Detroit Lions open as 6.5-point underdogs against Dallas Cowboys.
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00:00 Heading into the Cowboys game on the road,
00:02 are the Detroit Lions being disrespected?
00:04 Here today to examine is SIO Lions senior writer, Vito Chirco.
00:08 Vito, I'm curious, the Detroit Lions are six and a half point underdogs
00:12 to start the week against the Cowboys.
00:14 Do you think that's fair?
00:15 And what chances do you give the Lions to go on the road and
00:18 defeat the Dallas Cowboys?
00:20 >> Well, first and foremost, the Cowboys are 7-0 at home.
00:23 When you're undefeated at your home stadium, well, that's a good reason to be
00:28 a favorite in a game and to be a six and a half point favorite as of Tuesday this
00:33 week for SI Sportsbook, you can see right there why the Cowboys are a big time
00:38 favorite, nearly a touchdown favorite going into this matchup with the Lions.
00:42 We're just coming off a punch in the NFC North division against the Vikings on
00:46 Christmas Eve.
00:47 So you can see right there and then you look at the stats, John,
00:50 the stats just back it up tremendously for
00:52 the Cowboys to be in the favorite in this week 17 matchup.
00:56 By the way, in prime time on Saturday night too, I mean, huge anticipation.
01:00 Jimmy Johnson, the former head coach of the Cowboys,
01:02 is being inducted into the Cowboys ring of honor too.
01:05 I mean, there's tremendous stuff going on in this prime time deal.
01:08 And you look at the Cowboys, how good they've been statistically all season long,
01:11 offensively, defensively.
01:13 They're scoring 30 points a game.
01:15 They're averaging less than 20 points a game.
01:18 They're holding opponents to less than 20 points a game, I should say, as well.
01:21 All that going on, they're the only team, by the way,
01:24 in the NFL right now, John, that is averaging 30 points a game and
01:28 is allowing opponents to score less than 20 a game.
01:32 That's tremendous right there in itself.
01:34 And you look at the playmakers the Cowboys have defensively to start off.
01:37 Micah Parsons, a sack master, can do it all defensively.
01:40 Derron Bland with eight INTs, five return for
01:43 touchdowns already up to this point.
01:45 Those five INTs return for TDs is an NFL record in a single season as well.
01:49 Then you look at their QB and Dak Prescott,
01:52 a guy that has proven enough to say that he is one of the better
01:56 passers in the entire National Football League at this point.
01:59 Now I know he still has to prove it in the playoffs, but
02:01 he's played some darn good football up to this point in the regular season,
02:04 at least, John.
02:05 So this is a very formidable opponent and
02:07 coached by a Super Bowl winning head man in Mike McCarthy,
02:10 a guy that won with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay back in the day.
02:13 So you add all those components, all those factors up, John, and
02:16 you can clearly see why the Cowboys are a six and a half point favor as of Tuesday,
02:19 at least, going into this Week 17 primetime matchup.
02:23 So the Lions are being dogged, underestimated maybe a little bit.
02:26 But I say at the end of the day, there's a lot of reason for why this is the case
02:30 for the Lions going into this big, big primetime matchup in Week 17
02:36 against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.
02:41 >> Yeah, but maybe being underestimated will give the Lions added motivation
02:44 to get their 12th victory this year.
02:47 Appreciate all the insights.