Burrow, Bengals, Rebound Against Cowboys
Bengals vs. Cowboys, 4:25 ET
The first Sunday of the NFL season was absolutely brutal for me. I was horrendous and there really was no excuse, but I'll share what happened anyway. I went 1-3 on the day with all of my games losing in the early slate. It took the Saints too long to get going, the Panthers should've closed it out - it was one of the few game-winning kicks that were actually converted. As for the Bengals, well, let's talk about that.
Joe Burrow threw four interceptions in the game. He also lost a fumble and almost lost a second. Believe it or not, it is very difficult to win when you have five turnovers in a game. Still, the Steelers, a team that I think will really struggle this year, was only able to muster 23 points against the Bengals even with that help. Burrow turned it on a bit late, throwing for 338 yards and two touchdowns. Not a surprise, but Jamarr Chase was the star of the receiving game. I think he will have a bit harder of a time against the Cowboys and their stronger secondary. Joe Mixon was leaned on quite a bit in this game as he was handed the ball 27 times and ran for 82 yards. That's not a really productive day to be honest. Especially considering that he had 31 of those yards on one rush. Meaning he was getting just over 3 yards per carry most of the game. Their offense is better than that and they will show that in this game.
Dallas is without Dak, that's obviously the big story here. In the first game, though the offense really didn't look good even with him. After an opening drive where they scored three points, they stumbled through the rest of the game before Prescott was eventually taken out with injury and replaced by Cooper Rush. Rush did basically what the Cowboys needed him to do, control the ball and not turn it over, but he only got 64 yards through the air. I'm sure we should expect to see more of Ezekiel Elliott in this one and probably more Tony Pollard. The Cowboys are not going to take many deep shots down field, so if you're in a PPR league or something, I'd say Elliot still has a bit of potential here. The Cowboys offensive line is nowhere near as good as it has been in the past, though.
The Bengals still have a really nice defense and have to be pissed off about that brutal loss to their division foe. They looked terrible. I'd be surprised if the Cowboys are able to score a lot on this Bengals defense. In his one start last year, Rush was only able to get the Cowboys to 20 points against the Vikings. Both of those touchdowns came in the second half. I like the Bengals here to cover in the first half at -3.5 at -115. If you can buy the half point, it might be worth it in case there is some leftover struggle for Burrow company.
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