Cowboys hoping to slow down Tagovailoa, high-flying Miami offense when they visit Dolphins

DALLAS (10-4) AT MIAMI (10-4)

Sunday, 4:25 p.m. EST, Fox

OPENING LINE: Dolphins by 1 1/2, according to FanDuel SportsBook.

AGAINST THE SPREAD: Cowboys 9-5; Dolphins 9-5.

SERIES RECORD: Series tied 7-7.

LAST MEETING: Dallas beat Miami 31-6 at Dallas on Nov. 22, 2019.

LAST WEEK: Dallas lost to Buffalo 31-10; Dolphins beat Jets 30-0.

COWBOYS OFFENSE: OVERALL (6), RUSH (12), PASS (6), SCORING (2).

COWBOYS DEFENSE: OVERALL (6), RUSH (19), PASS (4), SCORING (5).

DOLPHINS OFFENSE: OVERALL (1), RUSH (4), PASS (1), SCORING (1).

DOLPHINS DEFENSE: OVERALL (5), RUSH (4), PASS (10), SCORING (14).

TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL: Cowboys plus-9; Dolphins plus-2.

COWBOYS PLAYER TO WATCH: Dak Prescott enters a third consecutive high-profile QB matchup coming off a season-low 134 yards passing in the loss to the Bills. His career-best run of seven consecutive games with at least two touchdown passes ended. The ugly home/road splits for the Cowboys also apply to their quarterback. He’s averaging 304 yards passing per game with 20 touchdowns, two interceptions, a 74% completion rate and a 122.5 passer rating at AT&T Stadium. On the road, the numbers are 216 yards per game with eight touchdowns, five picks, 63% on completions and an 84.2 passer rating.

DOLPHINS PLAYER TO WATCH: WR Jaylen Waddle had his best game of the season against the Jets in the absence of Tyreek Hill. He caught eight passes for a season-high 142 yards and had a 60-yard touchdown catch. The Dolphins’ third-year receiver is averaging 13.6 yards per receptions and has had at least 50 yards in each of the past five games. He has 964 yards receiving and is poised to become the first Dolphins player to have three straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons.

KEY MATCHUP: Dolphins passing game vs. Cowboys secondary. Tua Tagovailoa is coming off his most productive game of the season by completing 87.5% of his passes against the Jets, who have one of the NFL’s stingiest secondaries. Now he will go up against the NFL’s leader in interceptions in DaRon Bland (8) and the Cowboys pass defense. The Dallas secondary is allowing 150.9 net passing yards per game on the road in 2023, second in the league. The Dolphins offense is averaging 285.1 passing yards per game at Hard Rock Stadium, the third-highest passing offense at home this season.

KEY INJURIES: Six-time All-Pro RG Zack Martin of the Cowboys bruised his left quadriceps early against Buffalo and didn’t return. He sounded optimistic about being available this week. … LT Tyron Smith was ruled out after injuring his back against the Bills. … DT Johnathan Hankins sat out against Buffalo with a sprained ankle, and his status will be a question all week. The same goes for S Malik Hooker, who also missed the Buffalo game with an ankle injury. … The status of Tyreek Hill (ankle) will be in question for the second straight week. The All-Pro receiver did not practice Wednesday. … S Jevon Holland said he was close to a return last week after injuring both knees in Week 12 against the Jets. He ended up missing his third straight game last week and likely will be questionable entering Sunday. … RT Austin Jackson is dealing with an oblique injury from last week’s game. … CB Xavien Howard (hip) did not practice Wednesday after missing last week’s game. … OL Liam Eichenberg played through a calf injury and was limited in practice.

SERIES NOTES: Miami was 6-1 over the first seven meetings in the regular season. Dallas is 6-1 since, with four consecutive wins. The first meeting of the franchises was in Super Bowl 6, when the Cowboys won their first championship with a 24-3 victory.

STATS AND STUFF: The Cowboys have lost consecutive games just once in what will be the third consecutive playoff season under coach Mike McCarthy. While Dallas has a 3-4 road record against its 7-0 home mark, one of the victories away from AT&T Stadium came at the Los Angeles Chargers (20-17) the week after the Cowboys were blown out in San Francisco (42-10). … The home/road splits are stark for Dallas. The Cowboys essentially have the best offense in the NFL at home. On the road, it’s middle of the pack or worse. … Prescott needs two touchdown passes for his third season with at least 30. Tony Romo, the only other Dallas QB to reach that mark, had four. … Cowboys RB Tony Pollard had his first career 100-yard game against Miami (103 yards with a touchdown) in the third game of his rookie season in 2019. … WR CeeDee Lamb is the first player in franchise history with multiple 100-catch seasons. He has 103 after getting 107 last season. Lamb is eight catches shy of Michael Irvin’s franchise record from 1995, the most recent of the club’s five Super Bowl-winning seasons. Lamb is third in the NFL in yards receiving with 1,306 and needs 54 for a career high. He has an NFL-best six-game streak with at least one touchdown after getting a rushing TD against the Bills. … Pass-rushing star Micah Parsons has seven sacks in seven road games this season. … The Dolphins again will have a chance to prove themselves against tough competition when they face the Cowboys. Miami has not beaten a team that entered the matchup with a winning record. All but one of its losses have been to teams above .500. … Miami can clinch its second straight playoff berth with a win Sunday. … The Dolphins right now are one of two NFL teams (Kansas City) that have winning records in the past four seasons. Buffalo and Pittsburgh can join them if they finish with a winning mark. … Tua Tagovailoa needs just 79 passing yards to become the third Dolphins quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in a season, joining Dan Marino and Ryan Tannehill. … RB Raheem Mostert is 34 rushing yards away from becoming Miami’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Jay Ajayi in 2016. The 31-year-old Mostert would be the second-oldest player in NFL history to have a 1,000-yard season. … LB Bradley Chubb was the AFC defensive player of the week after getting three sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Chubb leads the Dolphins with 9 1/2 sacks and leads the NFL with six forced fumbles.

FANTASY TIP: RB Raheem Mostert has multiple touchdowns in three of his past four games, and he’s scored at least once in six of the past seven. The current rushing touchdown leader is going up against a Cowboys defense that was dominated in the run game against the Bills last week, giving up more than 200 combined yards and two TDs to RB James Cook.

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