Carolina Panthers vs Dallas Cowboys Prediction, Preview and Odds - 10/02/2021

Game Time: 1:00 pm ET, Sunday, October 3, 2021

Venue:  AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX

Where to Watch:  Fox

DraftKings:  Point Spread:  Panthers +3.5, Cowboys -3.5; Over/Under:  50 points

Bet365:  Point Spread:  Panthers +5, Cowboys -5; Over/Under:  50.5 points

BetMGM:  Point Spread:  Panthers +5, Cowboys -5; Over/Under:  50.5 points

 

Carolina Panthers:  3-0 (1st place, NFC South)

Dallas Cowboys:  2-1 (1st place, NFC East)

 

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Carolina Panthers:  won on the road on Sep. 23 against the Houston Texans 24-9.

Dallas Cowboys:  won at home on Sep. 27 against the Philadelphia Eagles 41-21.

 

 

 

The Panthers are coming into this game with an undefeated 3-0 record overall and they are 1-0 in their road games this season where they will be in this game. They have started their season off strong with 3 straight wins over the New York Jets, the New Orleans Saints, and the Texans in their last game. Sam Darnold played a great game last week as he completed 23/34 passes for 304 yards, zero touchdowns and zero interceptions. He did rush for 2 touchdowns himself in that game though and he really stepped up when he needed to and carried this team to victory after Christian McCaffrey left the game due to an injury. Chuba Hubbard ended up leading the team in rushing with 52 yards on 11 carries. D.J. Moore had a very nice day in the receiving game as he led the team with 126 receiving yards on 8 receptions. Shaq Thompson and Donte Jackson both led this defense with 5 solo tackles and 1 assisted one each. Haason Reddick led the defense in sacks with 1.5 while Frankie Luvu and Brian Burns both had 1 each. No one on this defense recorded an interception in that game. They have scored 69 points in their first 3 games and they have allowed their opponents to score 30 points against them. Their offense has accumulated 1,171 yards this season while their defense has allowed 573 yards against them.

 

 

The Cowboys are coming into this game with a 2-1 record overall and they are 1-0 in their home games this season where they will be in this game. Their 1 loss on the season came in a very close game in their season-opener losing to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by 2 points. They followed that up with 2 straight wins though, winning games against the Los Angeles Chargers and the Eagles in their last game. Dak Prescott had a great game as he completed 21/26 passes for 238 yards and 3 touchdowns. Ezekiel Elliott had a good day in the run game as he led the team with 95 yards and 2 touchdowns on 17 carries while Tony Pollard is starting to make a name for himself too, racking up 60 yards on 11 carries. Dalton Schultz led the team in receiving with 80 yards and 2 TDs on 6 receptions while CeeDee Lamb had 66 yards on 3 receptions in that one. Jaylon Smith and Anthony Brown both led the defense with 4 solo tackles each but it was Brown who came away with an interception as well. Trevon Diggs also had 1 interception for the defense in that game and Osa Odighizuwa led the defense in sacks with 1.5 while Micah Parsons had the other 0.5 sack. They have scored 90 points in their first 3 games and they have allowed their opponents to score 69 points against them. Their offense has accumulated 1,268 yards this season while their defense has allowed 1,229 yards against them.

 

The Cowboys are coming into this game as a 5 point favorite with the current betting odds. They have looked good on offense so far this year but it is their defense that is struggling to make stops as they have given up a lot of points and yards this season. Their defense has given up almost the same amount of yards that their offense has gained. The Panthers are the ones coming in with the undefeated record. Their offense has been good but not as good as the Cowboys. It is the Panthers defense though that is going to win them many games this season. They have a very good defense and they have only allowed half of the points and half of the yards that the offense has gained for them this season. Dallas will struggle to move the ball on this defense and that will make this game within reach for the Panthers to take. Darnold is out to prove a point this year after getting traded in the offseason so he will do what it takes to win. The best bet to make here is on the Panthers to cover the spread and win in an upset along with the under as their defense will keep the game a low scoring one.

 

Panthers Cowboys Prediction:  Our NFL Pick for Sunday, October 3, 2021 (1:00 pm ET start time) is Panthers 20 Cowboys 16.

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Carolina Panthers: 228-197 ATS in all games. 130-97 ATS as an underdog. 117-95 ATS in road games.

Dallas Cowboys: 233-243 ATS in all games. 143-160 ATS as a favorite.

 

 

Carolina Panthers:  J. Burris (S) Out Sun - Groin injury. C. Henderson (CB) Prob Sun - Groin injury. Y. Gross-Matos (DE) Doub Sun - Ankle injury.

Dallas Cowboys:  D. Thompson (S) day-to-day - Hamstring injury. D. Wilson (S) day-to-day - Groin injury. T. Nsekhe (T) day-to-day - Illness.

 

 

Carolina Panthers: Sam Darnold is one player to watch in this game. He scored 2 TDs on the ground himself in the last game and he will have to carry the team a bit in this game. With McCaffrey out there will be more pressure on him in this game so look for him to make some good throws and get the ball out quick in this matchup.

 

Dallas Cowboys: Ezekiel Elliott is one player to watch here. He is coming off of a great game where he found the end zone and he is Dak’s main go-to guy on the ground. He is great for killing clock, getting the short 1st downs and powering through to the end zone on plays so look for him to get a lot of touches in this game as they try to control the pace through their running game in this one.

 

"Just thankful for everything that I've been through, all of the hard work that made me account for just to be back out here doing what I love. It's the greatest place to play football." - Dak Prescott after a big win against the Eagles on Monday night.

 

 

“Christian won’t go on IR. I would expect that we put Jaycee [Horn] at some point this week. Scott [Fitterer] will handle that. Jaycee will obviously have surgery and be out for a while. And Christian, we don’t see in that light.” - Matt Rhule on the injury update for his team after their win against the Texans on Thursday night

 

 

 

WR Moore, DJ 

WR Anderson, Robby 

TE Tremble, Tommy 

TE Thomas, Ian 

QB Darnold, Sam 

RB Hubbard, Chuba 

FB Ricci, Giovanni 

 

WR Cooper, Amari 

WR Wilson, Cedrick 

WR Lamb, CeeDee 

TE Jarwin, Blake 

QB Prescott, Dak 

RB Elliott, Ezekiel 

FB Ralston, Nick 

 

 

Passing: S. Darnold (888)

Rushing: C. McCaffrey (201)

Receiving: D. Moore (285)

Touchdowns: S. Darnold (3)

Sacks: H. Reddick (4.5)

Tackles: D. Jackson (13)

 

Passing: D. Prescott (878)

Rushing: E. Elliott (199)

Receiving: C. Lamb (251)

Touchdowns: E. Elliott (3)

Sacks: M. Parsons (1.5)

Tackles: A. Brown (15)

 

Coaches:

Carolina Panthers: Matt Rhule (2nd season)

Dallas Cowboys: Mike McCarthy (2nd season)

 

82 degrees F partly cloudy, 70% humidity, 0% chance of rain, up to 7 mph wind speeds N.