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NFL Intriguing Game of the Week

Dallas Cowboys @ LA Chargers

Bias+ Score 8.3 favors Dallas Cowboys

By Barry Sterling Mitchell

As a Niner fan, I never choose my team’s matchup as the ‘Intriguing game’. That eliminates my Bias on choosing. However, after last week’s amazing Dallas beat down, the question looms large,” Are the Cowboys contenders or pretenders?

The Cowboy’s had their way with the Giants, Jets and Patriots who between them have just 4 wins to 11 losses on the season. Eyebrows were raised after a loss to the Cardinals who were thought to be tanking. As a result, on Ben and Barry on Football™, we began considering the Cowboy’s numbers skewed. After the game last week, that skew seems credible.

Let’s look at the Cowboy’s numbers. Offensively, the Cowboys rank 8th scoring 26.8 Points Per Game (PPG). That’s compared to their #1 ranking in week 2. Admittedly, the scoring competition has heated up with the Dolphins scoring 70 in one game and the Niners, Bills, Lions, Eagles, Seahawks and Chargers scoring seemingly at will.

Defensively, the Cowboys rank 7th allowing 17 points per game. Again, they started out in 1st place after blanking the Giants in Week 1. They gave up 42 last week to the Niners. This helped normalize their rankings but again raises the contender pretender question. Add in the Average Turnover Differential (ATOD) and Dallas ranks 6th with +1.2 ATODs per game. So obviously the Cowboys are still ranked in the top 10 in the important categories especially Net Points where they rank 3rd. Let’s look at the Chargers.

If there is one team where the question of contender vs pretender has loomed large over the past few years, it’s been the Chargers. While Justin Herbert is considered a top QB, decisions by the Head Coach Brandon Staley who believes in statistics and makes decisions based on analytics have talking heads questioning their competitive credibility. Also, they’ve been known to give up leads leading to losses. So far, they are .500 in win vs losses.

The Chargers rank 7th in scoring at 27.5 PPG. Just ahead of Dallas. Defensively, LA ranks 24th allowing 24 PPG. This includes a 36-34 loss to the top scoring Dolphins. This is in line with previous years and are especially egregious for a coach with a defensive background. They are solid in turnovers ranking 3rd with +1.3 ATODs per game.

Bottom line, the ‘Intrigue’ lies in whether either team gets exposed as a pretender. Now that everyone knows the Cowboys are vulnerable, can the Chargers take advantage and change their narrative or have the Cowboys been embarrassed and look to right the ship against the withering Chargers defense? Leave your comments and ENJOY! #FootballisLife





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