The third round of the 2017 NFL Season is upon us, and the latest match is like always scheduled for Monday Night Football. The round closing duel is one between Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals. The University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Ariz. is the playing ground, but Cowboys historically have great support anywhere on the road especially in Phoenix. Last four matches were won by Cardinals, but the teams haven’t played each other since 2014.
Looking at the Arizona Cardinals start of the season they stand at 1-1. But, the worst had already happened to them when they lost starting RB David Johnson. He will be out until 9. November, and not before that because he has been put on injured reserve. The lost is frighteningly big when you look at his last year’s numbers. Johnson was inches away from being the third player to achieve 1,000 yards receiving and 1,000 yards running. Also, he led the NFL in TD’s. 20 was attached to his name during 2016 season. The season for Cardinals stated with a loss against Detroit Lions. In the second round, they won in overtime against Colts (16-13).
Dallas Cowboys also stand at 1-1. Same start as the previous year, but 2016 season finished for them without being heavily defeated. Only three losses (two from Giants and one from Eagles, which no one really counts). This year they already have one loss, and that was humiliating 42-17 Broncos blowout. The entire team had a bad outing that day, but their star running back Elliott had only nine yards on eight carries. His fate is still unknown, but Cowboys are hoping that he is going to play for the remainder of the season and that eventual ban will be carried out during 2018 season. A similar scenario happened in Tom Brady Deflategate case.
At Vegas, Cowboys are opened as favorites with -3.5, and the game is expected to have less than 47.5 points. The Cardinals are just not the same team without David Johnson, and despite Cowboys shaky defense we are not expecting them to score too much. On the other side, Dallas Cowboys started a season with one loss and one win without scoring too much. But, it is unimaginable that they are going to have another bad match as the one at Denver was. Also, Elliott had an awful game, and he will be fired up for this duel. Both teams have a lot at stake and want to turn their respective seasons in winning way. In our opinion, Cowboys will come as eventual winners, with the final score being 28-17.
