For Sunday Night Football matchups, it doesn’t get any bigger than the Pittsburgh Steelers versus the Dallas Cowboys. It will likely be one of the most-watched games in the NFL this season because of the size and the history of the two fan bases. The Cowboys are trying to hang on after a rocky start while the Steelers are looking to extend their division lead after winning three of their first four games. The weekly NFL.com picks are in, and six of the 10 analysts are picking the Steelers.
NFL dot com predicting crew has six of the ten with Steelers over Cowboys in a Week 5! #Steelers #NFL #HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/ootjl1bHng
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) October 2, 2024
Adam Rank, Marcas Grant, Bucky Brooks, Maurice Jones-Drew, Eric Edholm, and Kevin Patra were the analysts who chose the Steelers. Daniel Jeremiah, Colleen Wolfe, Grant Gordon, and Nick Shook took the Cowboys.
Nine of the analysts have it being a one-score game, while Gordon sees a 10-point win for the Cowboys. Five of the analysts have the game being decided by a field goal or less. This matchup will feature two of the league’s best deep kickers in Chris Boswell and Brandon Aubrey.
The 10 analysts average out to 22.3 points for the Steelers and 22 points for the Cowboys, showing just how close many think this game will end up being. The Steelers are averaging 18.8 points for and 13.3 points against per game while the Cowboys are averaging 24.3 points for and 26 points against per game.
Pittsburgh has played against Dallas 33 times dating back to 1960, and the Cowboys hold a slight edge over the Steelers with a 17-16 record. These two teams have played against each other in the Super Bowl three times, with the Steelers holding a 2-1 edge in that column. Their most recent matchup in 2020 resulted in a 24-19 win for the Steelers in Dallas. In Pittsburgh, the Steelers have a slight edge at 9-8 in the series history.
The current odds coming out of Vegas have the Steelers as 2.5 consensus home favorites.
There are a number of notable players who will be unavailable to both teams on Sunday. The Cowboys’ defensive line is banged up, while the Steelers’ offensive line and backfield are missing some key players. Most notably, Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, DaRon Bland and Brandin Cooks should be unavailable for the Cowboys while Alex Highsmith, Jaylen Warren and James Daniels should be missing from the Steelers’ lineup.
