St. Louis Rams Week 3 Predictions Roundup: Dallas Cowboys

Sep 22, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Dallas Cowboys running backs coach Gary Brown talks with running back DeMarco Murray (29) during a timeout from the game against the St. Louis Rams at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

With most discounting the “game” that was played last night, Week 3 will, for all intensive purposes, open on Sunday afternoon. Including in one of those morning slots is the matchup between the St. Louis Rams and Dallas Cowboys. Neither team has looked particularly impressive at his point, although both teams managed wins over mediocre opponents last week.

The real matchup is between the Rams defensive line and the Cowboys offensive line, particularly as is pertains to running the football. Stopping DeMarco Murray is the “key” to victory for St. Louis, but can their currently-ranked 30th overall run defense rise up to the task? We’ll take a look at the national media picks to find out…

NFL.com: 22-19, Cowboys

"“How sticky is this duct tape that the Cowboys are kept together with?”— A disgruntled Ft. Worth-area TCU grad in the NFL NOW newsroomGood question. More importantly, has anyone on the Rams ever successfully tackled DeMarco Murray? The first game of Murray’s career in which he had significant carries was against St. Louis in 2011 — and he put up 253 yards. Facing the team again last year, Murray compiled 96 rushing yards in the first half alone, and wound up finishing with 175. That’s two games and 428 yards. Will the Rams get even half that kind of ground production from Zac Stacy and Benny Cunningham? Because if they don’t, and Dallas’ defense is close to being as improved as it seemed to be last week, the Rams will lose another home game. #DALvsSTL"

CBS Sports: 23-14, Cowboys

"The Cowboys are playing consecutive road games, but I think they got their running game going against the Titans and it will carry over here. The Rams are having trouble scoring points, and that will be the case again — even against a bad Dallas defense."

Pro Football Talk: 28-13, Cowboys; 14-13, Cowboys

"MDS’s take: The 1-1 Cowboys are one-eighth of the way to their fourth straight 8-8 finish, and I think what we’re going to see from them this year is more or less what we’ve seen through two games: They’ll beat bad teams like the Titans and lose to good teams like the 49ers. This week it’s the Rams, a bad team, so they’ll win.Florio’s take: The next time anyone talks about expanding the NFL, point out that this game could feature a quarterback showdown of Brandon Weeden and Austin Davis. Advantage: No one."

Ramblin’ Fan: 16-14, Rams

"If the Rams want to go into the bye week with a winning record their linebackers need to step up. The Rams rank 30th in rushing defense while ranking 4th in passing, mostly because teams don’t need to throw against them. The defensive line has been good at creating pressure and the DB’s have been strong both against receivers and helping in run defense, but the LB’s have been poor. It seemed like every play the LB’s were out of place and looking confused. An adjustment there will be critical if the Rams want to win because beating the Cowboys means stopping DeMarco Murray. It will be impossible for the Rams to win this week if the defensive adjustments aren’t made, but I believe that Jeff Fischer and Gregg Williams can get the team straight. Rams win 16-14 (Rams cover spread)"

Some sites prefer to merely throw out their picks, instead of outlining boldly predicted scores. Falling in line with the the majority of bolder predictions, the USA Today strongly favored the Dallas Cowboys in their picks, with six of their seven panelist taking the ‘Boys over the St. Louis Rams. In the Week 3 “expert picks” for ESPN, 12 out of 14 picked Dallas to win, although NFL insiders, Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen, are both hanging their hats on St. Louis. In CBS Sports’ “Against the Spread” predictions, seven out of eight went with the “favorite,”picking the Cowboys, which is understandable, considering Vegas is only giving Dallas 0.5 points. Given that, it is not surprising that with their “Straight Up” picks, the votes were identical, with seven of eight taking the Cowboys over St. Louis on Sunday.