Dallas Cowboys vs. Tampa Bay Bucs, 12/23/18 Week 16 Predictions

Cowboys vs. Bucs Spread Prediction

One week after being tripped up by Indy, the Dallas Cowboys return home on Sunday to host the Tampa Bay Bucs at 1:00 p.m. ET. With the Bucs traveling for the second straight week, will the Cowboys roll to an easy victory and cover today?

Game Snapshot

101 Tampa Bay Bucs at 102 Dallas Cowboys

1:00 p.m. ET, Sunday, December 23

AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas

Public Betting Trends

According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Cowboys are 7-point favorites to beat the Bucs. The total, meanwhile, sits at 48 points. As of this writing, 53% of the public betting tickets are on the Cowboys to cover the point spread.

Tampa Bay Bucs

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports the Bucs "haven't ruled out" keeping Jameis Winston next season. Winston's future has been in question after a three-game suspension and multiple benchings for Ryan Fitzpatrick. He's turned around his 2018 in the second half — throwing for 1,130 yards with an 8:3 TD/INT ratio over the last five games. It's shaping like the Bucs will stick with Winston for another season. Winston is due a reasonable $20.9 million under his fifth-year option.

Dallas Cowboys

Zack Martin (knee) returned to practice Thursday. Martin will certainly be limited, and it remains unclear if he will return this week against the Bucs. Barring a setback, he should at worst be ready for the playoffs.

NFL Betting Trends

Tampa Bay

The Bucs are 3-1-1 against the spread in their last five games overall but are just 2-5-1 ATS in their last eight games versus conference opponents.

Dallas

The Cowboys are 5-1 against the spread in their last six games overall and are 4-1 ATS in their last five home games.

Prediction

The Bucs showed up last week in Baltimore and played hard but I don’t trust them to do so in back-to-back weeks. The Cowboys had their wake up call last Sunday when they were shut out by the Colts but they were prime for a letdown. Now back in Dallas hosting a foe that has been terrible defensively for much of the season, I expect the Cowboys to get back to leaning on Ezekiel Elliott and their dominant running game. Winston could also be harassed all afternoon by that Dallas pass rush.

NFL Week 16 Prediction: Dallas Cowboys -7