Posted on 12/27/2007 11:33:59 AM

Football Betting - Cowboys (-9) vs. Redskins (+ 9)

By D.S. Williamson

Does it get any more dramatic than this? The Redskins need only win and they’re in. Of course the team they have to beat are their hated rivals, the Dallas Cowboys.

I’m old enough to say that I’ve seen this thing before. Coach Joe Gibbs finds a third-string quarterback to lead his team and what happens? They march to Super Bowl! Am I saying that it will happen this year? Not exactly, but I am saying that the Redskins will win this game outright.

Before I get into why, check out these trends:

The Washington Redskins are 7-2-1 against the spread versus a team with a winning record.

The UNDERDOG is 17-4 against the spread in the last 21 meetings between these two teams.

The Dallas Cowboys are 7-3-1 against the spread in their last 11 away games.

Dallas has nothing to play for after securing home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. But make no mistake, the Boys will come out firing in this one. This is one of those NFL rivalry games that reminds me of Auburn vs. Arkansas in college football or the Yanks vs. the BoSox in baseball.

These two teams, heck, two organizations despise each other. Everything will be left on the field in this game. Jerry Jones hates losing to the Skins. Daniel Snyder hates losing to the Cowboys. But the reason the Cowboys will lose this game isn’t because the Redskins have more at stake it’s because at this point in the NFL betting season the Redskins are the better team.

What will be the difference in this game? Joe Gibbs and Todd Collins. Collins, the Skins’ third-string quarterback, has turned into the mark of efficiency that Gibbs found in Mark Rypien, Doug Williams, and Jay Schroeder. It was only a matter of time, really, since Gibbs has done this with quarterbacks for the past thirty years.

Washington is one of the places where you want to drink the Kool-Aid, as the saying goes. Buy into Coach Gibbs’ system then watch the wins pile-up. That has happened the past two weeks in Washington.

There was a moment during their game versus the Vikings when I suddenly realized that the Redskins would be a team to deal with in the playoffs. It was the lack of panic in the fourth quarter. In a hostile environment in what amounted to a playoff game the Redskins calmly stuck to their game plan and played smart. That led to a win.

I love them to pull the upset at home this weekend.

The BetUS line is Washington Redskins + 9 against the spread at home versus the Dallas Cowboys.

The Redskins have a terrific chance of not only beating the spread but of winning this game outright.

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