National Football League

Will the Dallas Cowboys or New England Patriots win more games? Skip and Shannon debate

Published Apr. 13, 2021 9:43 p.m. ET

There are already cases of Mountain Dew on the line.

Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe never shy away from a good bet, especially when the Dallas Cowboys, Skip's biggest love, are involved.

FOXBet released the odds for the 2021 NFL season, with Dallas and the New England Patriots posting the same projected win total for the season (9.5). That, of course, sparked a hot debate about which team would boast the better record come the end of the regular season.

Skip, as to be expected, named the Cowboys the victors, believing that New England's free-agency spending spree will be a bust.

"I got 10-7 [Dallas] vs. 9-8 [New England], so I got Dallas winning the division. You [Shannon] don't got New England winning no division. ... you desperately overspent for overrated free-agent acquisitions. Everyone agrees with that except you. ... They are not that much better than they were a year ago."

Bayless broke down the win total, diving into division, home and away games for both the Patriots and the Cowboys. For Dallas, the key will be the return of quarterback Dak Prescott. Meanwhile, Skip believes the Patriots will trade up to draft Ohio State QB Justin Fields, creating problems at the position for New England.

Skip believes the Patriots will go 3-3 in the division, and in the rest of their games they'll be 3-3 at home and 3-2 on the road, adding up to a record of 9-8.

He thinks New England's division losses will come against Buffalo (twice) and Miami, with non-division home losses to be delivered by Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Dallas. Traveling, the Pats will beat Atlanta, Carolina and Houston, according to Bayless, but fall to the Colts in Indy and the Chargers in Los Angeles.

"They are going to lose to Dallas. Dallas plays there, and that's going to be huge. ... I got Dak over Cam. Dak is just better than Cam at this stage and this age. He has better weapons than Cam will have. We'll be good in that game."

Dallas — with the "best quarterback in the division," according to Bayless — will end up with a 4-2 record in the division. At home in non-division games, the Cowboys will roll, going 4-1 against the Falcons, Panthers, Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders and Arizona Cardinals.

On the road, Skip is confident in the Cowboys' ability to steal two wins through a tough travel schedule featuring the Patriots, Chargers, Buccaneers, Kansas City Chiefs, New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings. Good news for Prescott: He owns Minnesota QB Kirk Cousins in head-to-head matchups (4-1).

That gives the Cowboys an overall record of 10-7.

Shannon, however, isn't so convinced that Prescott will be in tip-top shape come the fall. Instead, he thinks Newton, with a full year of health under his belt and new weapons at his disposal, is primed for success.

"The Dallas Cowboys, at best, are 9-8 or 8-8-1," Sharpe said. "I'm going to say the Patriots go – I'm going to be conservative – I'm going to go 10-7. There is no excuse for the Patriots this year. They have basically done a complete overhaul."

The Patriots went into free agency with an unprecedented approach, breaking the NFL record for guaranteed money spent and targeting major areas of need for the franchise. In years past, they failed to draft successful players at tight end and receiver, so this time, they spent big to acquire proven talent.

New England picked up tight ends Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith and receivers Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne. The Pats also bolstered the defensive front seven along the way.

The AFC East won't be an easy division, with the likes of Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen and the Dolphins, according to Sharpe. But he's confident about Newton's and New England's odds.

It's too bad we'll have to wait so long to see whether Skip or Shannon will be proven right.