Sunday Night Football: Cowboys vs. Packers — NFL Expert Picks & Predictions (10/18)
Written by: Varun Sharma
Last Update: Sun Oct 18, 2026, 5:30 pm ET
Read Time: 5 minutes
nfl
Spread
Total
Moneyline
+1.0
-110
54
-105u
-104
Spread
Total
Moneyline
+1.0
-115
53.5
-105o
-110
Sunday Night Football and we've got one of the most anticipated matchups of the week. The Dallas Cowboys will travel to Lambeau Field for their primetime matchup with the Green Bay Packers.
Two high powered offenses, two elite QBs and two elite receiving tandems take the field on Sunday night and I couldn't be more excited. Let's jump right into it.
For additional information on picks, props, moneylines, and more on today's slate, take a look at our NFL Picks Page or our NFL Odds Page.
Game Information
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Matchup Information
- Location: Lambeau Field; Green Bay, Wisconsin
- Date: Sunday, October 17th, 2026
- Kickoff: 8:20 PM EST
Quarterback Matchup
- Dallas Cowboys: Dak Prescott (2026: 2-3; 276.2 YPG | 9 TD | 3 INT)
- Green Bay Packers: Jordan Love (2026: 3-2; 281.6 YPG | 10 TD | 3 INT)
Betting Odds
Odds via Lucky Rebel, an industry leader in the sports betting world.
Analysis & Breakdown
Lambeau Leap
I don't want to panic, but the Packers might be back. The Packers won last week in dominant fashion, beating the Chicago Bears 31-7 right here at Lambeau Field.
Jordan Love went 25/31, throwing for 367 yards and 2 touchdowns. Both touchdowns ended up in the hands of Christian Watson, with the 27-year old finishing the game with 6 catches, 143 yards and the aforementioned 2 touchdowns.
Matthew Golden also had quite the game. He caught 6 of his 7 targets for 123 yards and averaged just under 21 yards per catch. Both the Packers wideouts broke out last week and both now sit in the top 10 for receiving yards.
Defensively the Packers have been hot and they've been cold. The defense came away with 3 interceptions last week, 4 sacks and 2 forced fumbles/recoveries.
Rookie Dani Dennis-Sutton got the start with Edgerrin Cooper out for the year and the kid had his best game of the year. He finished with 3 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 sack and a fumble recovery.
Xavier McKinney finished the game with 2 interceptions last week and now the Packers officially have the same amount of interceptions they did last year, but in just 5 weeks.
Jerry's Team
The Cowboys come into this week, fresh; fresh off a mini bye week. Dallas last played on Thursday Night and by no means was that a game to remember. Not only did the Cowboys lose to the Buccaneers, but they were beat down.
The Buccaneers out-gained the Cowboys 419-366. They held possession for nearly double (39:21) the amount of time and they forced Dak into throwing 2 really bad interceptions. Dallas dropped to 2-3 on the year, the defense continues to get burned and this week they face off with two of the hottest wideouts in the NFL.
In addition to last week, this Cowboys defense has just been bad all year. The team's ranked 25th in points allowed, 32nd in opponent third down conversion rate, 30th in first downs allowed and 32nd in opponent rush yards per game.
As bad as this defense has been, that's how good the offense has shown they can be. The team ranks 8th in points, 2nd in redzone efficiency, 5th in passing yards and 9th in yards per play.
CeeDee Lamb has the 3rd most receiving yards in the NFL so far through 5 weeks, averaging 101.4 yards per game and 7.4 receptions per game. George Pickens is 13th in receiving yards this year, averaging 71 yards per game and 5.4 receptions per game.
Pickens and Lamb have combined for 5 touchdowns this year and both are a huge reason why the total for this game sits so high.
Sunday Night's Best Bets
Christian Watson o74.5 Receiving Yards (-114) | Lucky Rebel
This Cowboys defense couldn't get any worse and with both Matthew Golden and Christian Watson lining up against them this week; it was hard to pick just one.
Watson's just been so good this year against zone coverage this year, it was hard to ignore. He currently had the 5th highest separation score against zone, he's 5th in yards per route run against zone and he's winning 13.2% of his routes against zone.
Watson's also running 26% of his routes out of the slot and that's a place we've seen the Cowboys struggle to cover. Dallas gives up the 5th most yards per game to receivers lined up in the slot and allow a passer rating of 145.1 when targeting the slot.
Lastly, Watson's loved putting on a show for the home crowd. He's averaging 119.5 receiving yards per game at home this year and he averaged nearly 40% more yards per game at Lambeau last year.
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