Cowboys at Cardinals: 3 bold predictions for Sunday’s matchup

The Dallas Cowboys (2-0) head into Week 2 riding high, fresh off a dominant win over the New York Jets. This week, Dallas travels to Arizona to take on the Cardinals (0-2).

Before the Cowboys and Cardinals kick things off, here are three bold predictions for the matchup.

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1) Cowboys dominate Arizona on the ground, rushing for over 160 yards as a team

The Cowboys are going to be able to put up points against this Arizona defense. The Cardinals, who just surrendered 31 points to the Giants last week, lack talent on the defensive side of the ball. To make matters worse for Arizona, they will be without by far their best defensive player, safety Buda Baker, as he was just placed on IR with a hamstring injury.

Last week against the Giants the Cardinals loaded the box and forced Daniel Jones and the Giants’ passing attack to beat them. While their plan worked for the first half, it did not last. Jones and the Giants moved the ball at will in the third and fourth quarters, scoring 31 points and pulling off the comeback win.

This week, we’ll see the Cardinals try the opposite approach on defense. Dallas’ offense has far more playmakers on the outside than the Giants do, so Arizona will play a soft defense and try to force the Cowboys to beat them with underneath throws and in the run game. Dallas has not been great running the football to start the year, but that changes on Sunday.

The Cowboys, led by Tony Pollard’s 100-yard, two-touchdown afternoon, rush for over 160 yards as a team, scoring three of their four offensive touchdowns on the ground.

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2) Cowboys intercept Joshua Dobbs twice, including a pick-six by Stephon Gilmore

Two games into the season Cardinals’ quarterback Joshua Dobbs has yet to throw an interception. While Dobbs has played some decent football, if you dive a little deeper into the stats you’ll see he’s gotten very lucky and is due for a regression in the turnover department.

Dobbs leads the NFL with six interceptable passes, and is second in the league with eight danger plays, via Player Profiler. The 28-year-old could easily have three or four interceptions right now but has gotten some good turnover luck to start the year.

That will all change Sunday as Dobbs will go up against arguably the best defense he’ll face all year. Dallas’ defensive line forces Arizona’s signal-caller into some questionable throws, and the Cowboys take advantage. Dallas picks off Dobbs twice including a pick-six by veteran Stephon Gilmore.

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3) Cowboys put up another 40-burger on offense

Since Mike McCarthy took over as Dallas’ head coach back in 2020, the Cowboys have scored 40 or more points in a game an extremely impressive 12 times. Dallas has already scored 40 one time this season, and they’ll do it again in Arizona on Sunday afternoon.

Looking at the Cardinals’ defense, there just seems to be no way they are going to be able to slow down Dallas’ offense. The Cowboys have far too many weapons and Arizona lacks any real playmakers on the defensive side of the ball.

Dallas gets off to an early 17-point lead and turns on the burners in the second half. The Cowboys put on display yet another dominating performance, scoring 40 points and walking out of Arizona with a 41-13 victory.