Week 17 of the NFL season starts with the Dallas Cowboys visiting the Tennessee Titans on Thursday Night Football at 8:15 pm ET on Amazon Prime Video. Our NFL expert, Clevta, has a best bet and predictions for the game.
Clevta’s Dallas Cowboys vs Tennessee Titans best bet: Cowboys 1H -6 (-110)
This is a strange predicament the Titans find themselves in this week. This game against the Cowboys is virtually meaningless and all that matters is Week 18 against Jacksonville for the AFC South title. On a short week this late in the season, there is a lot of merit for the team with the most players currently on IR, to sit some of its starters ahead of the Week 18 showdown. We've already seen Derrick Henry sit the first two days of practice and has been limited. If he doesn't play, then this Titans offense with Malik Willis and a bunch of scraps will be hard-pressed to even get into double digits. Even if Henry plays, the Titans will do what they always do and run the football into a brick wall. The Titans have posted a -0.002 EPA per play and an average of just 16 points per game in the 3 starts by Willis. Willis ranks 70th out of 73 qualified passers by PFF this season and 54th out of 56 QBs in success rate. He's been absolutely atrocious as a passer.
Who knows what the Titans decide to do, but they could very easily also completely sit or, at minimum, give a bunch of snaps off to defenders like Jeffrey Simmons and Denico Autry, who have both recently had to deal with injuries. No matter what, motivation is a huge concern.'The Cowboys, on the other hand, need this win to give themselves a shot at the NFC East crown. They should be able to exploit this Titans’ defense early enough to get a lead. I hate laying double digits on the road because anything can happen late in blowouts, so instead, I will grab the first half with Dallas.