The suddenly surging Dallas Cowboys head to the West Coast to take on the defending champions Los Angeles Rams.
Dallas Cowboys vs. Los Angeles Rams
Sunday, October 09, 2022 – 04:25 PM EDT at SoFi Stadium
The Cowboys will come into this game with the rest advantage, with the Rams playing on Monday Night in Week 4.
Dallas has won 3 in a row but will take a big jump in competition this week. They already beat one of the two teams that played in last year’s Super Bowl. Can they make it a clean sweep in Week 5?
Dallas Looks to Keep Things Going
Most experts assumed that Dallas’ season was done once Dak Prescott went down with a hand injury in Week 1, but someone obviously forgot to tell Cooper Rush about that. Since taking over from Prescott, Rush has led the Cowboys to three straight wins.
Reports indicate that there’s a possibility that Dak returns for this game with the Rams, although head coach Mike McCarthy said recently that there’s still some swelling he has to deal with. Until he can properly grip a football, he obviously won’t be ready to play.
Regardless of who starts for Dallas in this Week 5 matchup with the Rams, the Cowboys will only go as far as this defense takes them while their offense continues to get healthy.
Wide receiver Michael Gallup made his season debut this past week and scored a touchdown. The line for this game is Rams -6 with the total sitting at 45.5.
This is the toughest test since Week 1, when the Cowboys were beaten soundly by the Tampa Bay Bucs. The most worrying part of that performance is that the Bucs did not play particularly well that day and still beat Dallas handily.
Rams Starting to Find Their Feet
The Rams looked terrible in the opening week of the season. getting blown out by the Buffalo Bills. In fairness to them, the Bills are a legit Super Bowl contender who is still in the process of trying to get to where the Rams have been for the past few years.
They were clearly the hungrier team that day and the Rams were not able to match their intensity. Since then, the offense, in particular, has been finding its feet and the team seems to be getting into rhythm.
There are still issues, mainly the lack of a rushing game which is definitely a source of concern. Matthew Stafford has often been criticized in his career for his inconsistent play.
At his best, he is an elite quarterback but there are too many instances where he plays terrible games out of nowhere to consider him part of that elite group. He did go a long way in terms of solidifying his reputation by being clutch in the playoffs for the Rams this year, which is the reason they signed him in the first place.
Dallas Can Make Some Noise in This Spot
This week against Dallas, the lack of a passing game could come back to bite Stafford and his team. I don’t think Dallas wins this game, but I do think they can keep it close enough to cover this spread.
If Stafford doesn’t have a run game to lean on, then Dallas can unleash their suddenly elite pass rush led by Micah Parsons. The interior of the Rams’ offensive line isn’t great, while the Cowboys’ front 7 have been very impressive to start the season.
Their secondary has improved a lot as well, and they can keep things close enough to give their offense a chance here.
Dallas has been good in terms of protecting Rush the last few weeks and other than Aaron Donald, most of the Rams’ defensive line have been underperforming so far this season.
Los Angeles have been better, but definitely far from their best, and I think Dallas can do something similar to what the Falcons did two weeks ago, which is move the ball and put up points on this defense
NFL Pick: Dallas +6 (-110) at FanDuel
