Cowboys vs. Rams Betting Guide: Can Jason Garrett Change His Preseason Misfortune?

Dallas Cowboys vs. Los Angeles Rams Betting Odds

• Spread: Cowboys -2.5
• Over/Under: 40
• Kickoff: 10 p.m. ET
• TV: NFL Network

The Cowboys and Rams face off in Hawaii in one of five NFL Preseason Week 2 matchups on Saturday. Let’s take a look at key storylines for both teams, complete with betting analysis.

Dallas Cowboys

The Ezekiel Elliott holdout is still ongoing. This means that Tony Pollard looks like the next-man-up in what has always been a fantasy-friendly offense for running backs during the Jason Garrett era.

Pollard deserves credit for being a solid running back prospect in his own right. The Alvin Kamara comparisons are a bit extreme, but there's no reason to think Pollard can't at least add some juice to the Cowboys offense.

• Pollard has theoretical three-down ability thanks to his size (6-foot and 210 pounds) and speed (4.52-second 40-yard dash).
• He spent plenty of time as a pure wide receiver at Memphis, racking up 104 receptions for 1,292 yards and nine touchdowns through the air during his three-year career.
• Pollard averaged a beastly 6.8 yards per rush on his 139 collegiate carries.

The presence of All-Pro center Travis Frederick, combined with the potential for an improved scheme from new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, makes tracking Pollard's preseason performance imperative ahead of Week 1.

Los Angeles Rams

The Rams opened as 4-point favorites, but have since flipped all the way to 2.5-point underdogs. (Note that this game will be played in Hawaii, so the Rams won't have any sort of home field advantage.)

Also complicating matters is the fact that head coach Sean McVay hasn't asked Jared Goff to take a preseason snap since 2017. Todd Gurley also won't be around, which means we shouldn't expect to see the first-team offensive line or wide receivers for all that long either.

I'm also intrigued by how rookie running back Darrell Henderson will perform, but this is ultimately a stay away on the spread with so much movement in favor of the league's single-worst preseason head coach against the spread.

LEAN: Rams +2.5