MNF PREVIEW: ARIZONA CARDINALS AT DALLAS COWBOYS

BY ADAM GREENE

You almost have to feel sorry for Monday Night Football at this point. For years, the NFL had saddled its former premier prime time football contest with some of the worst match ups of the week. This year, the league made an honest attempt to fix that, putting worthwhile contests on Monday. Only fate stepped in and continues to ruin it. Such is the case as the Arizona Cardinals travel to Arlington, Texas to take on the Dak Prescott-less Dallas Cowboys.

ARIZONA CARDINALS AT DALLAS COWBOYS (-1, O/U: 55)

Location: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas

Kickoff: Oct. 19, 8:15 p.m. EST

Broadcast: ESPN

THE HISTORY

For those that aren’t students of NFL history, you might be surprised that this is the 90^th meeting between the Cowboys and Cardinals, with Dallas holding a commanding 56-32-1 lead in the all time series.

While the Cowboys have always played in “Dallas” (or, you know, close by), the Cardinals have been in three different cities since their inception in 1920. They began as the Chicago Cardinals from 1920-1959, then moved to St. Louis from 1960-1987. They packed up and moved to Arizona in 1988 and have been there ever since, but remained in the NFC East with the Cowboys until 2002.

ARIZONA CARDINALS (3-2)

After opening the season 2-0 and getting everyone’s attention, the Cardinals dropped their next two games and were promptly forgotten again. A 30-10 win over the New York Jets last week got them back in the win column, but every team can beat the Jets so it didn’t do much to prove Arizona had put its problems behind them.

Kyler Murray completed 27 of 37 for 380 yards, a touchdown and an interception in the win. The defense held the Jets to 285 total yards. What can they take away from it? Not much. It’s the Jets.

DALLAS COWBOYS (2-3)

The Cowboys stopped a two-game skid with a 37-34 victory over the New York Giants last week, but saw any hopes of saving their season go down when quarterback Dak Prescott hit the turf with an “L” shaped ankle. Prescott was having a career year in spite of Dallas’ other problems before he was injured. He had completed 68 percent of his passes for an NFL-leading 1,856 yards and nine touchdowns with four interceptions. He was the only reason they were in any game they played. Now, he’s watching on his couch with a surgically repaired ankle.

In steps Andy Dalton to play QB on a team that required otherworldly QB play to even be in games. Can he pull it off? Are we seriously asking this question?

THE PICK

The Cowboys have had a week to deal with the fallout from Prescott’s injury. They’re still a team loaded with offensive weapons and have far more defensive talent than seemingly is on display in shootout after shootout. But with Dak out, I don’t see how they can stay competitive. Not with Mike McCarthy in command. Cards 31, Cowboys 24

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