Hey Todd,
Was leaning Philly and then I looked at last season's games. Philly beat the Cowboys handily mid-season last year allowing only 3 FGs (Ben DiNucci), but went to Dallas next to last game of the season, had a great 1st Qtr scoring 2 TDs. From then on it was a completely different game. Best they could do 2nd Qtr was a 55 yd FG and punts. The entire 2nd Half they could do nothing but 3 punts, a turnover on downs, and give away 3 possessions by fumble and 2 INTs. An amazing reversal of fortune.
Jalen did all he could stat wise (342 passing 69 rushing) but Andy D threw for 377 / 3 TDs and Zeke rushed for 105. It was the proverbial "tale of two halfs", so I wonder if Dallas' D came up with something, or was it just the way the ball bounced? Cowboys D was overall horrendous last season, except for that little detour into the twilight zone.
If you want to look ahead to look back, well the Cowboys are opening next Sunday at -4.5 hosting the 3-0 Carolina Panthers who have displayed a pretty good D so far (14-7-9 pts allowed to the NYJ, Saints, Texans). Lowest pts. allowed in the NFC after 3 games and in the middle of the pack in pts. scored. So if the Cowboys are opening at -4.5 next week (like Eagles +5.5 in comparison), does that say Dallas has a pretty good MNF result? The early lines are usually not far off the actual opening lines from tomorrow midday. All the up-to-date data and algorithms have churned out next week's opening lines, except for tonight's result, so I have to wonder what kind of a picture is being painted. Trying to reverse engineer a result has more holes than a slice of swiss cheese lol.
Philly lost @ the Falcons in Week 2 last season, so they corrected that matter in the first week this season with a major thumping in Atlanta. Now they recall the thumping they took at the end of last season in Dallas, but they won't be facing Dalton, the former gunslinger; new gunslinger back in town.
You can say right now that Eagles backers will jump on that +5.5 before tonight's game, but if Dallas repeats last year's home result (with Dak instead of Andy), and knowing that the Chiefs were pretty much embarrassed at Arrowhead yesterday...not sure Eagles bettors will be so quick to jump on the +5.5, or a quick 6. Throw in the recency bias of SU wins by visiting GB +4, NO +3, CINCY +3, ATL +2.5, and MIA ATS +4, and it could seem like a shootout in Big D with Philly getting it done. Justin Herbert threw for 338 in LA last week but Dallas only bent (17 pts allowed) instead of breaking. Dak back in friendly surroundings; will the emotional win in LA leave the Cowboys flat tonight, or will it be the fuel that helps them to ride roughshod over their hated rivals.
Dallas' ML has been slightly downtrending, yet sites have percentages in the 80s. ML would usually be creeping up with percentages in the 80s. The spread is still mostly -3.5 even though Dallas percentages are around 65-70%. Opened at -4 and even though it's down to 3.5/even 3, Dallas bettors seem to prefer the safer (in their minds) ML to avoid what happened yesterday with Miami's +4 cover. No way can Dallas backers see a ML SU loss. The books seem to like their ML and spread numbers right now. Can Philly fans take home bags of cash by hitting the SU daily double of the ML and the spread? Nahhhhh...Philly will never get an early visit from Santa...especially since they were throwing snowballs at him in Philly last Christmas! Might get the cover, but not the SU win.
Best wishes, and BOLTA