Cowboys vs. 49ers prediction: NFL Sunday Night Football picks, odds

The Cowboys and 49ers continue one of the NFL’s best rivalries when the teams meet Sunday night.The 49ers have won three straight in the series since 2022, pushing their overall mark against Dallas to 20-19-1. Nevertheless, Sunday night’s matchup will take on a different look because of key injuries for both teams. Let’s take a closer look at the matchup and make a prediction and pick. There might not be a team that needed a bye week more than the Cowboys, after their embarrassing 47-9 loss at the hands of the Lions in Week 6. Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb haven’t been on the same page this season, and Troy Aikman criticized Lamb’s body language and “lazy” route-running. Expect an invigorated effort from the passing game off the bye.

Last year, Prescott came off Dallas’ bye week and threw for more than 300 yards and four touchdowns in a reworked offense against the Rams. This is a difficult matchup for the Cowboys’ offense against the NFL’s third-ranked pass-defense DVOA.Nevertheless, I’m still comfortable backing Prescott to bounce back after a brutal outing against Detroit. The continued emergence of Jalen Tolbert is key for the Dallas offense.He has 40-plus receiving yards in four of his past five games. Rico Dowdle’s snaps have also increased at running back, and in addition to providing a more dynamic rushing threat than Ezekiel Elliott, he’s also a far more explosive receiver.

He caught five passes for 30 yards against the Lions before the bye. Brock Purdy has had a rocky start to the season, and Christian McCaffrey’s extended stay on IR has presented enormous issues for the offense. Now, Brandon Aiyuk is out for the year with a torn ACL, and Deebo Samuel is questionable after being hospitalized earlier in the week with pneumonia.Even if he does play, it’s tough to bank on him being 100 percent. I was hoping the Cowboys would get back Micah Parsons or DaRon Bland for this matchup, but it doesn’t look like that will ...