By Ian Palmer
The Arizona Cardinals pay a visit to the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Sunday, November 2 when they battle it out with the Dallas Cowboys in one of the NFL’s best week-nine clashes. The Cardinals are 6-1 on the season after their 24-20 win over the Philadelphia Eagles last week. The Cowboys head into the game with a 6-2 record following their 20-17 overtime loss to the Washington Redskins last Monday. The defeat snapped the Cowboy’s six-game winning streak.
Cardinals vs Cowboys – Arizona (1st – NFCW) at Dallas (1st – NFCE) at AT&T Stadium KICK OFF – 1:00 PM ET
Arizona Cardinals:
- Overall Record: 6-1
- Record Against the Spread (won-lost-push): 5-2-0
- Home Record: 4-0
- Away Record: 2-1
- Over/Under Record: 2-5-0
The Cardinals cut it close last week, but managed to beat the Eagles with quarterback Carson Palmer leading the way with some help from John Brown and Larry Fitzgerald. Palmer went 20 for 39 passes and gained his season-best 329 yards with a pair of touchdowns passes thrown in. Brown received 119 yards while Fitzgerald received 160 with each of them scoring a touchdown. However, their rushing game was almost nonexistent with Andre Ellington being the only player to run with the ball, which he did for 71 yards. Arizona struggled when it came to their rushing defense though. The Eagles gained 110 yards on the ground with LeSean McCoy being responsible for 83 of them.
This was a bit of a sub-par performance when you consider the Cardinals rank third best in the league with an average of 77.9 yards against per game. The Cardinals might have to play without Tony Jefferson as he suffered a concussion, and he’ll be missed since he leads the club with 50 tackles. Cornerback Antonio Cromartie had a good outing last week as he intercepted Eagles’ QB Nick Foles on two occasions. He’ll have his hands full against Dallas trying to contain Dez Bryant.
Dallas Cowboys:
- Overall Record: 6-2
- Record Against the Spread (won-lost-push): 5-3-0
- Home Record: 3-2
- Away Record: 3-0
- Over/Under Record: 4-.43-0
The Cowboys are hoping quarterback Tony Romo will be able to play since he injured his back on Monday in the loss to Washington. Brandon Weeden had to take over for him for a few plays until he returned just before regulation time came to an end. Romo was hurt in the third quarter after Keenan Robinson sacked him. Weeden did a fine job by throwing for a touchdown and 69 yards and going 4 for 6 in passing.
The Cowboys have a good running game to go along with their aerial attack and DeMarco Murray, will attempt to exploit Arizona’s rushing defense. Murray carried the ball 19 times last week for 141 yards and has now cracked the 100-yard barrier in all eight contests this season. Murray has seven TDs and a total of 1,054 yards this campaign as Dallas leads the league in rushing with an average of 160.5 yards per outing.
Arizona has been weak defensively against the pass as they are ranked last in the league with an average of 302.9 yards against per game in the air. The Cowboys Dez Bryant had five TDs and 620 receiving yards while Jason Witten had two TDs and 336 yards and Terrance Williams has scored 6 TDs and added 407 yards. The Cowboys are 5-2 ATS in their past seven.
