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Garrett Podell#78 of 87 NFL pundits · Sep 13, 2026

Previewing the Week 1 'Sunday Night Football' game, the piece picks Dallas to beat New York comfortably, arguing Prescott, Lamb and Pickens will exploit the Giants' cornerbacks while the Cowboys' defense contains Jaxson Dart.

Published in writing · CBS SportsRead the original

36Miss · out of 100

Giants 28–20What happenedcalled Cowboys by 14 · lost by 8

79.68A naive guessthe same call, no knowledge

35.71This callout of 100

#78Garrett Podell’s rankof 87 ranked NFL pundits

What Garrett Podell said

Pick: Cowboys 31, Giants 17

Our reading: Dallas Cowboys 31 — Giants 17

Where it was published: CBS Sports
The piece: Giants vs. Cowboys: NFC East rivals square off on 'Sunday Night Football' in John Harbaugh's debut
The original: Read the original
Read it wrong?: Tell us and we will look

SaidSep 12
PlayedSep 13
GradedSep 15

How the call scored

a naive guessbetter than naiveworse than naive

One checkable claim, graded on its own against what actually happened.

The call scored 35.7 out of 100, against 79.7 for a naive guess at the same calls.

The call is scored 0 to 100 against what happened, on its own, by the published methodology. The naive guess is what knowing nothing would have scored on the same call; the gap, weighted by how hard the call was, is the skill.

Game calls show that game’s closing betting line under their grade: a dated fact from nflverse, for context and never part of a grade. MissedTakes takes no bets and earns nothing from any sportsbook.

Score Predictions Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys 31 — Giants 17
What happenedGiants 28–20called Cowboys by 14 · lost by 8
35.71Miss · naive 79.68
35.71this call79.68a naive guess−43.97worse than naive2difficulty−87.94skill
Closing line (Sep 13): Cowboys by 3, total 47.5 · this 31–17 calls a bigger Cowboys win (by 14) and more points (48).
How this was scored
score:
20-28
skill:
−87.94
they picked:
DAL
season:
2026
accuracy:
35.71
baseline:
79.68
difficulty:
2
weeks in the season:
18
actual margin:
8
weeks left when called:
18
naive home margin:
−0.53
predicted margin:
14
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The game in this take

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Cowboys at GiantsGiants 28Cowboys 2032 calls →

Who this take is about

Dallas Cowboys

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Breech picks the Commanders to upset the Giants on Thursday night, 24-17, and takes the Texans to beat the Browns 24-16 in Week 10 behind a pass rush that should batter Deshaun Watson.
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Dubin picks the Giants to beat the Commanders 20-14 on Thursday night and takes the Packers over the Vikings 17-14 in a low-scoring Week 10 game.
Jared Dubin · Score Predictions · New York Giants · Close 43
Dubin picks the Giants to beat the Commanders at home on Thursday night, projecting a 20-14 final score.

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