When doing handicapping research prior to the season, there are always angles that stand out to explain prior performance and hopefully help to predict future outcomes. Some of these are good, some bad, but they all help to paint a picture of what's important for every NFL team.
What I've done below is pick out a couple of betting nuggets for all 32 NFL teams, which should help bettors as they prepare for the season.
NFC: East | West | North | South
AFC: East | West | North | South
NFC East
Dallas Cowboys
Winning without Romo: The Cowboys are 1-13 in the past five seasons without Tony Romo.
With him sidelined by a back injury, the task of winning without him falls to rookie Dak Prescott. Only two rookie QBs drafted since 1980 in the fourth round or later have posted a winning record in their rookie season starts.
Maximize Prescott: Prescott was an extremely successful runner in college. In the highly-touted SEC, only seven players had more rushing attempts the past two years (all were RBs), as Prescott had 370 rushing attempts for 1,574 yards and 24 rushing TDs at Mississippi State. The Cowboys would be wise to design plenty of runs or run options for Prescott; in the past five years, mobile rookie QBs have led teams to more wins in Year 1, and it hasn't been particularly close.
