Raiders attractive ‘dogs, handicapper Tuley says

When quarterback Tony Romo gets rolling, the Dallas Cowboys can be tough to stop. But the opposite was true the past two weeks, as their offense slowed to a crawl.

The Cowboys are 131/2-point home favorites over the Oakland Raiders in one of three games on the NFL's bland Thanksgiving menu.

Green Bay is an 111/2-point favorite at Detroit in the early game, and the day wraps up with the New York Giants as 61/2-point favorites at Denver.

Dave Tuley of Viewfromvegas.com said the Raiders are the most attractive of the underdogs. Sparked by a quarterback change from JaMarcus Russell to Bruce Gradkowski, Oakland upset the Cincinnati Bengals last week, scoring 10 points in the final 33 seconds of a 20-17 victory.

Dallas, off a lackluster 7-6 win over the Washington Redskins, has scored just one touchdown in each of its past two games.

"The Raiders throw in some clunkers here and there, but they have been playing much better, especially on defense," said Tuley, who has a 20-3-1 record on NFL plays on his Web site the past three weeks. "But it's more of a bet against the Cowboys. What have the Cowboys shown recently? I don't see how this team is favored by two touchdowns."

The Raiders are 3-1 against the spread (ATS) as double-digit underdogs.

Detroit might be without rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford against the Packers. Stafford dislocated his left shoulder in a 38-37 victory over the Cleveland Browns.

The Lions, 2-8 straight up and 2-7-1 ATS, were whipped 26-0 at Green Bay on Oct. 18.

The New York-Denver game will see one streak end. The Giants failed to cover their past five games, and the Broncos have dropped four in a row straight up and ATS.

The Las Vegas Hilton sports book has posted 10 proposition bets on each of today's games.

The total for Romo's pass attempts is 301/2. The total passing yards for Giants quarterback Eli Manning is set at 2251/2.

• R-J CHALLENGE -- Four of the 10 competitors in the Las Vegas Review-Journal NFL Challenge, which is published Sundays, are playing games today based on the Hilton SuperContest lines.

Tuley is on the Raiders. R-J sports editor Joe Hawk and assistant sports editor Dennis Rudner are siding with the Packers (-101/2). Hawk and handicapper Mike Scalleat are on the Broncos (+61/2).

Sports betting reporter and columnist Matt Youmans can be reached at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-2907.