Friday Night Football Picks – Tennessee Titans vs. Dallas Cowboys

BetOnline NFL Football Betting Odds: DALLAS -2.5, Total 37.5

Date: 21 August 2009

Location: Dallas Stadium

Time: 8PM ET

Network: Fox

Here are some of the NFL pro football betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

• TENN has won its last five pre-season games SU
• TENN has covered four of its last five pre-season games
• TENN has played its last five pre-season games OVER the total
• TENN has won and covered four of its last five pre-season road games
• TENN has played five of its last six pre-season road games OVER the total
• DALL has covered one of its last seven pre-season games
• DALL has lost five of its last seven pre-season games SU
• DALL has played six of its last eight pre-season games OVER the total
• DALL is 5-0-1 SU in its last six pre-season home games
• DALL has covered four of its last six pre-season home games

Tennessee has done extremely well through the air in the first two games, passing for 549 yards. Vince Young is making his case for playing time, and he was relatively impressive against Tampa Bay last week, throwing for 131 yards and a touchdown. Young recently got good news, presumably, when Titans owner Bud Adams made it clear that he was going to be this team’s quarterback of the future. How clear? "He’s under contract. He’s not going anywhere. He’s our quarterback of the future," was Adams’ quote.

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Young will not start this game, but he will see a lot of action. The first-team offense is supposed to play the whole first half, but that won’t include Kerry Collins, who will give way to Young at some point. Patrick Ramsey will get some time too, as he is theoretically competing with Young for the backup job. By the way, two rookies scored offensive TD’s for Tennessee last week – wide receiver Kenny Britt and running back Jevon Ringer – not to mention cornerback Ryan Mouton, who scored on an interception return.

Tony Romo played two series against Oakland last week in what was a pitiful performance by the Cowboys. The Dallas defense allowed Oakland to get 26 first downs and 456 total yards. Jon Kitna was the main guy under center (hitting seven of ten passes), and Stephen McGee, much more of a raw talent than anything else, saw enough action to throw nine passes. The Cowboys are looking for receivers, and Sam Hurd made a statement for himself, pulling in five passes for 79 yards. Roy Williams only had one catch for 12 yards, and that has to change.

By the way, in other news, Romo has broken up with Jessica Simpson, reportedly because she drank a little too much. There may be another issue – Simpson is now apparently with Redskins’ backup QB Colt Brennan. That ought to spice up the Cowboy-Redskin rivalry, if only Brennan ever got any playing time. We’ll keep you posted.

The Cowboys and Titans have played each other 33 times in the pre-season, in what goes back to the in-state rivalry when the Titan franchise was in Houston. Dallas owns a 20-13 SU edge. We know that Tennessee and Jeff Fisher like to win in the pre-season, as they have a five-game winning streak (4-0-1 against the number). Dallas has shown a pattern of laying down on the road and stepping things up at home, and that intensity should go up a few notches as they christen their new stadium, with the roof closed (they’ve been practicing indoors at the Alamodome). Romo will play more, for sure.

This is all enough for us to lay the 2.5 points with Dallas, the favorite in the NFL pre-season football betting odds.

JAY’S PLAY: DALLAS -2.5 ***

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)