The NFC East could ultimately be won or lost on Thursday, as the 6-4 Redskins head to Dallas to face the 5-5 Cowboys in a game that could wind up deciding the division winner when all is said and done. Like in the first Thanksgiving game this year, the road team heads into this matchup with their backup quarterback slated to start as Colt McCoy draws the assignment in place of Alex Smith following the starter's brutal leg injury. The Cowboys are heating up, winning back-to-back games as underdogs and now drawing tons of respect as a touchdown favorite in this matchup.
You can stream the game on fuboTV (Try for free), but you're here because you want to know which team is going to cover in this matchup. You can find all our expert picks for the game below.
What NFL picks can you make with confidence in Week 12? And which Super Bowl contender gets a huge scare? Visit SportsLine now to see which NFL teams are winning more than 50 percent of simulations, all from the model that has beaten 98 percent of experts over the past two years.
Listen to Will Brinson and Jason La Canfora break this game down on Wednesday's Pick Six podcast:
Redskins at Cowboys
- Time: Thursday, 4:30 p.m. ET (Fox)
- Open: Cowboys -4.5
- Current: Cowboys -7
"The Redskins will start Colt McCoy here for the injured Alex Smith, who is out for the year. He faces a tough challenge against a good Dallas defense. The Washington banged-up offensive line will have trouble with the Cowboys front. This will be a low-scoring game, but the Cowboys will win it." -- Pete Prisco on why he's predicting the Cowboys win and cover this big game
"There seems to be an assumption the Cowboys, coming off a pair of road wins, will beat the Redskins, coming off a home loss that saw their starting quarterback go down for the season. I'm not sure Colt McCoy can't flip that narrative a little bit: this is the Redskins Super Bowl. Win in Dallas on Thanksgiving and they could effectively clinch the division thanks to holding a sweep over the Cowboys. I think they're gonna try to turn this into a clunker on purpose and make a few big plays to flip the field before sneaking out with a low-scoring win. Neither team is inclined to blow someone out." -- Will Brinson on why he likes the Redskins to cover the big number
Before you make any Cowboys vs. Redskins picks, check out what SportsLine Expert Mike Tierney has to say. Tierney is a national sportswriter who has reported from seven Super Bowls, and he's a sizzling 42-23 on all NFL point-spread picks this season. When it comes to these two teams, he's uncanny, having gone 8-3 in his last 11 spread picks involving Dallas and 9-4 in his last 13 involving Washington. Now, Tierney has locked in a strong against-the-spread pick for Redskins vs. Cowboys, and you can check it out over at SportsLine. You can also check out what the SportsLine Projection Model thinks about the final score, total and moneyline odds.
"While the Bears might be without Trubisky for a game, the Redskins won't have Alex Smith for the rest of the season after he broke two bones in his leg during Sunday's loss to the Texans. That means backup Colt McCoy who, prior to Sunday, hadn't attempted a pass in a regular-season game since 2015, will be under center. But there's good news as Washington tries to hold on to its one-game lead over Dallas in the division: Coming into this season, the Redskins had lost six of their last seven meetings with the Redskins. But on Oct. 27, 2014, McCoy led a two-win team into AT&T Stadium and beat the 6-1 Cowboys then led by Tony Romo. Put another way: the moment won't be too big McCoy, who, according to former teammate DeAngelo Hall, has won the confidence of coach Jay Gruden. The Cowboys, meanwhile, are on a two-game winning streak and this game could determine who wins the division. Dallas hasn't been to the playoffs since 2016, Dak Prescott's rookie season, and after a slow start, everything seems to be coming together for this team." -- Ryan Wilson, who is projecting a close game where Washington gets the cover
"The Redskins will now be turning to Colt McCoy at quarterback and let me just say that going from Smith to McCoy is basically like showing up at your mom's house for Thanksgiving and finding out that instead of turkey, she's serving dead squirrel and Funyuns. Now, there's nothing wrong with dead squirrel and Funyuns, but it's just not as good as turkey, kind of like McCoy won't be as good as Smith. My biggest problem with McCoy is that he hasn't started a game since 2014, which means, not only is he starting his first game in four years this week, but he also has to do it with just four days of preparation. Basically, I see this Colt McCoy thing going one of two ways for Washington: Either he pulls a Nick Foles and somehow manages to lead the Redskins to the Super Bowl or the team crashes and burns for the rest of the season, starting with this week's game. I'm not going to lie, option two sounds like the more realistic one." -- John Breech, who thinks the spread is dead on for this game
