NFL Week 13 2021: 3 teams on upset alert this week

1. NFL teams on upset alert in Week 13 – Dallas Cowboys

One team that didn’t have a Happy Thanksgiving was the Cowboys, who suffered a brutal 36-33 overtime loss at home against the reeling Las Vegas Raiders. Questionable officiating certainly hurt Dallas but the bigger issue was a lackluster defensive effort that saw the Raiders rack up 509 yards of offense.

There are also significant injury and COVID issues for the Cowboys, who won’t have head coach Mike McCarthy after he tested positive this week, after Amari Cooper missed last week’s game while being on the COVID list. Despite all the chaos in Dallas, FanDuel has set the Cowboys as 4.5 point favorites in a road contest against the Saints in New Orleans.

Both teams played on Thanksgiving so they will have a full week of rest between games, meaning there won’t be any rest deficit to overcome here. The Saints also are shaking things up at quarterback, going to Taysom Hill to replace the struggling Trevor Siemian, while Alvin Kamara could be back for this game after missing the past three weeks with a knee injury.

The return of Kamara completely revitalizes the Saints’ offense, which makes this a potential trap game for the Cowboys with a key divisional game against Washington looming in Week 14. If Dallas isn’t ready to play here Sean Payton is more than capable of developing a game plan to take down the Cowboys for a second straight week.