Cowboys vs. Buccaneers predictions, picks & odds for NFL Wild Card Weekend

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In what should be the most-watched game of Wild Card Weekend, the Dallas Cowboys are getting set to take on Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday. Dallas was just embarrassed by the Commanders a week ago, while Tampa Bay is playing its best football of the season after winning the NFC South. However, the Buccaneers are now a very public side for this game because the Cowboys have struggled lately.

Our expert is locking in a best bet for this game, so let’s get into their Cowboys vs. Buccaneers prediction with odds provided by Caesars Sportsbook.

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The final game of the NFL Super Wild Card Weekend thankfully features two teams at virtually full strength. The Cowboys made sure to allow RB Tony Pollard to rest after they were out on contention for the #1 seed in the NFC. Their one significant note is that Micah Parsons did not practice on Saturday due to a personal issue, but is fully expected to suit up.

As for the Bucs, they are still holding out hope that C Ryan Jensen could be activated from injured reserve before the game on Monday. However, head coach Todd Bowles said that the team will be waiting to make that decision.

From a betting standpoint, it seems like there’s some respected money on both sides of this game, enough to ping pong this spread around the key number of three. The line opened with the Bucs catching 3.5 points and immediately got bet down to 2.5 thanks to sharp action on Tampa Bay. Since then, there has been some steam drifting back toward Dallas, and we would not be surprised if we landed at the key number of 3 on Monday.

This is a game where the narrative doesn’t favor Dallas, but that could give the Cowboys some value. Our expert likes Dallas to pick up the victory here, so let’s get into their Cowboys vs. Buccaneers predictions.

The narrative has been very negative on Dak Prescott this week after the Cowboys flopped in the season finale, and for good reason. Prescott looks like he’s not trusting his eyes right now and is not doing a good enough job reading coverages, which is ironic because most analysts said the same thing about Matthew Stafford last season prior to the Super Bowl run.

Do we think Dallas will win the big game this year? No, but we can make a case for why the Cowboys are undervalued at anything under a field goal considering the season-long numbers compiled to this point.

The case to be made for Tampa Bay obviously surrounds Tom Brady, who has looked better in recent weeks as the calendar has turned to January. If Byron Leftwich finally wakes up and throws the ball more on early downs, the case can be made for why the Bucs will win this game outright, but that would be bucking a season-long trend of conservative play calls on early downs.

We see slightly more scenarios where Dallas takes advantage of a Bucs secondary that has been beaten up down the stretch, as Tampa Bay ranked 28th in passing DVOA since Week 10. However, because the greatest quarterback of all time is on the other sideline, we can’t fully count out Tampa Bay doing what they did in last year’s playoffs and mounting a furious rally in the 2nd half, which just fell short against the eventual champion Rams.

We expect this to be a back-and-forth game, so this is one where the number matters a lot with which way you bet it. As long as this line stays under a field goal, take the Cowboys.

Dallas -2.5 is our experts’ best bet from their Cowboys vs. Buccaneers predictions. Although they used Caesars to place their bet, this pick offers a great opportunity for new users who join DraftKings Sportsbook. All new DraftKings customers can enroll in their ‘Bet $5, get $200″ promotion before kickoff on Monday.

Instead of backing Dallas -9.5, you can back the Cowboys on the money line, which has -135 odds at DraftKings. If you risk $5 on the Cowboys’ money line and they win, you’ll receive $3.70 in profit and $200 worth of bonus bets. This offer won’t be available forever, and Dallas is a great team to back on the money line in this contest, so you should for a DraftKings account today.

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The Buccaneers are +2.5 underdogs with -105 odds on Monday, while their money line price is +125 at Caesars Sportsbook. The Cowboys are -2.5 favorites with a -115 price and have a -140 price on the money line. The game total (over/under) is 45.5, with both the over and the under carrying -110 odds.

A $12 bet on Tampa Bay +2.5 profits $10 if they win outright or lose by two points or less, while a $10 wager on Dallas -2.5 returns $10 of winnings if they win by three or more.

Remember, you can bet on any of these markets using first-bet insurance worth up to $1,250 if you using the Caesars promo code MLIVEFULL.

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