Take the Raiders in this situation. The Cowboys offense has not been clicking and the Raiders are very solid defensively. I mean this team lost to the Chargers twice by a combined 12 points still under the spread here. Are they really this bad now that they have Russell out of there? I don't think so. Gradkowski can hit his receivers accurately and the Raiders defense which is not what its ranks say it is should hold the Cowboys in check for most of the day at least to cover this aggressive spread set by Vegas. It appears Vegas is just asking you to take the Cowboys at -13.5 and I'm not biting rather I'm shopping and finding it at +14 in favor of the Raiders. Remember these AFC teams are better than the NFC as we have seen over the past 5 years. The defensive talent level is there for the Raiders it only matters how much they will be up for this game? The Raiders have a tendency to not show up, but it has only happened against the two New York teams this year every other game was competitive. On Thanksgiving Day and a chance to prove to the nation they are not a joke I expect them to play better than many expect but they'll come up short in a tight one.
