Thanks to the Cardinals‘ loss in Week 8, there aren’t anymore undefeated teams left in the NFL. However, there is still one left that’s undefeated against the spread and that team is the Dallas Cowboys.
The Cowboys have turned into a gambler’s best friend this year: If you’ve been betting on them, then you’ve won a lot of money and that’s because they’re 7-0 against the spread through eight weeks (They had a Week 7 bye). A 7-0 start might not sound overly impressive, but when it comes to point spreads, it’s actually one of the best starts in NFL history.
According to ESPN.com, there have only been a total of seven teams in the Super Bowl era to start a season 7-0 against the spread. The first time it happened came in 1975 with the Houston Oilers. Since then, six more teams have pulled it off, including the 1976 Colts, 1985 Bears, 2007 Patriots, 2008 Titans, 2018 Chiefs and 2021 Cowboys.
If the Cowboys can cover the spread in three more games, they could end up making history and that’s because in the Super Bowl era, no team has ever started a season 10-0 against the spread (The Colts and Oilers started 9-0 while the Patriots started 8-0).
With Dak Prescott expected to be back on the field this week against the Broncos, the Cowboys are currently a 10-point favorite. Since Prescott took over as quarterback in 2016, the Cowboys have only been favored by 10 or more points a total of two times and they covered in both games. If they cover against the Broncos, they’ll match the undefeated 2007 Patriots for the third-longest streak of covering the spread to start a season.
As far as this year goes, the Cowboys have covered every game pretty comfortably. The only game that was remotely close to not being covered came in Week 6 when they, fittingly enough, beat the Patriots, 35-29, in a game where Dallas was favored by 3.5.
Here’s a look at how they’ve done against the spread this year:
|
Game |
Final score |
Point spread |
Covered by…. |
|
Week 1 |
Buccaneers 31-29 over Cowboys |
TB (-8.5) |
6.5 points |
|
Week 2 |
Cowboys 20-17 over Chargers |
LAC (-3) |
6 points |
|
Week 3 |
Cowboys 41-21 over Eagles |
DAL (-3.5) |
16.5 points |
|
Week 4 |
Cowboys 36-28 over Panthers |
DAL (-4) |
4 points |
|
Week 5 |
Cowboys 44-20 over Giants |
DAL (-7) |
17 points |
|
Week 6 |
Cowboys 35-29 over Patriots |
DAL (-3.5) |
2.5 points |
|
Week 8 |
Cowboys 20-16 over Vikings |
MIN (-3) |
7 points |
The crazy part about the Cowboys is that they’re doing all of this just one year after they also made history. In 2020, the Cowboys started 0-8 against the spread, which is the third-worst mark in NFL history.
As for that 7-0 start, the good news for the Cowboys is that every team that pulled it off before them had a pretty successful season. Here’s a look at how the other teams fared, including their final record and how far they made it in the postseason:
1975 Oilers (10-4): Didn’t make playoffs
1976 Colts (11-3): Lost in divisional round
1985 Bears (15-1): Won Super Bowl
2007 Patriots (16-0): Lost in Super Bowl
2008 Titans (13-3): Lost in divisional round
2018 Chiefs (12-4): Lost in AFC title game
The four teams that played a 16-game schedule averaged 14 wins per season, which seems like a good omen for this year’s Cowboys.
