Week 3 of the NFL season closes out Monday with Arizona playing its home opener, but Cowboys fans travel well anywhere and especially to Phoenix. So don’t expect much of a crowd advantage for the Cardinals. They have won the past four meetings, but the teams haven’t met since 2014.

Dallas Cowboys at Arizona Cardinals

When: Monday, 8:30 PM ET Where: University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Ariz. Point spread: Cowboys -3 Total: 47.5

Point Spread and Betting Analysis

This one could have playoff tiebreaker implications down the road. Of course, Dallas is the defending NFC East champion after leading the conference with 13 wins in 2016. They are a +150 Sports Interaction favourite to repeat in the division. Arizona reached won the NFC West in 2015 and reached the conference title game but slipped to below .500 last year. It is +300 to win the West, trailing Seattle (-278).

On the NFC futures odds, Dallas is +600 and Arizona +2200. The Cardinals have covered the past four meetings in the series, but a lot of new parts on both sides since the last one. However, Arizona has failed to cover its past three against any foe as at least a 3.5-point home dog. Dallas has won five of its past six as at least a 3.5-point road favourite and covered four of those.

Arizona Cardinals

The Cards (1-1) suffered the most devastating injury of any team thus far when superstar running back David Johnson hurt his wrist in Week 1. He recently had surgery and has been placed on injured reserve, meaning his earliest return date would be Nov. 9. Last year, Johnson almost became the third player in NFL history with 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 receiving in the same season. He led the NFL with 20 total touchdowns. The Cardinals began life without him by beating the lousy Colts 16-13 in overtime, rallying from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit. Chris Johnson rushed 11 times for 44 yards, and he appears to be the main option in David Johnson’s place.

Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys (1-1) didn’t have a truly awful game last year. They lost twice close to the Giants and were beaten in a meaningless Week 17 games vs. the Eagles when Dallas rested starters. That’s what made the team’s 42-17 blowout loss in Denver last Sunday so shocking. The Broncos are a good club, but wow! Ezekiel Elliott was held to a career-low 8 yards on nine carries and quit playing during two Dak Prescott interceptions when Elliott could have potentially made a tackle — one was returned 103 yards for a touchdown.

Elliott apparently will play the rest of 2017 despite the NFL trying to suspend him six games. That’s because NFL’s motion to stay the preliminary injunction of Elliott‘s suspension was denied. Now it’s going to wind through the courts now and Elliott will serve it to open the 2018 season if the Tom Brady case is any indication. You are likely going to see other teams try to adopt Denver’s defensive strategy vs. Dallas: load up to stop Elliott and make Prescott beat you.

Cowboys at Cardinals Prediction

Arizona was just 3-5 ATS at home last year, is simply not the same team offensively without David Johnson and Dallas will be much better than Week 2. Buy down the Cowboys to -2.5 (-154) and take them. Bet on the Cowboys vs. Cardinals game with Sports Interaction.