The Tennessee Titans travel to Arlington to take on the Dallas Cowboys tonight in a game that will see the debut of wide receiver Amari Cooper as a Cowboy after his trade from the Oakland Raiders prior to last month’s trading deadline.
This Monday Night Football game features two teams coming off their bye weeks, with identical 3-4 records and desperate for a win as they look to climb back to .500 to stay alive in the playoff hunt.
After starting 3-1 the Titans are scratching their heads as they have lost three in a row, including a heartbreaking 20-19 loss at home to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 7.
The Cowboys, on the other hand, are a story of two teams as they have alternated wins and losses this season. They are a very irregular team, as they are unbeaten at home but winless on the road, which explains why they were so desperate to get quarterback Dak Prescott some help even if it meant giving up a first-round pick in next year’s draft for Cooper.
Despite that, the Titans should not get overwhelmed by that move as the Dallas offense still runs through halfback Ezekiel Elliott and a Cowboys offensive line that has been highly irregular this year.
When the line has a good day Elliott becomes one of the most dangerous runners in the league and the Cowboys one of the most difficult teams to beat. Now when their ground game gets going the Cowboys will have the added benefit of setting up lanes for Amari Cooper, which should make things easier for Prescott.
As for the Titans, their freefall stems from the fact that they have gotten no offensive productivity at all and they have no one to stretch the field to help quarterback Marcus Mariotta. This is evident as they rank 30th in the league in yards per play and 30th in points per game as they have managed to score just seven touchdowns in the last seven games.
The Boys are at home this week and the way their season is going that should be enough to pick Dallas to win this game. Factor in the fact that the struggling Tennessee offense has to play a pretty good Dallas defense and the recipe for another Titans loss is all cooked up.
Prediction: Expect the good Cowboys to show up tonight and shine brightly under the lights as they defeat the Titans 24-14.
