FRISCO – Amazingly, there are still Dallas Cowboys watchers who don’t get it.
“The Cowboys don’t look like a playoff team,” critics hoot, offering evidence that those hooters never watch other NFL games.
How else to explain that negative view coming from anybody who just watched the Philadelphia Eagles lose 20-10 at home to the mediocre Saints?
The Eagles “didn’t look like a playoff team,” either … except for the fact that Philly is now 13-3 and even though they’ve lost two straight (one of those to Dallas) … they are a playoff team.
And so is 12-4 Dallas.
In fact, Philly and Dallas might be the two best “playoff teams” in all the NFC.
The Eagles’ loss featured an offense that couldn’t move with Gardner Minshew at QB in place of Jalen Hurts (who will want to hurry his shoulder back to health for the suddenly meaningful Week 18 finale against the Giants). It also featured a defense that couldn’t stop New Orleans QB Andy Dalton.
And in the end, it means that the sliver of hope for Dallas to overtake Philadelphia for the NFC East title just widened.
The Cowboys’ season finale at the Washington Commanders could now be for the NFC East title, depending on how things turn out when the Eagles play the New York Giants next week.
As it happens, the Giants clinched today and have nothing to play for. But if Dallas wins next week and the Eagles lose?
Dallas wins the division.
Depending on what happens with the Minnesota Vikings and the San Francisco 49ers, there is another sliver: The Cowboys could still get the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC.
And that’s why you keep playing. This hilarious notion that the Cowboys should not want Week 18 to be meaningful because “Dallas players are banged-up” is, frankly, ignorant. All the teams are banged up … and in both the AFC and the NFC, with each conference offering just a single postseason bye?
That’s when a banged-up team rests. Once it earns that bye.
Otherwise, as long as there is a brass ring to be grabbed, you play. And again, all you need to know this is to watch the Cowboys and the NFL without wearing your blinders of bias.
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