Frank Lorenzo
Dallas Cowboys at Washington Redskins (-4, 42 o/u)
Don’t look now, but the Washington Redskins (5-6, 5-1 home) are sort of on a roll. Winners of two of three – that counts as a “roll” in the NFC East – Washington will look to maintain their newfound division lead this Monday when they host the Dallas Cowboys (3-8, 2-3 away) at FedEx Field (5:30 PM Eastern).
Last week’s win over the Giants put Washington into a first-place tie with the G-Men at the top of the laughable NFC East. Thanks to the head-to-head win, the Redskins currently own the tiebreaker and would take the division if the season ended today.
The difference between this Washington team at home and on the road has been stark, though. The Redskins have yet to win on the road this year, but have a 5-1 mark at home, including five straight wins after Week 1 setback to Miami.
Quarterback Kirk Cousins has had the offense clicking in the team’s past two home games (which includes a 44-16 win over New Orleans in Week 9), firing five touchdowns without an interception.
Dallas comes into this game last in the NFC East at 3-8. The Cowboys welcomed back QB Tony Romo in Week 11 and snapped a seven-game losing streak by downing the Fins. But Romo broke his collarbone again the next week during a blowout loss to the Carolina Panthers, likely ending his season. The team will go back to Matt Cassel under center.
Cassel has started (and lost) four games for the Cowboys this year, throwing for just 809 yards. Last week, he completed 13 of 19 passes for 93 yards and one touchdown in relief, but those numbers all came in garbage time when the game was well out of reach.
The Redskins are 4-1 ATS in their last five home games. The Cowboys are 2-5 ATS in their last seven games following a straight up loss and 0-5 ATS in their last five Monday games. Take Washington to keep rolling at home and cover the four-point spread.
Pick: Redskins (-4).
(Photo credit: Keith Allison (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)
