The San Francisco 49ers are third in the NFL in points per game. The Dallas Cowboys are sixth in the NFL. So it shouldn’t surprise you when oddsmakers like FanDuel Sportsbook make the total for these two teams the highest projected total of any game this season.
The projected total is set at 55.5. That ties for the highest total this season, with an October 12 matchup between the Bills and the Rams—a contest that ended 37-34. The Cowboys have had a couple of 54.5-point games. One was this month when
they traveled to Arizona. That score was 30-33. The other 54.5 total came back in September against the Ravens, when the score was 34-31.
The 49ers have had only one pre-flop game projected north of 50. However, they’ve been involved in a couple of games that went over 60 points. When the total is as high as 55.5, the oddsmakers are telling us no number is high enough.
Low totals go under. High totals go over. “When it’s high, we go higher” is a saying in this market. That applies to two top-10 offenses.
The 49ers are 4.5-point favorites. That’s because only the Raiders are worse defensively in EPA per play than the Cowboys. Dallas ranks 25th in defensive success rate.
If you caught the Colts-Cowboys game on Sunday, the replays kept showing Daniel Jones throwing the ball underneath when receivers ran wide open at the intermediate and deep levels. Dallas was without cornerback Joey Porter Jr. and linebacker DeMarvion Overshown in Week 9. I’m not sure either will make much of a difference against the 49ers.
The 49ers have done a great job at limiting the damage this season defensively. But they have not played an offense with the weapons Dallas has to date. The secondary will be tested in ways they haven’t been all season, because it’ll be the best quarterback Raheem Morris has seen. Per Sports Info Solutions, no quarterback has been more valuable than Dak Prescott this season.
For as obnoxious as the total seems, it might be too low when you’re talking about these two high-powered offenses.
This game should be on Sunday Night Football. It has all of the makings of being the most entertaining game of the month. Too bad it wasn’t flexed.
