There was a period where I thought the Rams might be the play here, but with the Cowboys surprisingly healthy and coming off the bye week at home, they have not only gotten the chance to rest but Dan Quinn had time to figure out a way to reform the secondary following the loss of Trevon Diggs. Matthew Stafford and Los Angeles have overachieved this season, but they have yet to go against a combined pass rush and secondary like this. Without a running game to support the Rams’ passing game, I like the Cowboys to keep the pressure on. The Rams have already lost by a TD or more to the Eagles, 49ers and Steelers, the three best defenses they have faced.

Pollard has essentially been a poor man's Alvin Kamara the past two weeks, an extra WR disguised in the backfield. He has 10 catches on 12 targets for 115 yards the past two weeks while gaining just 59 rushing yards. The Cowboys have been running more designed pass plays to get the ball in their best playmaker's hands, and this trend should continue Sunday.

This isn't a great matchup for Matthew Stafford, who's completed under 60 percent of his passes and has no running game to lean on. Dallas should be refreshed after its bye and its fierce pass rush will be amped up at home. LA ranks dead last in pass-block win rate. Rams right tackle Rob Havenstein hurt his calf in practice this week and might not be available Sunday.

CeeDee Lamb has had a somewhat quiet start to the season averaging 79 receiving yards per game and having caught just 1 TD. 

While Lamb hasn’t had the true breakout that most of us expected, he’s performed well and the main issue for Lamb has simply been a lack of volume/targets. 

That can largely be attributed too numerous games where the Cowboys either routed their opponents or got blown out themselves. 

In a neutral game environment we got a glimpse of what the offense looked and Ceedee was the focal point finishing with 7 grabs for 117 yards. 

He will now face a Rams defense that is vulnerable in the back end. 



The Rams have the receiving corps to put up points, but the offense has struggled in two of its last three games when facing teams with good pass rushes in the Eagles and Steelers. Now Micah Parsons and Co. get to attack this Rams O-line and make life tough for Matthew Stafford. The Rams have scored more than two TDs in a game just once since Week 1 and it came against the Colts; even against Arizona, they settled for four FGs. With Dallas rested off the bye, the Rams offense should struggle to get to 20 points here.

We all know the history here, and he’s facing a very solid defense here that is mixing coverages well and is stout against the pass (Rams 5th in NFL with 79.0 opposer passer rating) and low completion percentage. Toggling between Cover-6 and Cover-3 can be a problem for him and Rams play fourth-highest rate of zone coverage in the NFL, overall.

We told you the Steelers would thrash him last week and he’d stumble. And he couldn’t complete 45% of his passes under hire fire from a top pass rush. He’s getting another one here at Dallas, and Stafford has a 39% completion rate and 58.8 rating when pressured this season. Dallas sacked him five times and hit him 11 times last season (Rams mustered 239 total yards). Last 11 Rams games are Under 2-8-1, and they’ll do their part here. They’ve been held to 17 or less in 3 of 5. Cowboys might get frisky on offense (they tend to do so at home which scared me of the game total of 45.5

Our model has the Rams scoring 18 points, and I lean toward 17 against a rested Dallas defense coming off a bye week. Still no Kyren Williams for LA, and Matthew Stafford is taking a beating sacks-wise. Micah Parsons might get him three times. The Cowboys have allowed a total of 13 points in two home games -- granted, against Mac Jones and Zach Wilson, the NFL's version of Dumb and Dumber. I'll let you decide which is Lloyd.

The Rams defense was stellar for much of last week's game, giving up only 72 net yards on their first eight drives. Everything fell apart after a missed Rams field goal late in the third quarter, but this still looks like a pretty solid team. However, the biggest issue the offense faces is Matthew Stafford getting hit with pressure, and now they have to go up against a Cowboys defense that has taken over games by getting to QBs early and often. Overall, I have the Rams as slightly below average, and if that's right, this line should be at least -7 and probably a bit higher.