NFL - Cowboys v Chargers

20 December 2009

Preview By Tipster Jumbo (New Zealand)

Only one game into this month, the talk of another Bad December is already doing the rounds in Dallas.

The Cowboys' lone home game in what has become their dreaded month will take place Sunday against the Chargers, Just like last season, Dallas is 8-4 and are in position to make the playoffs. But the Cowboys haven’t won a Play off match for how long and their form in recent seasons entering this time of the season has not been good, They entered last December on a three-game win streak but then went 1-3 in December last year, including a 44-6 season-ending loss at Philadelphia to keep them out of the playoffs. Romo fell to 5-9 in December despite throwing for a career-high 392 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. last week against the Giants, The defense gave up more than 21 points for the first time in 11 games. The Cowboys, who haven't had a winning December since going 3-2 in 2001, could fall out of a tie for the NFC East lead with a loss Sunday.

December has been very good to the Chargers in recent seasons. The Chargers are unbeaten since October and riding the longest December winning streak in NFL history.The Chargers have won a -record 15 in a row in the month since a 23-7 defeat to Denver on Dec. 31, 2005. The previous record of 13 was held by the 1968-72 Cowboys. That's not the only streak the Chargers take into Cowboys Stadium. They've won seven in a row overall, taking a one-game lead over Denver atop the AFC West, and could clinch a playoff spot if they win.. Rivers, the AFC leader with a 104.9 passer rating, has completed 76.0 percent of his throws for 1,066 yards with seven touchdowns and no interceptions over the last four games, while TE Gates has caught 15 passes for 285 yards in the last two and don’t forget about Tomlinson who has scored eight TDs in the past six. Last weekend Tomlinson passed Jim Brown for eighth place all-time with 12,321 rushing yards and became the fastest player to reach 150 touchdowns. Tomlinson has run for more yards (3,888) and touchdowns (36) in December than any other player since 2000.

These sides have played only 3 ties in the last 13 seasons with the Cowboys winning 2 of those 3 meetings, The Cowboys are also 2-1 ATS in those 3 matches, Total wise and 2 of the 3 games have resulted in over the set total including the only game to be played in Dallas, The Chargers lost two of those 3 games at home but did win their only match against the Cowboys in Dallas in 2001 32-21, which is intresting for me because I think the final score line in this game could be very similar to that one.

The Cowboys have scored 20 or more I their last 5 matches but have allowed 16 or more in 3 of their last 4 matches, the Cowboys last 2 home games have been tight affairs both against sides who they were heavily favored to beat, they scrapped by the Redskins 7-6 3 games ago and 2 games ago they got by the Raiders 24-7, however neither performance was great and I still think the Cowboys could be in trouble here facing the Chargers today, On the other side the Chargers have won their last 5 matches with 3 of those matches being road games and 2 of those games were against Top sides, in the Chargers2 of their last 3 road games they have beaten the Giants 21-20 and the Broncos 32-3, they also beat the Eagles at Home 31-23, The Chargers have scored 30 or more points in their last 4 matches while allowing 23 or less in their last 5 matches.

Stats wise and the Chargers do not look like the better side, the Cowboys almost throw for the same yardage as the Chargers do on weekly basis but they rush for almost 50 more yards per game than the Chargers do which does not bode well for the Chargers rush defence that has allowed over 115 yards in 4 of their last 5 games, but it should also be noted that the Chargers have been in winning positions before they have allowed easy points for the other sides they have faced.

It’s not that I don’t like Dallas as a team as I do but the Chargers are in a league of their own right now and with the woes the Cowboys have had they could be forgiven for not being confident entering this game, the Chargers get Merriman back for this game and that will help them a lot in their defence, on Offence they are clicking which is more than you can say about how the Cowboys are going of late and for me that is a big reason to fancy the Chargers here, the Cowboys might be America’s favourite side and they are always given the benefit of the doubt in their matches but the Chargers are on the rise here and have already beaten sides that have beaten this Cowboys side this season and because of that I’m prepared to go with the Chargers to get up and over the Cowboys today…Good Luck.