Dallas Cowboys vs Arizona Cardinals Prediction, Odds and Preview - 08/13/2021

Game Time: 10:00 pm ET, 7:00 PT,  Friday, August 13th, 2021

Venue:  State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona

Where to Watch: NFL Network (nationally), Fox (Locally)

Cowboys: 0-1;  Last Season 8-8

Cardinals: 0-0;   Last Season 6-10

DraftKings:  Moneyline odds: Cowboys +105, Cardinals -124; Over/Under:  40 points 

Cowboys: Dak Prescott

Cardinals: first injury report is due September

Cowboys:

Dak Prescott QB

Ezekiel Elliot RB

Amari Cooper WR!

CeeDee Lamb WR2

Michael Gallup WR#

Blake Jarwin TE 

Tyron Smith LT

Connor Williams LG

Tyler Biadasz C

Zach Martin RG

La’el Collins RT

Cardinals:

Kyler Murray QB

Chase Edmonds RB

Deandre Hopkins WR1

AJ Green  WR2

Christian Kirk WR3

Maxx Williams TE

DJ Humphries LT

Justin Pugh  LG

Rodney Hudson C

Brian Winters RG

Kelvin Beachum RT

Coach:

Cowboys:  Mike McCarthy (2nd season)

Cardinals: Kliff Kingsbury (2nd season)

The Cardinals are 2-3 in the last 5 games of last season, they also went 2-3 against the spread in the same stretch.

The Cowboys were 3-2 in their last five games last season, they also went 3-2 against the spread in those games.  The season had mostly been written off by the end of last year, but because the NFC East is so weak they had a slim chance of making the playoffs if they had just won another game in that stretch.  They didn’t.

The Cowboys began the preseason with a loss last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Hall of Fame Game.  They are missing Dak Prescott to a mystery shoulder injury, just as they missed him most of last season to a broken foot.  He won’t be playing in this one either and possibly all pre-season (maybe some of the nfl season). They didn’t show much except that maybe they don’t have a competent back-up QB on the whole roster.   No worries though, Jerry Jones is still dreaming big about a Super Bowl run.  They have a potent offense (when Dak plays) and quality offensive line.  They brought in former Atlanta Falcons’ head coach to shore up the defense and if he was able to in this short amount of time they should join the ranks of NFL playoff teams.  Everything hinges on if Dak plays this year, they don’t have Andy Dalton to throw touchdown passes in his absence.  The Cowboys do get a massive break this year with dumpster fire NFC East competition from the New York Giants, The Philadelphia Eagles, and The Washington Football team.

The Cardinals haven’t played a pre-season game yet.  We most likely will not see much if any of quarterback Kyler Murray in this one.  We’ll have to wait to see if he can use new edition wide receiver Deandre Hopkins to improve in a tough NFC West that has the Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, and Seattle Seahawks to contend with.  All those regular season battles will be against great coaches and great quarterbacks (depending on how you see Jimmy Garappolo). Kyler Murray has shown to be an impressive scrambler that can get passes off despite his diminutive frame.  

Get help with those three-game parlay bets, teaser bets, prop bets or any football wager.   Will Rogers has been dominant this last month with his MLB Selections. Now we shift gears to Football! Get Will’s NFL picks at our Shop Picks page, where you can find all of this week's National Football League premium pick predictions.

The Cowboys began the preseason with a loss last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Hall of Fame Game. The lack of Cowboys scoring led to a 3-16 final score. They are missing Dak Prescott to a mystery shoulder injury, just as they missed him most of last season to a broken foot.  He won’t be playing in this one either. Garrett Gilbert and Ben Dinucci played QB (the Cowboys need a healthy Dak or to find a solid back-up)  they didn’t show much except that maybe they don’t have a competent back-up QB on the whole roster.  No worries though, Jerry Jones is still dreaming big about a Super Bowl run.  They have a potent offense (when Dak plays) and quality offensive line.  

The Cowboys brought in former Atlanta Falcons’ head coach to shore up last season’s dismal defense and they drafted LB Micah Parsons with the 12th pick of the NFL Draft, CB Kelvin Joseph 44th, DT Osa Odighizuwa 75th, DE Chauncey Golston 84th, DB Nahshon Wright 99th, and great value pick LB Jabril Cox 115th.   In last week’s Hall of Fame Game Micah Parsons looked like a man among boys with an immediate fumble recovery and ten tackles before they yanked him to look at his potential back-ups..  It remains to be seen if the other youngsters will transform this team’s fortunes in time for a healthy offense to get some wins.

Quarterback Kyler Murray and Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury need to show they have made the full transition from college football to professional football.  Meaning Kyler must stand in the pocket and deliver bombs to new addition Deandre Hopkins, and Kliff needs to set his diminutive star up for success with schemes that will win NFL football games.  This isn’t the Green Bay Packers or Kansas City Chiefs, we can’t definitively say the quarterback is among the league's elite players at the position until it is proven with legitimate winning. They need to win in streaks, they need to win whether it’s monday night football, CBS Sports Sunday afternoon, or Fox.  They need to win early and often if they ever want to see a February game.

Back in 2019 the Cardinals Defense allowed the most yards and most points against them than any other team in the league.  They were bad.  Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph said then “It takes courage to live through this… We’re going to get it fixed,  and once it’s fixed, no one remembers these times. But right now, it's tough. If you're not strong-willed and you don't have courage, you can't fix it.”  He had that courage, last year he improved the team to 12th in points allowed in the NFL.  Jones believes a combination of scheme familiarity and talent will lead to yet another step forward in 2021.  If they make a similar jump percentage wise (6.6% improvement on defensive stats across the board) they would have a top 3 defense.  While I don’t believe they will make that big a jump again, any improvement could land them in the top ten.

Cowboys:  The only winning bet of the season so far was Pittsburgh.  The Cowboys lost, even against the small spread, and the Under was the result

Cardinals:  Arizona (Phoenix Cardinals) Cardinals have no results yet.  They are still favored though as backup quarterbacks Colt McCoy and Chris Streveler will be better than whatever Quarterback Dallas throws out there. 

Don't miss our champion handicappers free picks and expert football picks today.  Get off to a hot start this week, and get all of the daily expert picks on this week’s slate of NFL Pre-season Games.  And if you enjoyed this Cowboys Vs Cardinals prediction, be sure to drop by every day for our daily MLB projections and previews.