Dak Prescott's Dallas Cowboys 'Disrespect' As Underdogs At Buffalo Bills? Explaining the Odds
FRISCO, Texas - The Dallas Cowboys are hot and they are good. They've forged a five-game winning streak that has them perched on offense as the NFL's No. 1 scoring team and, arguably, perched on defense as the NFL's No. 1 playmaking team.
They just took down the top-seeded Philadelphia Eagles and have now vaulted to the top of the NFC East and into the Super Bowl conversation with a leading MVP candidate in Dak Prescott and a leading Defensive Player of the Year candidate in Micah Parsons.
So how do the betting odds for their Week 15 visit to the Buffalo Bills see the Cowboys as underdogs?
In DFW, one outlet is calling this "disrespectful'' and "a big slap in the face to 'America's Team.''
But before anybody gets it too twisted ...
The Cowboys opened up as 1.5-point underdogs against the Bills for their upcoming matchup. That's plenty tight and plenty "respectful,'' especially given the fact that the Bills also boast notable talent and gaudy numbers.
Examples of Buffalo's talent? The Josh Allen-led offense has its well-earned reputation and there are numbers to back that up, as Buffalo averages 5.8 yards per play (fifth-best in the league), just ahead of Dallas at 5.7 yards per.
Dallas ranks No. 2 in the NFL in turnover differential, an area in which the Bills are not elite. But the Cowboys at 10-3 and the Bills at 7-6 - still alive in their pursuit of AFC greatness especially after Miami drops to 9-4 after the Dolphins' stunning "Monday Night Football'' loss to the Titans - remains alive.
And then there is the biggest factor of all. Dallas has won an impressive 15 straight home games. But that doesn't help in this case, and here's the number nobody at The Star in Frisco talks much about: The Cowboys' two-year-long struggles on the road.
Dallas is 3-3 on the road this season, accounting for all three of the losses. But include last year, regular season and playoffs, and over the course of two seasons Dallas is just 7-8 away from home.
Maybe a lot of that was due last year to Dak Prescott's injury. Maybe we can discount 2022, as that wasn't the same Cowboys team as this one. But using this two-year sample size? Until proven otherwise, the Bills deserve to be favored at home because the Cowboys deserve to be called "mediocre'' on the road.
