Las Vegas Raiders vs. Dallas Cowboys Matchup Preview (11/25/21): Betting Odds, Depth Charts, Live Stream (Watch Online)

Las Vegas Raiders vs. Dallas Cowboys Matchup Preview (11/25/21)

Every year, millions of families tune in to watch the annual Cowboys Thanksgiving match-up. This Thanksgiving, November 25th, the 7-3 Dallas Cowboys host the 5-5 Las Vegas Raiders at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, at 4:30 PM EST. Both teams took disappointing and discouraging losses this past Sunday and are motivated to catch a win in Week 12. The Raiders are currently on a three-game losing streak after showing less than adequate play against the Bengals, Chiefs, and Giants. The Cowboys put up a weak fight to the reigning AFC Champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, resulting in a 19-9 loss and a concussion for top receiver CeeDee Lamb. Both the Raiders and the Cowboys have something to prove and will need to play their best to pull out a win to break their losing streaks.

Las Vegas Raiders vs. Dallas Cowboys Betting Odds

This match-up is not my favorite entering Week 12 of the NFL regular season. According to the ESPN projections, the Cowboys are projected to win by 75%, leaving the Raiders a meek 24.8% chance of success. The obvious choice for a bet on this game would be for Dallas, but many may worry about the extensive injury list creating opportunities for the Raiders to sneak up on the NFC East front runners. The spread is looking significant, with Dallas receiving a -7 and the Raiders being given a +7. The money line is looking like Dallas has -290 and Raiders +230 on the DraftKings SportsBook. 

Even with the questionable return of Ceedee Lamb, Ezekiel Elliott, and Amari Cooper, I have faith the Cowboys will still pull out a win against the struggling Raiders. The Raiders quarterback, Derek Carr, has shown great weakness against a pressuring defense. With Trevon Diggs in the backfield, I don’t see Carr having the opportunity to avoid interceptions and making deep plays downfield. I also don’t believe the 24th ranked Raiders defense will be able to stop Dak Prescott from reading the field and making hefty completions and touchdown passes this week.

My prediction: Cowboys win 27-10 if Lamb returns, and Cowboys win 20-10 if he remains questionable.

TV Schedule

Date: November 25th, 2021
Time: 5:30 PM ET
Location: AT&T Stadium – Arlington, TX
TV Coverage: CBS

Las Vegas Raiders vs. Dallas Cowboys Live Stream

Where can you watch Raiders vs. Cowboys online? You can stream this game, and many other NFL games live online with Hulu. Hulu has a 7 Day free trial and is cheaper than cable options at $5.99/month. Watch Raiders vs. Cowboys Free Online Now.

Las Vegas Raiders Analysis

The Las Vegas Raiders have had a difficult time achieving success this 2021 season. Their quarterback, Derek Carr, has shown less than impressive stats and has a significant interception streak of 16 on the year. The Raiders’ offensive line has not been the most helpful to the quarterback resulting in 22 sacks and five fumbles. However, when Carr is on his game, he can show up with a 90% completion rate like he did against the Philadelphia Eagles earlier in the season. Against the Dallas Cowboys, Carr will have to channel that precision and aggressiveness to score touchdowns on a top 10 defense.

Thankfully, the Raiders are not experiencing as many injuries as the Cowboys. They only have one starter, their left guard John Simpson, questionable going into this week. Hunter Renfrow is going to be a top target for Carr this week due to his increasingly impressive performances each week. Last week, Renfrow caught all targets sent his way but failed to push for extra yardage after the reception. To have a fantastic game this week, Renfrow is going to need to outsmart the Cowboys’ secondary and be aggressive in his running to push for extra yards after the catch. 

Defense is going to be a huge asset in this Thanksgiving game. The Raiders don’t have a powerhouse defense like other teams in the league, so they will have to be very aggressive and put double coverage on receivers like CeeDee Lamb and potentially Amari Cooper (if they return). The Cowboys’ offense is defeated after going touchdown-less last week, and the Raiders must take advantage of weaknesses on the offensive line to stop Dak Prescott from lobbing the ball downfield. Pressure is the key to take down the Cowboys, and I’m not sure if the Raiders have the fire within the team to pull it off.

Las Vegas Raiders Depth Chart

QB: Derek Carr
RB1: Josh Jacobs
RB2: Kenyan Drake
WR1: Hunter Renfrow
WR2: Bryan Edwards
WR3: DeSean Jackson
TE1: Darren Waller
TE2: Foster Moreau

Dallas Cowboys Analysis

Last weekend, the Dallas Cowboys fell short in their match-up against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 11. The merciless Chiefs defense did not give the Cowboys any opportunity to get past the line rushing the ball and only allowed one rushing first down. The Cowboys struggled to make completions with only 28 on 43 attempts. Many receivers like Noah Brown, who substituted for CeeDee Lamb, dropped two crucial catches, which resulted in the significant loss of 2nd and 3rd down conversions. The injuries of Ceedee Lamb, Ezekiel Elliot, and the COVID absence of Amari Cooper prevented the powerhouse offense from living up to their expectations. For their game against the Raiders, they’ll need to have their key players healthy or have to clean up the second string’s execution in order to obtain a win.

The Raiders don’t have the same intensity of their defense as the Chiefs in order to stop an elite Cowboys’ offense, which can potentially allow for minor mistakes to slide. The Cowboys are the team with the third-most penalties in the league and have a record of losing yards on necessary plays. False starts and holding calls have prevented the Cowboys from moving downfield at a much faster pace to create scoring drives. After the wake-up call from last week, I’m sure Coach McCarthy will work with his team to clean up their mistakes.

Dak Prescott has struggled in the past three weeks having completion rates short of his season averages, but I feel like his incompletions fall to the fault of his receivers. Ceedee Lamb has been the star receiver for the team but has floundered against double coverage. Lamb is still new to the league but needs to learn how to use his agility to separate himself from a secondary defense so Prescott can use him as an easy target for yardage. Hopefully, Lamb will return for this Thanksgiving game by being cleared of the concussion he received mid-game last week. Without CeeDee, Elliott, and potentially still Amari Cooper, Dallas may struggle offensively against the Raiders. The coaching staff will have to be creative in play calls and hope their second strings can make a stellar performance to help the team’s chances.

Dallas Cowboys Depth Chart

QB: Dak Prescott
RB1: Ezekiel Elliott
RB2: Tony Pollard
WR1: CeeDee Lamb
WR2: Michael Gallup
WR3: Cedrick Wilson
TE1: Dalton Schultz

Las Vegas Raiders vs. Dallas Cowboys Daily Fantasy Picks

All Cowboys fantasy owners are feeling disappointed entering this week due to extensive player injuries and COVID positive incidents. Dak Prescott showcased his worst fantasy week in a long time, only putting up 2.64 points due to two interceptions and two fumbles. Prescott usually averages 19.7 points. Owners may be wary of playing him this week after such a disappointing performance, but I believe he will improve significantly from last week’s fluke. With all of the injuries on the Dallas team, I would steer clear of playing Cowboys players with the exception of the Cowboys defense. There is potential for sizable defensive plays from Trevon Diggs and other defensive players to intercept Derek Carr. They average 8.1 points and might pull out even more this week.

Derek Carr didn’t do stellar last week either, with only 8.6 points. He averages 16.9 points, but I fear he will not boom against the Cowboys’ defense. You may want to keep an eye out for big plays from Hunter Renfrow and Josh Jacobs that perhaps could lead to large point values.