NFC Wild Card Game East v West

All but the most ardent fans of these two sides expected them to be thinking about the draft by now as neither figured highly in the preseason hype and neither had exceptional looking drafts or free agency moves. However, if you have a great coach (Seattle) and an owner who isn’t afraid to make bold moves (Jerry Jones) then anything can happen.

When Pete Carroll allowed the hallowed “Legion of Boom2 to dissipate most thought it would take a few seasons for them to get back to the postseason, however, when you have a star QB anything is possible and although their draft didn’t set the heart racing they still had a core of quality veterans and of course played in a division with a couple of rebuilding teams which helped. They have had a few close wins this year (5 by 3 points) and of course beat Dallas early in the season, however, the current Dallas team are a whole lot better thanks to a bold trade. Overall they will be pleased to be here and with a reliable Kicker in Sebastian Janikowski they will fancy their chances at sneaking another close one here. Seattle was 4-4 on the road and traditionally have not been great travellers.

Dallas were 3-4 going into their Bye week, however, they had played pretty well in most games but lacked an offensive threat. Step up Jerry Jones who loves to make splashy moves and suddenly this was sorted as they traded for Amari Cooper sending their 2019 1st round draft pick to Oakland in exchange. It took him a little time to settle in and although they dropped to 3-5 they then went on to win 7 out of 8 and clinch the NFC East Crown. They are 7-1 at home and showed they were for real with a narrow hard-fought win over NFC No 1 seeds New Orleans on November 30th.  The Cowboys played pretty well after Cooper arrived and the only blip was that shut out by the Colts which included a Blocked Field Goal and a turnover on downs in the Colts red zone. Probably best put down to one of those games.

When you have two very evenly matched teams it often comes down to home-field advantage and given Seattle don’t travel that well and Dallas are great at home then this gives the edge to the Cowboys in our book. Dallas are 2.5 points favourites and we expect them to cover the spread on their way to another clash with the Saints in the Divisional Round.

Dallas to win 24-20