Cowboys still NFC East favorites despite season-ending injury to Dak Prescott but now Super Bowl 55 long shots
The biggest NFL injury in Week 5 was clearly with the Cowboys and QB Dak Prescott.
How terrible is the NFC East Division this season? The Cowboys lead it despite a 2-3 record and are the -120 betting favorites to win the division at William Hill sportsbook even though the team will be without starting quarterback Dak Prescott for the rest of the season. He suffered a compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle in Sunday's win over the New York Giants and had surgery Sunday night.
The book didn't change the Cowboys' division odds with the injury simply because they won on Sunday and the Eagles and Washington Football Team both lost. However, Dallas went from +1200 to +2000 to win the conference title and +2800 to +4500 to win Super Bowl 55.
The injury occurred on a 9-yard run while being tackled by Giants defensive back Logan Ryan in the third quarter. In the second quarter, Prescott actually caught the first touchdown pass of his career on a trick play. He had not missed a starter in his career. In fact, Prescott's, 69 consecutive starts are the sixth-longest streak from the start of a rookie season since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970. Only Tom Brady and Russell Wilson have more wins as a starting QB since Prescott entered the league in 2016.
Prescott leads the NFL in passing yards by a mile at 1,856 and was the heavy +150 favorite to win that title – next closest were Atlanta's Matt Ryan and Seattle's Wilson at +700. Wilson is second with 1,502 yards and will be favored when those odds are reposted later this week at William Hill. Prescott was also +2800 to win his first NFL MVP Award.
Keep in mind that Prescott is not signed after this season, although the Cowboys could slap the franchise tag on him again. It was a gruesome injury, but he should be back 100 percent.
The offseason signing of veteran QB Andy Dalton sure looks good now as he'll take over under center. He led a late drive to set up the game-winning field goal vs. New York.
The new No. 2 would be seventh-round rookie Ben DiNucci. He played collegiately at FCS powerhouse James Madison. Coach Mike McCarthy has compared him to Marc Bulger (is that good?). Former backup Cooper Rush is a free agent
Dallas had opened as a 3-point home favorite on the NFL odds this week vs. Arizona, but this injury now has the Cardinals at -2 for the Monday night matchup.
Who wins every NFL game this week? And which teams cover more than 50 percent of the time? Get picks here from the SportsLine Projection Model, which simulates every NFL game 10,000 times and ranked in the Top 10 on NFLPickWatch three of the past four years on straight-up NFL picks.
