The NFL's Week 9 schedule comes to a close with Monday night's meeting between the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings, set for 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN, but attention is already shifting toward the Week 10 slate and the games that have caught the eyes of betting analysts.
One of those matchups features the San Francisco 49ers, who bounced back from their first defeat of the season by beating the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 9. San Francisco will try to build on that victory Sunday on the road against the Dallas Cowboys, who are coming off a narrow win over the Indianapolis Colts.
Another game drawing interest sends the Houston Texans to face the Cleveland Browns. Houston cruised to an easy victory over the Los Angeles Chargers this past Sunday, leaving the Chargers winless, while Cleveland is riding a two game losing skid after a failed 2-point conversion late in overtime sealed its most recent defeat.
ESPN analysts Matt Bowen and Pamela Maldonado broke down both contests and identified the wagers they are backing now, ahead of potential odds movement later in the week. The odds cited come from DraftKings and are subject to change.
Bowen is taking the 49ers at -3.5 in Dallas. He expects head coach Kyle Shanahan to have solutions for both the ground and aerial attacks, pointing to designed throws for quarterback Brock Purdy that open coverage voids off play-action, along with a varied run game featuring Christian McCaffrey and Kaelon Black. That combination, in his view, can exploit a Cowboys defense surrendering 5.0 yards per carry, the third highest mark in the league. "I like the 49ers to cover on the road," Bowen said.
Bowen's selection last week was the Cincinnati Bengals at -3 against the Atlanta Falcons, and that game finished Bengals 34, Falcons 17.
Maldonado, meanwhile, is playing the under 39.5 in the Texans-Browns game. Her reasoning starts with the ground games: neither offense runs the ball effectively, which places the burden squarely on the quarterbacks. She noted that Cleveland has given up 38 sacks and that Houston's pass rush is capable of wrecking drives.
Shedeur Sanders threw for nearly 300 yards in Week 9, yet the Browns managed only 16 points in regulation. Maldonado also believes Cleveland's secondary has the ability to test Houston's primary offensive weapon, quarterback C.J. Stroud. Even so, she anticipates a game filled with sacks in which Houston potentially takes control, limiting Sanders and the Browns enough to keep the final score beneath the posted total.
Maldonado's pick last week was the over 52 in the Cowboys-Colts game, which Dallas won 27-23. Looking further ahead, the latest Super Bowl odds and futures for the league's major awards are also available for those tracking the bigger picture.
