San Francisco 49ers vs. Dallas Cowboys Betting Odds & Preview: August 29th 2009

San Francisco 49ers vs. Dallas Cowboys
Below is a pre-season football betting preview courtesy of Alex Smart, a professional football handicapper featured on Touthouse.com. If you are betting on NFL preseason football be sure to buy Alex’s expert NFL picks

GAME TWO IN THE JERRY DOME
After last week’s complete destruction of the Tennessee Titans to open up the new Cowboys Stadium, Tony Romo and his Dallas teammates can only hope for a similar showing when the San Francisco 49ers pay a visit to the Lone Star State on Saturday night. Dallas, who has beaten San Francisco in four of the teams L/5 meetings, will only be meeting the 49ers for the second time in the preseason since 2006; San Francisco’s only win was a 31-27 final on December 8, 2002 in Dallas. When the two met last season in November, the Cowboys barnstormed the Niners en route to the 35-22 victory. After leading 6-0 at the end of one quarter, Dallas used a 22-0 run in the second to take complete control of the contest. Tony Romo passed for 341 yards and three touchdowns without an interception, and even the Cowboys’ special teams play was showcased when it blocked a punt for a safety. 49ers’ quarterback, Shaun Hill, who was named the team’s starter this week over former number-one pick, Alex Smith, didn’t have the same success as Romo in last year’s game. Hill ended up with 303 yards through the air and a pair of touchdowns, but tossed an interception and fumbled once; Dallas also totaled four sacks on the day. Though it’s only preseason, expect both teams to tie up loose ends, as Samurai Mike and the Niners look to hand the Cowboys their first loss in their new home.

EVERYTHING’S BIGGER IN TEXAS
1.2 billion dollars shined and sparkled last Friday night as the Cowboys opened up their new stadium with a 30-10 win over the previously unbeaten Tennessee Titans. Despite not throwing a touchdown in the contest, Tony Romo picked apart the Titans secondary, completing 18 of his 24 pass attempts for 192 yards. “It was incredible,” Romo said about the win. “It’s really exciting to be a part of something this special. It’s only going to continue and get better as the year goes on.” Romo wasn’t the only one with wide eyes, as infamous team owner, Jerry Jones expressed his delight by commending the evening as, “A great night. A great crowd. And an event we will remember for a long, long time.” Dallas out-totaled Tennessee in first downs, 27-10, and in total yards, 466-191. Time of possession was no contest either as Dallas more than doubled Tennessee’s time with the ball, and the Cowboys converted on both of their fourth down attempts. If anything needs addressing, however, it was the team’s discipline. Dallas was flagged for 113 yards on 13 penalties; a number that’s completely unacceptable in the regular season.

WHAT WEST COAST OFFENSE?
49ers head coach, Mike Singletary said he needed to, “look at some more film,” before making a decision on his team’s starter for the season. Whether or not he used last week’s game tape against the Raiders makes no difference now, as Shaun Hill was named to the role, but if in fact last week’s performance was taken into account, there should have been no winner at all. Hill came into the game in the second quarter and completed three of seven passes for just 20 yards. His competition for the starting spot was Alex Smith, who turned in a similar performance at three of nine for thirty yards, but Smith also threw an interception. The moral of this story is quite simple though: just hand the ball off to the rookie out of Alabama, Glen Coffee, who was showcased in order to give Frank Gore some more rest. On 16 carries, Coffee racked up 129 yards on the ground and clearly stole the show in San Francisco’s 21-20 win over Oakland. The 49ers out gained Oakland in total yards, first downs and time of possession.

GAME NOTES
San Francisco looks to remain unbeaten in the preseason as they meet Dallas in the new Cowboys Stadium Saturday night. Kickoff is set to commence at 8:00pm Eastern time with the home town Cowboys a 7-point favorite; the over/under sits at 38 points.

San Francisco is 11-22 SU but 17-14-2 ATS as an underdog in the preseason since 1993, while the Cowboys are 22-20 SU but a poor 16-27 ATS when favored in the exhibition season.