The Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys face off on Sunday in a Week 2 NFL showdown at AT&T Stadium.
The Dallas Cowboys come into this game with an 0-1 record and now they don’t have their starting quarterback for a while. In the first game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Cowboys offense only scored three runs, and Dak Prescott is dealing with a finger injury. Cooper Rush will move into the starting lineup and in the last game, he completed 7 of his 13 passes for 64 yards. Wide receiver Noah Brown was the top wide receiver catching five passes for 68 yards. The Cowboys defense in the first game wasn’t awful giving up only 19 points, and with a backup quarterback, it’s going to be even more important that the defense has a big game.
On the other side of this matchup is the Bengals who still have Super Bowl dreams, but they opened up the season with a 23-20 defeat against the Pittsburgh Steelers. One big issue for the Bengals in the first game was the turnovers. Joe Burrow completed 33 of his 53 passes for 338 yards, two touchdowns, and four interceptions. Running back Joe Mixon rushed 27 times for 82 yards. Ja’Marr Chase also had a big game catching 10 passes for 129 yards and one touchdown. Joe Mixon also caught seven passes for 63 yards. In this game, if the Bengals want to secure the win, they need Burrow to not create turnovers.
The Bengals are 8-1 against the spread in their last nine games. The Cowboys are 5-0 against the spread in their last five games against a team with a losing record. The under is 5-1 in the last six meetings played between the two teams.
Burrow struggled with turnovers in the first game but he still threw for 338 yards and two touchdowns. In this game, I expect he is going to clean up the turnovers and that is going to be the difference here as the Bengals get the job done. I expect the Bengals offense to get over 30 points, and Cincinnati will cover the spread.
AUTHOR: Shane Mickle
Mitch's Take...
