Monday Night Football: Cowboys vs. Chargers Expert Pick
MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: COWBOYS VS. CHARGERS EXPERT PICK — Welcome to this edition of Monday Night Football. This is actually better than most compared to other primetime games on the schedule thus far in this season.
The Chargers are coming off a bye week and look to improve on their 2-2 record. Their season has been fairly typical is you’ve  witnessed the phenomenon in recent years. The Chargers are a good team who truly excel when it comes to finding creative and massively painful ways to lose.
The Cowboys are just infuriating at 3-2. I’m a Cowboys homer and I despise this team now. I was willing to forgive the beatdown in the desert to Arizona. Fluky games happen to everyone (See: Bills last night), but the sustained and through beatdown that the 49ers gave to them has me resenting everyone on the roster.
The Chargers
They’re just gonna Charger. They continuously seem to play down to bad teams, and play up to good teams for about 55/60 minutes through the game. They lose in silly ways constantly and can’t get out of their own way, despite having all of the pieces on paper to be a Super Bowl contender.
They lost inside two minutes to Miami to open the season. They followed that up with a loss to the Titans in OT. They caught a break when they played a Minnesota team that often looks like they’re trying to lose football game, so they got a win there by four.
Before they went on bye, they jumped out to a huge 24-7 lead against the Raiders. They then proceeded to put the offense in park for the rest of them game. The score looked closer than it was at 24-17. The Raiders never really looked like they could win, despite the LA offense doing nothing for a solid half of the game.
The nitty gritty of the team is that they’re a lot similar to the Cowboys in terms of where they’re at. They both exist in the tier of “good enough to beat bad teams.” Neither team has demonstrated they can win high-stakes meaningful games.
This team will always be hamstrung from a decision making standpoint in-game for as long as Brandon Staley is on the sidelines. The defense isn’t very good, struggling against the run and the pass.
The Cowboys
I was talking earlier about the tier the Cowboys are on. Here’s the proof. They’ve destroyed three very bad teams. And they’ve been blown out twice.
What I’ve learned about this team is that they’re really good at bullying bad offenses and running up the score. The three wins came against some of the worst offenses in the league by basically any measure.
Once they face a competent defense, they look like they panic. The offense is really good at grinding the clock down and playing conservatively, but Dak turns into an interception machine when they ask him to throw more aggressively.
Dak’s numbers are pedestrian, at best, this season. His YPA is about the same as Anthony Richardson’s and he throws the deep ball about as often as Zach Wilson (they basically only throw deep when it’s an accident or they’re desperate).
I think the Chargers are probably just slightly better at doing dumb things than the Cowboys, so my initial lean is for the Cowboys to get right after a beatdown to SF.
The Pick
I think the Chargers will find a way to screw this up, and there are a few ways to bet it. You can lay the points with Dallas to win and cover, if you want to keep it simple.
I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility for the Chargers to start off strong. They’ve led at halftime in 3/4 games this season despite being 2-2 overall. If you want to take the Chargers in the first half, I don’t hate that bet either.
If you want to get really crazy, you can bet on a double result parlay. Chargers to win first half, Cowboys win the game. That sucker will pay +600 and be a lot more fun to sweat.
However you decide to bet it, buckle in for some terrible coaching on both sides.
Nate’s Picks: Dallas -1.5 OR Double Result Chargers (1H)/Dallas wins the game (+600)