NFL betting recap: Cooper Rush continues marvelous run for Cowboys bettors

Let's rewind to one month ago. The Dallas Cowboys were lifeless in a 19-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1 of the NFL season. On top of that, they lost starting quarterback Dak Prescott to an injury that would keep him out for multiple weeks. When you combine how the Cowboys looked in their opener with the fact they lost their starting quarterback long term, things looked bleak.

At BetMGM, the Cowboys became huge underdogs to make the playoffs. They had the longest odds to win the NFC East, behind even the now 1-4 Washington Commanders. The team looked bad with Dak Prescott, how would they look with a 28-year-old former Central Michigan quarterback under center in Cooper Rush?

Well, they look pretty damn good.

On Sunday, the Cowboys entered as 5.5-point road underdogs against the Los Angeles Rams. We use the term "road" here loosely, as SoFi Stadium was taken over by Cowboys fans. Entering the game, the line felt high when you consider how well the Cowboys have been playing with Rush and how unimpressive the Rams have been to open the season.

On the third play of the game, Dorance Armstrong fought his way to Matthew Stafford and hit him, forcing a fumble. DeMarcus Lawrence picked up the fumble and returned it for a touchdown. On the Rams' next offensive possession, the Cowboys blocked a punt to set up a field goal. Without the offense doing much of anything, Dallas was up 9-0.

The Rams rebounded nicely, answering with a Matt Gay field goal after a 54-yard completion to Tutu Atwell. After that, Stafford hit Cooper Kupp, who found the end zone on a 75-yard catch-and-run touchdown. Suddenly, Los Angeles had a 10-9 lead. However, those would be the last points the Rams scored.

The Cowboys answered the Kupp touchdown with an explosive score of their own, as Tony Pollard streaked 57 yards for a rushing touchdown. The Cowboys had a 16-10 lead entering half time. In the second half, Brett Maher added two field goals. Los Angeles' final seven offensive possessions looked like this: punt, punt, punt, missed field goal, punt, interception, fumble. It was a dominant defensive display for Dallas, as it cashed easily for bettors who took the Cowboys with 5.5 points and anyone brave enough to take them at +200 on the moneyline.

Rush wasn't asked to do much on Sunday. In fact, he completed just 10 passes and barely eclipsed 100 yards. The Cowboys leaned on their defense and their running game. That has proven to be a winning recipe. Rush hasn't lit the league on fire statistically. He has four touchdown passes in four games and has yet to eclipse 235 passing yards in a start. However, it's obvious that Rush's presence has caused Mike McCarthy and Kellen Moore to reinvent their game plans.

Rush is not as talented as Dak Prescott, but this Cowboys team has enough talent all over the field to win in many ways. They were the highest-scoring offense in the league last season, but maybe their best avenue to success is playing complementary football. The defense has been superb. They've run the ball well. Rush has mixed in a few big-time throws when he's had to.

The numbers don't lie. Not only is Rush 4-0 this season as a starter, the Cowboys have covered the spread in all four games he's played this season. In three of those games, Dallas was a betting underdog. Going back to his start against the Vikings last season, Rush is 5-0 straight up, 5-0 against the spread and has four outright victories as a betting underdog.

There's talk that Dak Prescott is nearing a return. It'll probably come in the coming weeks. Until then, we just have to appreciate Rush and the free money he has provided to bettors to open the season.

Titans bettors survive

There wasn't much attention focused on the Washington vs. Tennessee game entering the week. It was a matchup between two rather mediocre teams. Therefore, it was rather surprising to see that the most popular bet of the week at BetMGM was the Tennessee Titans to cover as a 1-point road underdog. Overall, 84% of bets and 83% of the money was on Tennessee. Despite that, the line moved like crazy during the week. Tennessee opened as a 2.5-point favorite, but closed as a 1-point underdog.

In the first quarter, Dontrell Hilliard opened the scoring for Tennessee. Joey Slye got Washington on the board. In the second stanza, the teams exchanged touchdowns with Dyami Brown scoring a 75-yard touchdown for Washington and Derrick Henry plunging in from the 1-yard line for Tennessee. At halftime, the Titans had a 14-10 lead.

In the third quarter, Dyami Brown scored his second touchdown of the game to give the Commanders a 17-14 lead. However, the Titans answered immediately. Ryan Tannehill found Nick Westbrook-Ihkine for a 61-yard gain. A few plays later, Derrick Henry scored his second touchdown of the game to give Tennessee a 21-17 lead.

There was no scoring in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't without a major sweat for Titans bettors. With 20 seconds left, the Titans were flagged for pass interference and Washington had 1st-and-goal from the 2-yard line. On first down, Carson Wentz almost threw an interception attempting to throw the ball away. On second down, Carson Wentz almost threw an interception trying to squeeze the ball into a tight window. The third time is the charm, as Carson Wentz finally threw the interception he was dying to throw on third down. Titans' bettors survived.

49ers cash for bettors, but Dolphins don't

The second-most popular bet in terms of bet splits was the San Francisco 49ers. At BetMGM, 78% of bets and 81% of the money was on the 49ers to cover as a 6.5-point road favorite against the Carolina Panthers.

The 49ers scored on their first drive and controlled the game throughout. Bettors who backed the 49ers were in good shape when Baker Mayfield threw a pick-six in the final minute of the first half. There were some hairy moments, but the 49ers were covering the spread the whole game and ended up winning 37-15, covering comfortably. The loss was the final straw for Matt Rhule, who was fired by the Panthers on Monday morning.

The third-most popular bet was the Miami Dolphins to cover as a 3.5-point road favorite against the New York Jets. A nice 69% of bets was backing the Dolphins, but things started very poorly. Teddy Bridgewater was slammed to the ground on a near-sack in the end zone. The play resulted in intentional grounding, giving the Jets a 2-0 lead on a safety. However, more importantly, Bridgewater left the game and did not return due to both an elbow and head injury. With Tua Tagovailoa already on the shelf with a concussion, the Dolphins had to turn to third-string quarterback Skylar Thompson.

The Dolphins hung around for a while. They opened the third quarter with a field goal to cut New York's lead to 19-17. However, the Jets scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns to turn the game into a blowout, winning 40-17. The Jets cashed for bettors as a +150 home underdog, and somehow, the two New York teams are now a combined 7-3 to open the season. The Giants won as a +300 underdog in London against the Packers.

Falcons continue perfection

It didn't look good for the Atlanta Falcons. They entered as 10-point underdogs against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It looked like the Buccaneers were going to roll, as Leonard Fournette gave Tampa Bay a 21-0 lead in the third quarter.

However, the Falcons showed they care about our bets. In the fourth quarter, Avery Williams cut the lead to 14 with an 8-yard rushing touchdown. With under five minutes left, Marcus Mariota found Olamide Zaccheaus. The Falcons went for two, and got it with a conversion to KhaDarel Hodge. Suddenly, the Falcons were down just six. They were covering for bettors and they might even pull off the impossible comeback outright upset for anyone who had them at +350 on the moneyline.

However, the comeback wasn't meant to be. The Falcons were about to get the ball back with a chance to win the game, but then this happened.

It was an extremely controversial call that gave the Buccaneers a new set of downs when they were about to punt the ball back to Atlanta. The consensus opinion is that it was an absolutely awful call that robbed the Falcons.

While they didn't win the game, the Falcons covered the spread. They improved to 5-0 against the spread. Atlanta was the only undefeated team against the spread entering the week, and they maintained that perfection. In fact, just three teams are even 4-1 against the spread. Those teams are the Giants, Chargers and Cowboys.

Unders, underdogs continue to dominate

In case you thought this was the week overs would start hitting, you're going to have to wait another week. With Monday night game's still to come, unders are 9-6 to begin Week 5. Overall on the season, unders are 45-33-1.

Underdogs continued their dominance as well, though this time they weren't as successful at winning outright. Underdogs are 10-5 against the spread in Week 5. Of those 10 underdogs who covered, six won outright, including the Jets, Giants, Texans, Cowboys, Titans and Colts. Underdogs are now 47-30-2 against the spread on the season.