We have reached the middle of November and the Dallas Cowboys have yet to win a game in front of their home crowd this season. They are a far ways removed from the group last season that went undefeated until the playoff loss that broke everything, in their home building.
It has been a difficult go for Dallas this season with the lack of moves over the offseason to improve the roster and the injuries once the season began that depleted the talent. When opening odds for this game came out it was not shocking to see the visiting Houston Texans favored and massively so, but this is the NFL where the unpredictable often tends to happen.
Can that really occur on Monday night between the in-state rivals? As we always do we asked Madden to run a simulation of the game to see what it believes is in store.
What do you know, Madden thinks the Cowboys are going to win on Monday night!
It came down to some fourth quarter drama between the Cowboys and Texans in this simulation. Jalen Tolbert had a huge gain that set the team up for Rico Dowdle to punch things in for the go-ahead touchdown, after which Cooper Rush hit Jonathan Mingo (who caught a touchdown earlier) for the two-point conversion to make it a seven-point game.
The Texans drove down the field in the final minute and appeared at the very least set to send things to overtime. It was then that DaRon Bland picked off C.J. Stroud to seal the game, although obviously we still have yet to see if Bland will even play on Monday night.
If you are curious, here is how the Madden simulations have gone so far this season.
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Week 1 Madden Prediction: Dallas Cowboys lose to Cleveland Browns, 18-17
Week 1 In Actuality: Dallas Cowboys beat Cleveland Browns, 33-17 -
Week 2 Madden Prediction: Dallas Cowboys lose to New Orleans Saints, 36-29
Week 2 in Actuality: Dallas Cowboys lose to New Orleans Saints, 44-10 -
Week 3 Madden Prediction: Dallas Cowboys lose to Baltimore Ravens, 21-14
Week 3 in Actuality: Dallas Cowboys lose to Baltimore Ravens, 28-25 -
Week 4 Madden Prediction: Dallas Cowboys lose to New York Giants, 28-21
Week 4 in Actuality: Dallas Cowboys beat New York Giants, 20-15 -
Week 5 Madden Prediction: Dallas Cowboys beat Pittsburgh Steelers, 28-14
Week 5 in Actuality: Dallas Cowboys beat Pittsburgh Steelers, 20-17 -
Week 6 Madden Prediction: Dallas Cowboys lose to Detroit Lions, 38-31
Week 6 in Actuality: Dallas Cowboys lose to Detroit Lions, 47-9 -
Week 8 Madden Prediction: Dallas Cowboys beat San Francisco 49ers, 22-7
Week 8 in Actuality: Dallas Cowboys lose to San Francisco 49ers, 30-24 -
Week 9 Madden Prediction: Dallas Cowboys beat Atlanta Falcons, 13-10
Week 9 in Actuality: Dallas Cowboys lose to Atlanta Falcons, 27-21 -
Week 10 Madden Prediction: Dallas Cowboys lose to Philadelphia Eagles, 21-17
Week 10 in Actuality: Dallas Cowboys lose to Philadelphia Eagles, 34-6
If it is not obvious from all of this, Madden has only correctly predicted a Cowboys victory once this season and it was the road game in Pittsburgh. The other two instances where Madden called for a win were against the 49ers and Falcons and we obviously know how those went.
Here’s hoping Madden got this one right.
