NFL Week 14 Preview: Eagles vs. Cowboys Odds and Best Bets

Warning: there will be some takes on social media this week. With a month left in the season, Sunday night’s matchup between the Eagles and Cowboys has divisional and home-field consequences. If Dallas wins, they tie Philly in the NFC East and NFC as a whole. If the Eagles win, they take a two-game lead over the Cowboys, with a season sweep in hand.

Oh, and we get to see two of the more, shall we say, bombastic fan bases in the NFL go head to head.

The Eagles are the only 10-win team in the NFL. They are the defending NFC champions, and they have already beaten Dallas this season. Yet for the second straight week, they are being “disrespected” by the betting markets. Last week, they were 3-point underdogs at home to San Francisco. How’d that work out?

After doing virtually nothing in the first quarter, the 49ers scored touchdowns on their last six drives of consequence, and cruised to a 42-19 win. Yeah, they covered the three.

This week, Dallas is favored by three, just above the 2.5 points home teams now typically get. Some books have it at -3.5. This shows the markets find Dallas is playing just a little bit better at this point. They have the star power on both sides of the ball to justify that status.

Getcha popcorn ready. This one will be many things — boring is not one of them.

A 10-2 record can hide a lot of warts. In this case, it is the Eagles’ trend of getting off to very slow starts. Philadelphia has trailed at halftime in five consecutive games, by an average of 7.6 points per game. This finally caught up with them last week, as the Niners took that early lead and ran with it.

Conversely, the Cowboys have been a great first-half team of late. Dallas trailed Seattle by one at the break last week, but throughout the rest of their current four-game winning streak, they outscored their opponents by a total of 65-13 before halftime.

Playing at home, with their best chance at winning the division at stake, look for the Cowboys to come out hot and put the Eagles in a hole.

CeeDee Lamb: good at sports.

Lamb leads all humans (Tyreek Hill is not of this planet) in receiving yards and has elevated himself to one of the best sure-fire No. 1 receivers in the game.

Lamb is the worst kind of great player the Eagles want to see right now. The Eagles secondary is their weak link, as we saw in spades Sunday evening against San Francisco.

But you might be saying, 94.5 is an awfully high number, are you sure Lamb can reach that mark?

Well, he did in their first match-up. Twice.

There will be plenty of open space for Lamb to roam. If you’re feeling frisky, build a ladder and look for him to hit 100.

The initial total for this game was set at 51.5, so we are expecting some fireworks. Both teams are expected to move the ball up and down the field. That means putting the ball in the hands of their playmakers.

For the Eagles, that’s quarterback Jalen Hurts. Philadelphia has leaned more heavily on their squat machine when facing high-level opponents. Over the last six weeks the Eagles have played:

That group includes three nine-win teams, the defending Super Bowl champs, and a Bills team most thought would be better than they currently are. In those five games, Hurts has averaged 10.8 carries per game and hit double figures four times. The lone exception was the blowout loss to San Francisco.

Hurts avoided an injury scare on Sunday and should be fully operational by the time the lights are turned on at Jerry World.

While you get ready for Week 14, Sidelines has you covered. Check out our top-five picks for the 14th week of the NFL season along with key prop bets to consider.