Steelers vs Cowboys Betting Odds and Preview | NFL Week 5

Sunday night’s Steelers vs Cowboys matchup will be missing some key pieces, particularly on the Dallas side. Betting analyst Ron Marmalefsky shares his thoughts on this primetime showdown and where each unit can exploit specific matchup advantages.

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Steelers vs Cowboys Preview

Venue	Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Game Time	8pm ET / 5pm PT
Television	NBC
Point Spread	Pittsburgh Steelers -2.5
Total	44 Points
Weather	Temps in the Upper-60s with Light Rain and Light Wind

Dallas Cowboys

Dallas is 2-2, which seems about right. Dak Prescott is performing decently, but he’s getting no help from the run game, and only CeeDee Lamb and TE Ferguson are helping in the pass game. The defense has had its ups and downs with Mike Zimmer at the helm.

This is likely all about Dak Prescott vs. Pittsburgh’s pass pressure and Pittsburgh’s secondary. This is NOT a good spot for RB Elliott, so the Cowboys’ secondary receivers need to become a bit more relevant in this game. It looks like LB Parsons will miss this game. If so, I’d shift the Dallas game plan to containing Fields in the pocket, and disguising coverages to confuse him. Double up WR Pickens, and keep Fields from having a run-pass option.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Pittsburgh was in an awful situational spot last week, and lost to Indy as I expected. They didn’t crash and burn, maybe partly because Indy lost their QB early in the process. As I often say, any defense with T.J. Watt on it is formidable, but as expected, the loss of pass rusher Highsmith hurt their cause a week ago.

Pittsburgh might be without Cordarrelle Patterson this week, and that hurts, because his presence adds more variety to the offense. I’d use WR Austin a bit more to compensate, something Pittsburgh did not consider last week. It’s a chess match with the sometimes-predictable Pittsburgh offense going against an occasionally unpredictable Mike Zimmer defense. Defensively, I feel Pittsburgh does not need to take unnecessary risks. They won’t likely be burned by the run game, so my game plan would be to double up on WR Lamb, and take him out of the equation.

Steelers vs Cowboys Keys to Success

For Dallas, get the secondary wide receivers going early, including a couple of WR sweeps, and contain Fields in the pocket. For Pittsburgh, design a rolling pocket to get Fields in space, diversify the run game, and do not let WR Lamb beat you.

Follow me on twitter @ronacesports to be alerted of future articles, and my weekly podcasts with Las Vegas Cris, Ted Sobel and Jeff Dawson.

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