The Dallas Cowboys flew quite close to the sun on Sunday afternoon against the Houston Texans, but at the end of the day the performance entered the gain column as opposed to the loss and that is the ultimate goal. There are definitely things the Cowboys need to work on this week, but doing so after a win is always the preferable option.
We’ve discussed everything from Sunday’s win on the latest episode of The Postgame on the Blogging The Boys podcast network. Be sure to subscribe to our network so you don’t miss any of our shows! Apple devices can subscribe here and Spotify users can subscribe here.
Sunday may have been disappointing with the way the Cowboys played, but in the end, it was statistically positive. The Cowboys are closer to the NFC’s number one seed falling asleep Sunday night than they were when they woke up Sunday morning thanks to ultimately get help throughout the conference.
While the Arizona Cardinals haven’t played in Week 14 yet, they’re the only NFC team taking the field as of this writing and they’re not in the mix when it comes to the NFC Playoffs Photo at the moment anyway.
So in the grand scheme of things, week 14 has passed, it was a good week for the Dallas Cowboys.
The list of things the Dallas Cowboys need to control their own destiny in the NFC East and for the number one seed is whittled down to one.
The Dallas Cowboys need just one more thing to control their own destiny within the division as well as the number one seed in the NFC.
Heading into Sunday, the Cowboys needed a loss from the Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles (apart from the one we hope Dallas gives them on Christmas Eve) to prepare them to control their own destiny. That’s been the case since the Cowboys beat the Vikings the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day and Minnesota ultimately lost. Thanks a lot, Detroit Lions!
The Cowboys and Vikings are now both tied at 10-3, but with Dallas beating them, they hold the tiebreaker if it were to come down to that. Unfortunately, the Eagles are still way ahead of the Cowboys in the NFC East and so Dallas is relegated to the top spot in the Wild Cards for now.
Just to be clear, any Eagles loss outside of the one we need the Cowboys to give them results. Philadelphia visits the Chicago Bears (who will come out of their bye) next week and then hosts the New Orleans Saints and New York Giants after their game at AT&T Stadium to end the regular season. If they lost any of these non-Cowboys games, as well as the Cowboys themselves, then assuming Dallas didn’t lose any other games, Dallas would win the division and take the top seed thanks to a better division record. .
For now, however, the Eagles are in control of their own destiny when it comes to the playoffs and on Sunday they officially clinched a playoff berth. Elsewhere in the conference, other things that are a matter of preference have been resolved for the Cowboys, although there is some debate over what you’d rather have the Cowboys have on the road.
On Sunday the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost and the Carolina Panthers won who closed the gap in the NFC South (the aforementioned Saints as well as the Atlanta Falcons are still in the mix). This division winner will most likely be the lowest-ranked division winner and thus the Wild Card opponent of the Cowboys if they fail to get past the Eagles in the East.
Philly had no problems with the New York Giants on Sunday afternoon and the Giants are actually winless in their last four outings, despite tying the Washington Commanders last week, and the two will meet next Sunday, the latter coming out of their bye.
Washington has the edge over New York in tiebreakers, so the Giants have fallen all the way to last in the division; However, the Seattle Seahawks were the team that lost to the Carolina Panthers, so they kept the Giants in the playoff picture from now on. Interestingly, the tie between the Giants and the Commanders is what keeps New York above Seattle at the moment (assuming the Giants lost instead of tied).
In Week 14, the entire NFC East is once again in the playoff field.