Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition

Both the Cowboys and Texans are coming off Week 4 home wins in which they prevailed on field goals on the final play of their respective games after having relinquish­ing double-digit leads.

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Houston led 28-10 with less than 21 minutes remaining in regulation in Indianapol­is before allowing the Colts to come back and force overtime. After Indianapol­is failed to convert a fourth-down attempt with four yards to go from its own 43-yard-line in the final minute of overtime, Houston needed just a couple of plays before kicking a 37-yard, game-winning field goal.

The Cowboys’ offense was efficient against the Lions in Sunday’s 26-24 victory, churning out 183 yards on the ground and 231 yards through the air without turning the ball over. Dallas is 8-1 against the spread when coming off a game in which it rushed for 175 or more yards in its previous game, outscoring opponents by an average of 13 points in these nine contests. Houston’s offense had bouts of good fortune last Sunday, scoring a defensive touchdown and adding another touchdown courtesy of an 8-yard “drive” after a Colts fumble. The Texans threw for 347 yards, but rushed for only 3.4 yards per carry, as their two running backs, Lamar Miller and Alfred Blue, combined for just 80 yards on 27 carries (3.0 average). They will be hard-pressed to find more running room against a Cowboys front seven that has held opponents to 3.6 yards per carry this season (sixthbest in NFL).

Before the Texans were gifted a win last week, they hadn’t won in the previous 315 days. This drought resulted in a nine-game losing skid, which included eight straight losses against the spread. While some of those defeats occurred when top quarterbac­k Deshaun Watson was injured, this muchhyped, second-year player is just 4-6 in his career as a starter. On the other side of the ball, Dallas quarterbac­k Dak Prescott is 24-12 in his 36 regular-season starts, including an impressive 10-2 record in primetime games. The third-year player has also thrived away from Big D in his career, evidenced by a 12-6 record, 24 touchdowns and only nine intercepti­ons on the road.

Speaking of the road, Dallas has played well away from home under head coach Jason Garrett, going is 35-27 straight-up away from home (34-26-2 against the spread) since he took over midway through the 2010 season, a mark that includes a 20-14 ATS record as a road underdog. Dallas has yet to lose to an AFC South opponent in five games under Garrett (4-1 against the spread), and the team has gone 18-9 ATS against AFC opponents during that timeframe.

Houston, meanwhile, seems to gear up much more for division play than it does after a division rival, going 2-10 ATS after facing an AFC South opponent since the start of 2016, including 0-6 ATS after a division win. The Texans haven’t been good after a close win either, going 0-4 ATS after prevailing by three points or less under head coach Bill O’Brien, who was hired in 2014.

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