Super Bowl winning team and Jeff Saturday is possibly in over his head, 10.5 points is just a little too high for me, unless you can tease Dallas down by at least 4 points, take the 10.5 or 11…Dallas 30, Indianapolis 23