The Dallas Cowboys will take on the Las Vegas Raiders tomorrow on Thanksgiving day as they try to get back to their winning ways. Both the Cowboys and Raiders are coming off lacklustre efforts and both will look to erase recent memory in what promises to be an intense physical match-up. The Cowboys have had good fortune historically on their annual Thanksgiving game posting a 31-21-1 All-Time record, but recent history in the big game has been less kind to Dallas. They have dropped 6 of the last 9 games on this special day, including a 41-16 massacre last year at the hands of the Washington Football team. The Cowboys have hosted the Raiders twice before on Thanksgiving and won both times. The most recent was 2013 when the Cowboys came away with a 31-24 victory. The last time these two teams shared the same field beyond Thanksgiving was in 2017 when the then Oakland Raiders hosted the Cowboys. In that game Dallas eked out a 20-17 win thanks to late a Dan Bailey field goal and a memorable forced fumble on the goal line courtesy of Cowboys “legend” Jeff Heath.
Las Vegas (5-5) has lost three straight since its Week 8 bye with the latest being a 32-13 defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals at home. The Bengals only out gained Las Vegas by 10 yards but forced two turnovers and held the home team to just 13 first downs and 22:40 in time of possession. The score was a 13-6 at the end of the third quarter but Cincy blew the game wide open as they scored on four different possessions in the final quarter. Derek Carr had a mediocre performance, going 19-of-27 for 215 yards with a touchdown and an interception in the loss.
The Dallas Cowboys (7-3) also lost last week 19-9 to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Cowboys were without several key starters but having to play without Amari Cooper turned out to be a devastating blow for the reeling offense. To make matters worse, the Cowboys also lost CeeDee Lamb in that game to a concussion and his availability is up in the air for tomorrow. Dak Prescott felt the impact of being without his 2 best wide receivers and he also felt the pressure from Kansas City with his former college teammate, DT Chris Jones, leading the charge. The end result was only 9 pts, 216 passing yards, and 3 turnovers with no touchdowns. On a positive note, the Cowboys defense was fantastic when it needed to be. Micah Parsons was the driving force for the Cowboys as they held the Chiefs to 2 TD’s and 2 FG’s and didn’t allow Patrick Mahomes to record a single touchdown. Still, the Chiefs offense did score points when they needed to and it was an overall ugly effort for a Cowboys teams that has now lost 2 of their last three in the middle of their toughest stretch of the schedule.
Both the Cowboys and the Raiders are going to be desperate to bounce back from their recent losses. Neither team can afford to drop another game here if they wish to achieve their goals for the season. The Raiders hoping to keep pace in their division and the Cowboys potentially thinking about competing for the number one seed in the NFC. Here are three things to watch for, that I feel will impact how this game will unfold.
1. INTANGIBLES
It’s a short week for both teams as they prepare to play on the holiday. Las Vegas was home for its previous two contests. So far, the Raiders are 2-2 on the road this season. Seeing as they are on a losing streak, I think they’ll be really focused for this one. Next up for Las Vegas is another home game against the Washington Football Team on Dec. 5 so they have a long layoff until they have to play again. The Cowboys played in Kansas City last week, but this will be their third home contest over the last four weeks. This team is very familiar with playing on Thanksgiving, so that should be an advantage for the Cowboys. Unlike the Raiders, the Cowboys will not have a nice long layoff after their Thanksgiving game. Next up for them is another Thursday Night game, but this time on the road in New Orleans. The Saints are also playing on Thanksgiving so neither team will have the advantage of playing their opponent on short rest. The upcoming schedules could create a slight advantage for the Raiders. For the Cowboys, they are at greater risk of having a potential second straight loss create a ripple effect that could lead into the next game. The Raiders are already sliding and so the long layoff presents an opportunity for them to rest and reset even if they lose tomorrow. Hopefully, the upcoming schedule does not impact the Cowboys approach and preparation for this game or create additional pressure that negatively affects their performance.
2. WILL THE COWBOYS OFFENSE BOUNCE BACK?
We witnessed the Cowboys offense struggle against the Denver Broncos but bounce back against the Atlanta Falcons. Despite that, they struggled again in Kansas City last week with the Chiefs using a similar blueprint to the Broncos. The common denominator for the two losses were that both teams were able to create pressure on Prescott by winning at the line of scrimmage and by playing aggressive coverage on the Cowboys receivers. Dak Prescott also happened to play poorly in both those games and could not take advantage of opportunities given that may have changed the trajectory of those contests. The injuries to his best offensive weapons was another factor common to both losses. Against Denver, both Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb were limited with injuries. Dak Prescott had neither of those weapons in the second half of last weeks game against Kansas City. Dak will be without Amari Cooper (COVID-19) for another week, and CeeDee Lamb may be on track to play but will likely be a game time decision as he navigates through concussion protocol. Without those two, the targets (and pressure) fall to Michael Gallup, Cedrick Wilson, and Noah Brown at wide receiver as well as Dalton Schultz at tight end. Last week was a disappointing showing for that group overall. The run game has been a massive disappointment the last few weeks but being without left tackle Tyron Smith, who is a vital piece of the offensive line, is a factor there. It seems as though he will be good to go on Thursday and that will be huge for the Cowboys. Ezekiel Elliott has not run for more than 60 yards since Week 6 in New England and is due for a big performance. Las Vegas is 29th in the NFL against the run, giving up 132.1 rushing yards per game. Joe Mixon gashed them for 123 yards and two touchdowns last Sunday, so this bodes well for both Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard.
3. CAN THE RAIDERS OFFENSE COME BACK TO LIFE?
The Raiders offense led by Derek Carr came out of the gate on fire. Carr was piling up the yards and the Raiders were putting up a ton of points on route to a 3-0 start to the season. Then they hit a few road bumps and the offensive production dipped substantially. Usually, a bye week is a good time to get things right, but since their week off, Vegas has scored fewer than 17 points in each contest. The run game has been almost non-existent as Josh Jacobs has gone over 50 rushing yards just twice on the season. Without the ground threat, this puts more pressure on Carr, who has thrown just as many interceptions as touchdowns (four each) over the last three games. It also didn’t help that the Raiders were just 1-of-7 on third down last week. For the season, they are converting 35.6 percent of their opportunities on the critical down, which ranks them 25th in the league. Meanwhile, Dallas’ defense definitely kept the team in the game last week against Kansas City. They limited the Chiefs to 4-of-12 third-down conversions, sacked Patrick Mahomes three times, and forced him into a couple of turnovers. If the Cowboys are able to carry over some of this momentum, Carr and company could be in for a tough time trying to move the ball. The Raiders do have some weapons that could give the Cowboys a lot of trouble in the passing game with their speed. Tight end Darren Waller is likely the biggest threat but Bryan Edwards and longtime Cowboys nemesis DeSean Jackson could also be a problem for the Cowboys secondary.
FINAL PREDICTION
Tyron Smith should be back along the offensive line and Dallas could try and commit to the run with the Cowboys potentially missing their two best receivers. Between that and an improving defense, I think the Cowboys will indeed get back to winning ways. Being familiar with the big stage on Thanksgiving Day will also give Dallas an additional advantage on their way to a double-digit win.
Final Score : Dallas Cowboys 31 Las Vegas Raiders 17
**All Data and statistics obtained and verified from ;https://www.pro-football-reference.com/
*Photo by Joe Glorioso All-Pro Reels https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode