NFL Week 5 Opening Odds: Patriots Favored over Cowboys in Marquee Matchup

Five of the NFL’s last six unbeaten teams will be in action in Week 5, with the Carolina Panthers taking their bye week and the New England Patriots returning from theirs.

The Patriots will visit the Dallas Cowboys as 7.5-point road favorites on Sunday in a matchup that was originally projected to be their most difficult of the first four games quarterback Tom Brady was expected to miss during his suspension following the Deflategate scandal.

Instead, Brady was cleared to play before the season opener, but Dallas quarterback Tony Romo will sit out his third straight game due to a collarbone injury suffered in Week 2 against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Cowboys backup Brandon Weeden has started in Romo’s place and led the Cowboys to a pair of losses against the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints as they have failed to cover the spread both times.

While New England is riding a six-game winning streak dating back to last year, the team is just 1-4-1 against the spread in its last six games after a bye according to the OddsShark NFL Database.

Dallas has also covered only one of its past seven home games but is 10-3 straight-up in its previous 13 at home before a bye.

Three of the other four undefeated teams will play home games as favorites, including the Cincinnati Bengals, who opened as one-point chalk against the Seattle Seahawks.

The Bengals are coming off a 36-21 rout of the Kansas City Chiefs last Sunday as 3.5-point home favorites, improving to a perfect 4-0 ATS this season. The Seahawks are 0-6 SU and 0-4-2 ATS in their past six road games against AFC North opponents.

The Atlanta Falcons (-8) and Green Bay Packers (-9.5) are both big favorites hosting the Washington Redskins and St. Louis Rams, respectively. The Redskins have been terrible in their last 15 games as road underdogs, going 1-14 SU and 4-11 ATS, while the Falcons have won four of the past five meetings as favorites.

The Packers are 4-0 SU and ATS in the previous four head-to-head matchups with the Rams, who are 2-5 SU and ATS in their past seven despite upsetting the previously unbeaten Arizona Cardinals 24-22 last week on the road as seven-point underdogs.

Finally, the Denver Broncos opened as 5.5-point road favorites against the Oakland Raiders in an AFC West game. The Broncos have won the last seven meetings with the Raiders and covered six of those, also going 6-0 SU and ATS in their last six divisional games.

The Raiders are 4-1 SU and ATS in their past five games as home underdogs.