Week 6 NFL Picks: Minnesota Vikings vs. Dallas Cowboys

The Vikings have a lot of drama right now to deal with. QB Brett Favre is deal with an elbow injury that has him listed as questionable, and he also has to deal with allegations about sexual harassment of a New York Jets employee from his days in the Big Apple that might ultimately end up getting him suspended. Also, WR Randy Moss is the new guy in town, and he is still getting used to his new digs with his old team. To make matters worse, the next six teams on the schedule after this game are all above .500 at this point, and all six could legitimately be postseason teams. The possibility is there that Minnesota isn’t making the postseason a year after coming up just one kick away from the Super Bowl. Defensively, things have to improve quite a bit from a 29-20 loss against the New York Jets on Monday Night Football last week. The offense at least has 20+ points in two straight games after scoring just 19 in total in its first two. Still, this unit ranks just No. 18 in the NFL with 330.2 yards per game.

It’s rough for HC Wade Phillips right now, because he knows his job is hanging in the balance. He really can’t do a heck of a lot more for his team than he is doing. The Cowboys rank No. 2 in the NFL in total offense at 421.5 yards per game and are No. 8 in the league in total defense at 304.8 yards per game. With an advantage like that, minimal turnovers, and a defense which already has accounted for nine sacks this year, Dallas should be winning games. It just isn’t meant to be right now, though. Last week, special teams and some poor rush defense really let down the Cowboys in a crippling loss to the Tennessee Titans. It marked the third time this year in which they were defeated outright as favorites of more than a field goal. The problem has clearly been penalty flags. The Cowboys were flagged six times in the fourth quarter alone last week against Tennessee and now have 38 yellow hankies on the season in just four games. Needless to say, that isn’t going to cut it. The 313 penalty yards this year is almost as many as the rushing yards for RB Felix Jones and RB Marion Barber combined (341). Dallas’ offense only has eight TDs in spite of the fact that it has all those yards.

We really aren’t too keen about taking either one of these teams right now. However, Minnesota was the dominating squad in last season’s postseason tussle here at Mall of America Field, and that’s the direction we are once again going in for this regular season betting affair.