Dallas Cowboys at Los Angeles Chargers Betting Preview
Two teams with huge expectations for the upcoming season meetup on Saturday night when the Dallas Cowboys visit the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers are 14/1 to win Super Bowl 57, while Dallas checks in at 20/1 to win their first world championship since 1995.
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy seems to be off the hot seat after his team was 12-5 in 2021. Dallas stacked up a dozen wins last year despite going 0-4 in the preseason, so it’s obvious that McCarthy doesn’t value exhibition wins as much as John Harbaugh, for example. That’s a big reason the Chargers are -4.5 favorites at home for Saturday night’s meeting.
Cowboys Not Showing Much
Although a lot can change during an NFL season, it seems like Dallas should breeze to another NFC East title if they stay healthy. That seems to be the top modus operandi this preseason, keeping the likes of Dak Prescott, Zeke Elliott, CeeDee Lamb, and Micah Parsons ready for the regular season.
Dallas didn’t show a lot last weekend in their 17-7 loss to the Broncos. The Cowboys did stack up 141 rushing yards, which is a nice momentum boost for the regular season, but their lone score came with under five minutes left when Ben DiNucci found Simi Fehoko for a 12-yard TD pass.
The Dallas defense had a solid exhibition opener holding the Broncos to 38 yards rushing on 19 carries. The secondary did allow Denver QB Josh Johnson to go 16/23 with two TDs, and the Chargers have a very experienced backup to Justin Herbert in Chase Daniel.
Staley Could Take or Leave Preseason
Chargers coach Brandon Staley 1-2 during the preseason last year, and the team went on to go 9-8 while just missing the playoffs. It seems the mission this exhibition season is just going to be keeping his top players healthy because the AFC West is going to be an absolute dogfight with the Chiefs being the Chiefs, the Broncos adding Russell Wilson, and the Raiders retooling with the addition of Davante Adams.
Staley got 22 points out of his offense in the preseason opener, although it ended up being a 29-22 loss to the Rams. Daniel was 11/17 with 2 TDs, while former fifth-round pick Easton Stick out of North Dakota State was 16/23. Michael Bandy had a big day with seven catches for 73 yards and a 16-yard TD reception from Daniel.
Cowboys at Chargers Pick and Prediction
Los Angeles scoring 22 points in their preseason opener isn’t a bad debut for the 2022 campaign, but giving up 29 to the Rams, who played Bryce Perkins at QB all game, isn’t ideal. The Rams had just 232 total yards last week, and they still put up 29 points.
The Chargers looked very sloppy last week, getting penalized nine times for 109 yards. McCarthy obviously doesn’t care about preseason wins, going 0-5 so far in the exhibition during his tenure with Dallas, but he also has two QBs with NFL starting experience in DiNucci and Cooper Rush. In a toss-up game, you have to take the points.
Pick: Dallas -4.5
