NFL Playoff Betting – Game 3 Between the Eagles and the Cowboys

Game 3 between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys occurs this Sunday in the 1 st round of the NFC Conference Playoffs. The NFL playoff lines have listed the Eagles as an underdog in this game. The difference in the betting line from this week to last week? The Eagles are a 4 point dog in this Saturday’s game and were a 3 point dog last Sundays game.

The Eagles, however, don’t seem particularly worried. Coach Andy Reid is a cagey guy and I’m sure he didn’t show the Cowboys everything this Sunday when they were taken to the cleaners 24 to 0.

Philly just wasn’t prepared for that game and let things get away from them early. Once the ‘Boys took a 17 to 0 lead, Philly had to go to a passing game. That played right into Dallas’s hands. It’s obvious that Philly wanted to run the ball more and would have liked to as Brian Westbrook had only 5 carries and LeSean McCoy and Leonard Weaver had 1 each.

That should all change this Sunday. Reid will go back to the drawing board and come up with a game plan that should allow the Eagles to at least be more competitive. Another factor in the Eagles’ favor is the fact that Dallas will be trying to beat Philadelphia for the third time in a single season. That’s hard to do. It can happen, Pittsburgh did it last year against the Ravens, but it’s still hard to do.

Here are the NFL playoff odds for this game.

Philadelphia Eagles +4 -110 O 45 -110

Dallas Cowboys -4 -110 U 45 -110

Now, let’s check out a few online wagering trends for this game.

The Philadelphia Eagles are 7 and 0 ATS in their last 7 games as an underdog of 3 ½ to 10 points.

The Under is 4 and 1 in the Philadelphia Eagles last 5 games on field turf.

The Dallas Cowboys are 4 and 1 ATS in their last 5 games on field turf.

The Under is 6 and 1 in the Dallas Cowboys last 7 games as the favorite.

Let’s see how the offenses and defenses matchup.

Eagles’ Offense vs. Cowboys’ Defense

The Eagles’ 11 th ranked offense, which usually averages over 26 points per game, has been stymied by Dallas’s defense in two games this season.

In the first game, even though Philadelphia put up over 300 total yards, the Eagles were held to only 16 total points. That’s not a good sign. In that game, which was the only somewhat positive thing to happen for Philly, the Eagles outrushed the Cowboys in yardage 89 to 67. LeSean McCoy rushed 8 times for 33 yards.

McCoy might be the key in this game. Reid will have to use McCoy to keep Dallas on their heels. In other words, the Eagles will need to run the ball against the ‘Boys’ defense.

That won’t be easy. Dallas allows only 90.6 yards per game on the ground. That’s 4 th in the league, but Philly has to try. If the Eagles can’t get something going on the ground then Dallas will shut them down in the passing game by employing a dime or Cover 2 scheme.

Eagles’ Defense vs. Cowboys’ Offense

The Eagles’ terrific defense looked downright silly against Dallas last Sunday. Dallas QB Tony Romo threw for 311 yards and 2 touchdowns. Marion Barber and Felix Jones both ran for 91 yards. Patrick Crayton and Miles Austin both had over 90 yards receiving.

The ‘Boys dominated the Eagles’ D. Can the Eagles turn things around in a week? Maybe. The Eagles defense can shut down a team. They did it against Atlanta when they won 34 to 7 and against San Francisco when they won 27 to 13, but they gave up 27 points to the often offensively challenged Denver Broncos three games ago and 38 points to the horrible New York Giants 4 games ago.

The Eagles’ D could play a good game against the Cowboys offense because they have some good players, but they will need to be very judicious with their blitz packages and instead will have to shut down Jones and Barber in the running game before going after Romo.

Dallas, of course, will take what the Eagles give them. Romo has become adept at reacting to the blitz. If the Eagles take too many chances, he will burn them.

The Best NFL Bet Is…

On under the total of 45. The Eagles have only one chance of winning and that’s keeping the ball out of Romo’s hands and protecting their defense.

The only way to do that is to use McCoy, Weaver and Westbrook. Even the Saints, who were terribly outmanned in their loss to Dallas, rushed for a 5.0 average against the ‘Boys. So, it can be done.

Dallas’s rush defense is awesome, but McCoy, Weaver and Westbrook are better. Reid has to find a way to get the running game going to open up the short passing game to tight-end Brent Celek. That means that the Eagles will try to slow this game down.

If the Eagles can do that, then they should be able to keep it close. A close game means an under game in this one. I expect to see a 17 to 14 or 21 to 14 game with Dallas or Philly coming out on top.