A realistic look at our playoff hopes

[gtb1943]

Yes. Read what I wrote and then look at the teams
Eagles only need 3 wins. SF and Sea 2 wins. GB 3 wins

still going against 47 years of reality is simply not smart

 

[Beast_from_East]

Taking down Detroit on Thursday is critical. We have to put them behind us in the standings.

Exactly

Lose to the Lions and playoffs are gone.

 

[Nav22]

I don't think you communicate well but I'm sure you're good fan have a great day.

"We are a better team now" is what you said.

We're barely above .500 and would've been much better off with Micah all season.

Full season of Micah >>>>>> half a season of Quinnen Williams/Kenny Clark.

Jerry LOVES fans like you who buy the garbage he tries to sell the fans. Rubes.

Meanwhile the Packers are comfortably in the playoff picture despite our offense being much better than theirs. Hmmmmm...........

 

[Diehardblues]

I don't agree. Winning breeds winning. That team was 7-4 and floundering. They needed to win, and that got them going. These 3 games have this team believing. Now they HAVE to win every game. And a team with this good of an offense and by then a very good defense, having won 8 in a row, that will be very hard to beat. Of course you don't think, "Oh my 12 in a row"!. You just take each team one at a time. All the games are winnable.

I’m not sure 7-4 is floundering like 3-5-1. And the mindset and scenario with a defending champ which ultimately secured home field advantage is a stark difference .

I will agree winning breeds winning . And this team needs to win every game . Also that 94 team had a top defense. And first team to overcome 0-2 start to win SB after Emmitt holdout.

1994 was definitely a different path to a championship than 1993. They had to comeback on different occasions throughout the year including regular season finale against NYG to secure division and home field advantage.

 

[Ironicalicon]

There is no question the Cowboys have gone from embarrassingly bad to a potential playoff team in the last month. Our defense has gone from “cover your eyes” bad to above average - at least in the last 3 games. Our offense has been top shelf almost all year and looks more and more lethal as the season progresses.

In the midst of the understandable excitement of this team’s improvement, there remains certain realities this team faces about making the playoffs. With 5 games to play, here are the tough challenges in the Cowboys chances of making the playoffs:

• Currently, the Cowboys are 1.5 games behind the suddenly staggering egirls which makes the division still within reach unless the egirls regain their footing. It’s possible their fade continues but it’s also possible they recover. (They have the commanders twice in the next 5 games)
• The teams ahead of us in the wild card race in Week 13 - the rams, 49ers, panthers, seabags - all needed to lose and unfortunately they all won.
• In the wild card race, the challenge appears tougher than it might be winning the division.

Here are the Current NFC Playoff Standings:

1. Chicago Bears (9-3) NFC North Leader
2. Los Angeles Rams (9-3) NFC West Leader
3. Philadelphia Eagles (8-4) NFC EastLeader
4. Tampa Bay Bucs (7-5) NFC South Leader
5. Seattle Seahawks (9-3) WC 1
6. Green Bay Packers (8-3-1) WC 2
7. San Francisco 49ers (9-4) WC 3

At 6-5-1, the Cowboys are currently 2.5 games behind the three teams ahead of them in the wild card hunt. Not impossible but we are going to need at least one of those WC teams ahead of us to seriously fade.

All the Cowboys can do is win their remaining games and hope for some help. The margins with 5 games left are razor thin. This Thursday’s game vs the lions is obviously huge because Det at 7-5 is also fighting for a playoff spot.

As we head down the stretch for the last 5 games, what a fun ride lays ahead. The NFL is the most unpredictable league in pro sports so don’t look at any team’s schedule and predict wins and losses. Anything can happen.

I hate counting on other teams to lose but since one is the Eagles I can deal with that. Let's hope they continue their foray into disarray.

 

[ArtClink]

Well that’s also assuming the egirls lose two. If we win out we could be in or we could also fall short. Depends on more than just what we do.

Unfortunately we do not completely control our playoff destiny

Jerry and Sky Mirror control our own destiny lol.

 

[Diehardblues]

If we lose to Detroit we’ll be basically 2 1/2 games back in WC with tie breaker.

10-6-1 probably doesn’t get in the NFC is that good this year.

That’s a lot of pressure with all Must Win games. Might be asking too much.

I’d still argue anything above .500 finish would be something to build on next year . And just staying in contention when season was all but over at Bye is still remarkable.

 

[Risen Star]

Notice Bob didn't include next year when we are Super Bowl favorites.

 

[Bobhaze]

I think if we win out, the Eagles have to lose two games.

Let's see, winning out makes us 11-5-1
Eagles winning 4 of 5 would make them 12-5

Sorry, Bobsy, they'd have to lose 2 and we win out.

I think that’s what I said. If we win out and the egirls win 4/5 they still win the division. If we lose 1 they only have to win 3/5. They have 8 wins now, so if we lose 1 and win 4, we finish 10-6-1, meaning they only have to win 3, making them 11-6.

This is what I said:
“That’s all we can do anyway is win our games and hope for help. If we win out, the egirls need to win 4 of 5. If we lose 1, they only have to win 3 of 5, and so on.

We have a shot. But the margin for error is razor thin.”

Bottom line is the Cowboys are dancing on a pin head. Almost no margin for error.

 

[Bobhaze]

Notice Bob didn't include next year when we are Super Bowl favorites.

Wait….we aren’t favorites now? Only a hater would say we aren’t in the driver’s seat for our 6th Lombardi.

 

[Creeper]

The Lions are ahead of Dallas right now too so winning Thursday night is imperative.

If the Cowboys win out and finish 11-5-1 I believe they will be in the playoffs only because the other teams will play each other here and there and someone has to lose. The Cowboys, by virtue of their tie with the Packers, have the advantage over all the other 11 wins teams who will have 6 losses while the Cowboys will have only 5. The exception is the Packers who we have to hope beat the Bears twice and win the division.

And don't forget the Panthers who are 7-6 and coming off a win against the top rated Rams. They have a bye this week then face the Saints, a game they should win. Then they have two games against Tampa Bay and one against the Seahawks. The Panthers have been surprising this year so I am not counting them out. Then again, if the Panthers win out they probably win their division and the Bucs would have 7 losses. So the Cowboys with 11 wins would be ahead of them.

The net of it is, will there be 3 12 win wild card teams from the NFC this year? I don't think that has every happened, has it? If the Cowboys win out, the only way they don't make the playoffs is if 3 other team win 12 games but do not win their divisions.

 

[Carson]

You know how our luck goes.

We will win out, finish the season 11-5-1, miss the playoffs and get the worst possible draft pick

 

[805BoysInBlue]

You know how our luck goes.

We will win out, finish the season 11-5-1, miss the playoffs and get the worst possible draft pick

If we win out it would be almost impossible to not make the play offs. Theyre like at 98% to make it if they win out.

 

[Jarntt]

I'm not quite sure why that's the question. Aaron Glenn was hired beginning of this year. Would he come in thinking rebuild without seeing what he's got.Trade dead line came he made a decision. I don't know that's accurate but it seems feasible. If you have a different opinion I'll listen

Of course that is the question because that is the comment that you made that I was disagreeing with you on. My opinion is we don't know if he was available earlier or not. I would think there was a decent chance Q was available earlier for the right price based on their 0-7 start, but was the right price two 1's earlier which was too high or was it the same as we ultimately traded them and Jerry waited it out hoping it would drop or did we not even check between TC and the deadline? Certainly other players in the NFL were available but at what cost? Who knows, I'm not making an assumption. But, my only point was just that - who knows. Your comment was "he didn't have a dance partner" not he "may not have had a dance partner". That is why I quoted you and disagreed with you and asked you why you could so confidently say:

That's not accurate He didn't have a dance partner till the trade deadline

 

[Jarntt]

still going against 47 years of reality is simply not smart

Wrong. What is simply not smart is your statement. How long have there been 17 games? It's only been 4 other seasons.
No two seasons are the same. Look at the standings. Do what I stated which is assume we win 11 games and tell me it isn't likely a team with 11 wins doesn't get in. You aren't even using a valid argument. You are just quoted a meaningless stat. If we get to 11 wins with the tie we will almost certainly be in, but it is better than 50/50 IMO that there will be another 11 win team that falls short between Philly, Sea, SF and GB/Chi division loser or perhaps even some other unexpected team. Heck, while probably very unlikely, the Lions could lose to us and then win out and especially if Chi has the division wrapped up

 

[ChronicCowboy]

Win out and hope either the Eagles, 9ers or Packers fall apart. It’s a serious long shot.

 

[plasticman]

The Cowboys are 5-4 in 1970 with 5 games left.

The Giants are one game ahead at 6-3 while the Cardinals, an eastern division member at the time, are two games ahead at 7-2.

There is only one wildcard team in each conference.

The Cowboys would win out and go 10-4 while both the Cardinals and Giants
fell behind.

The Cowboys won the division and would end up in their first Super Bowl.

 

[Jarntt]

Win out and hope either the Eagles, 9ers or Packers fall apart. It’s a serious long shot.

Maybe it's semantics, but I disagree with the "falling apart" part. The winning out is the tough part yes. Remember other than GB who also has a tie, we win all "11 win" tiebreakers. If we win out the Eagles would have to go 4-1 to beat us. I don't think going 3-2 would be falling apart. Same thing on the WC. If we win out SF would have to go 3-1 to beat us out - they play Tenn, Indy, Chi, Sea. 2-2 wouldn't require falling apart.

 

[ChronicCowboy]

Maybe it's semantics, but I disagree with the "falling apart" part. The winning out is the tough part yes. Remember other than GB who also has a tie, we win all "11 win" tiebreakers. If we win out the Eagles would have to go 4-1 to beat us. I don't think going 3-2 would be falling apart. Same thing on the WC. If we win out SF would have to go 3-1 to beat us out - they play Tenn, Indy, Chi, Sea. 2-2 wouldn't require falling apart.

Yeah I agree with this but I also don’t think it’s realistic we win out. I’m counting on at least one more loss which means another team does have to fall apart. If we win out I’m pretty confident we’ll get in.

 

[Jarntt]

Yeah I agree with this but I also don’t think it’s realistic we win out. I’m counting on at least one more loss which means another team does have to fall apart. If we win out I’m pretty confident we’ll get in.

Agree, but I didn't think wining the last 3 in a row was realistic either, so...