Livescore
The Dallas Cowboys don’t have long to savor their emphatic, 31-14 defeat of the greatest quarterback of all time. No, after slaying their road playoff demons, their grass field demons, and their voodoo QB demons, there is no rest for the weary. The team celebrated their wild-card round victory but almost to a man spoke of the turning of the page.
That’s key, because Dallas was slotted in the final wild-card window, a Monday night game, and now are going to face off against a team that played on Saturday afternoon, just shy of 60 hours of extra rest. Now they’ll look to slay the “longest winning streak in the NFL demon” while avenging their early 2021 playoff exit. Here’s the scoop.
Game Information
Dallas Cowboys (13-5) vs San Francisco 49ers (14-4)
When: 5:40 CT, Sunday, January 22, 2023
Where: Levi Stadium, Santa Clara, CA
Referee: Bill Vinovich
Vinovich called the Cowboys’ 22-10 October win over the Rams and called five penalties against L.A. for 42 yards and 3 penalties against Dallas for 25 yards. Dallas has been the away team in nine Vinovich games over the years, with a 5-4 overall record.
The 49ers are 3-4 at home with Vinovich as the referee. Their last two Vinovich-called home games are all losses, three if one counts the Super Bowl defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Opening Point Spread: 49ers -4
Relying on BetMGM’s odds, the 49ers are solid favorites at home, but it’s the closest line of the four divisional-round games. The Bills are 4.5-point favorites over the Bengals, while both No. 1 seeds are more than a touchdown favorite. The Eagles are -7.5 over New York and the Chiefs are -8.5 over the Jaguars.
When reading spreads, the team that is favored is referred to as “giving points.” In other words, if the 49ers were to give away 4 points, this game would be seen as an even match. The 49ers are 4-point favorites, so in order to win a bet San Francisco has to win by at least five points and conversely, if Dallas loses by one-to-three points, or wins outright, a bet on the Cowboys is a winning one.
The Cowboys are referred to as +4.
Spread History in 2022
The 49ers are 12-6 against the spread in 2022, including last week’s cover in the wild-card win over Seattle. At home, they are 8-2 against the spread, including winning their last six home games when favored. Their last ATS loss when a home favorite was when they were 8-point favorites against the Chargers and won 22-16.
The Cowboys are 11-7 against the spread in 2022, including the wild-card cover in Tampa Bay. On the road, they are 5-4 against the spread. The Cowboys have only been road underdogs three times this season; a +1.5 outright win over the Giants in Week 3, a +5 outright win over the Rams in Week 5 and a +7 outright and ATS loss to the Eagles in Week 6.
All of those games came with Cooper Rush under center, this will be the first road underdog game of Dak Prescott’s 2022 season.
Over/Under opens at 46
This total is the lowest of the opening totals for the divisional round, edging out the NFC East Round 3 between the Eagles and the Giants.
The Over/Under is the guesstimate of the total amount of points to be scored by both teams.
For instance if the final score of Sunday’s game ended up being 27-24, then an Over bet would win because 51 total points were scored. If the final score was 19-17, then the Under bet would win based on a total of 36 points being scored.
The Cowboys-Bucs game was the only one of six wild-card matchups that didn’t hit the over. It was 45.5 and the final total was 45.
Cowboys Money Line is currently set for +165
The Money Line is a simple win-or-lose bet. If someone thinks one team will win, but they don’t want to give or take any points, they bet on them “straight up.”
If someone bets on a favorite the ML will be negative, an underdog, positive. All bets are spoken of in terms of wagering an even $100.
So if someone were to wager $100 on the Cowboys to win outright, then they would get their $100 back, plus $165 in profit.
The 49ers ML is set to -200. So it would take someone betting $200 in order win an additional $100.
Story originally appeared on Cowboys Wire
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