Cowboys vs Buccaneers odds, line, picks: Expert predictions for 2021 NFL season opener on Thursday Night Football
By The Athletic NFL Staff 32m ago
The defending champions have the league’s second-shortest odds to win Super Bowl LVI and are the heavyweight preseason pick in the NFC at 3-1. Tampa Bay hosts the Dallas Cowboys at 8:20 p.m. Eastern Thursday on NBC to kickoff the 2021 NFL season. As you might expect, they’re also favored in Week 1 as 8-point favorites.
Tom Brady’s first season in Tampa Bay couldn’t have gone much better. His 40 passing touchdowns were the most he’d thrown since 2007. Brady’s 22 touchdowns to four interceptions over the regular season’s final month and playoffs propelled the Buccaneers from 7-5 to a dominant Super Bowl victory. He just turned 44, but Father Time doesn’t seem to be slowing him down just yet. Oddsmakers give Brady the third-shortest odds to win MVP.
Dallas is a bit of a wild card in 2021. The Cowboys rallied back from 2-7 to have a shot at the NFC East in Week 17 despite losing
Dak Prescott after just five games. Prescott returns to the field with the fifth-shortest MVP odds and the favorite to win Comeback Player of the Year. There’s no denying what Dallas’ offense is capable of at full strength after averaging 32.6 points per game between Weeks 1-5. The Cowboys’ season rides on their defensive improvements. That unit was bottom five in scoring, giving up 29.6 points per game. Mike Nolan was fired as defensive coordinator after one season, replaced by Dan Quinn. First-round pick
Micah Parsons is the preseason favorite to win Defensive Rookie of the Year.
The Cowboys were just 5-11 against the spread in 2020, though they did manage a 9-7 record when it came to exceeding point totals. Scoring 52 total points between Prescott and Brady seems manageable.
Odds, Over/Under, Moneyline
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Odds updated at 4 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday.
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Expert Selections
This game opened up with the Buccaneers as 6-point favorites and that line has ballooned to 8 points as Prescott struggled with a shoulder injury in the preseason along with the news that Cowboys guard Zach Martin will likely miss the game due to testing positive for COVID-19. Per John Ewing of BetMGM, the biggest week 1 favorite has gone 13-24 against the spread since 1993. The Bucs are the largest favorite in Week 1. The Cowboys offensive line is dealing with COVID-19 issues and there’s a lot of unknowns about Dak Prescott’s first game back. I like Tampa Bay to cover the first-half spread of -4.5.
– Andrew DeWitt, senior Sports Betting editor