Comes down to upsetting Colts or Eagles to get into the playoffs

[perrykemp]

I see the Cowboys beating the Bears and Commanders. That get's them to 10-6.

10-6 won't get you into the playoffs this year in the NFC.

That mean's they are going to have to upset either the Colts or the Eagles to get that 11th win and have a good chance at a Wildcard.

Which of those two teams do you see the Cowboys upsetting and why?

 

[BourbonBalz]

Well, we've already played the Giants twice, so we won't be playing them again. LOL. We will have to beat Chicago on the road however.

 

[Alexander]

We will have to beat Chicago on the road however.

Surprising that people think that game will be easy. The Bears are awful, but this team right now is suspect and Trestman could be coaching for his job. There is not a game the rest of this season that can be slept on, not now. That is how badly this team was exposed in every way possible.

 

[BourbonBalz]

Between Philly and Indy, our best chance would be Indy. They have no ground game at all, but Luck will probably carve up our defense like yesterday's turkey.

 

[Alexander]

Between Philly and Indy, our best chance would be Indy. They have no ground game at all, but Luck will probably carve up our defense like yesterday's turkey.

WRs like Hilton and Reggie Wayne against the likes of Brandon Carr. Bad things.

 

[Dave_in-NC]

We don't have the defense to beat the Eagles so that's out. We can beat Chicago. Depends on what Colts team shows up.
I think we miss the playoffs period.

 

[perrykemp]

Well, we've already played the Giants twice, so we won't be playing them again. LOL. We will have to beat Chicago on the road however.

Thanks for catching that screwup. I've edited and fixed the original post.

 

[BourbonBalz]

Surprising that people think that game will be easy. The Bears are awful, but this team right now is suspect and Trestman could be coaching for his job. There is not a game the rest of this season that can be slept on, not now. That is how badly this team was exposed in every way possible.

If you're talking to me, I sure as hell don't think it will be easy and nowhere did I say it would be. I actually give us about a 40% chance in that game. Chicago will probably put 35 or more up on our defense. Fortunately, their defense is as bad as ours. Will our offense show up?

 

[perrykemp]

I think the Cowboy's best chance is to run the ball until the cows come home against Indy. Worked for the Patriots.

My worry is that the Patriots had Revis and Browner to handle Hilton and Wayne.... as mentioned above the Cowboys have Scandrick and Carr....

 

[ufcrules1]

Even if we win Chicago and Washington and then upset either the Eagles or the Colts, we still don't have a guaranteed shot at the playoffs. Seattle is looking like they could potentially win their division, so that means we could be tied with a team like the Cardinals and they have the tie breaker over us. The Lions I'm already assuming will make it based off of their easy remaining schedule.

 

[john van brocklin]

I see the Cowboys beating the Bears and Commanders. That get's them to 10-6.

10-6 won't get you into the playoffs this year in the NFC.

That mean's they are going to have to upset either the Colts or the Eagles to get that 11th win and have a good chance at a Wildcard.

Which of those two teams do you see the Cowboys upsetting and why?

I am surprised we think the Skins are a gimme, did they not just whip our butts at home ?
Tony/coaching staff never did figure out their blitz either, so this game is a toss up and I am being optimistic.

 

[perrykemp]

Even if we win Chicago and Washington and then upset either the Eagles or the Colts, we still don't have a guaranteed shot at the playoffs. Seattle is looking like they could potentially win their division, so that means we could be tied with a team like the Cardinals and they have the tie breaker over us. The Lions I'm already assuming will make it based off of their easy remaining schedule.

I can see scenarios where the Lions and/OR Packers are 10-6. In most of those scenarios the Packers are the wildcard team (based on losses to the Patriots and Lions in the next 5 games). Any idea if it is advantageous for the Cowboys either way to have the Lions OR the Packers as the WC?

 

[ilykdrama]

The only thing this team could upset is its fans.

 

[SultanOfSix]

If anything has been proven in recent memory, is there is no game for this team than can be counted on as a victory. Who knows what to expect?

 

[ufcrules1]

I can see scenarios where the Lions and/OR Packers are 10-6. In most of those scenarios the Packers are the wildcard team (based on losses to the Patriots and Lions in the next 5 games). Any idea if it is advantageous for the Cowboys either way to have the Lions OR the Packers as the WC?

I started going through playoff scenarios in my head and it is pretty crazy. You're right, technically it is possible for Detroit or GB to lose 2 of their remaining games and end up 10-6. One of them would win the division and the other would probably be on the outside looking in for 1 of the wild card spots if that happened. The Lions have an easy remaining schedule with the exception of the Packers. They are at home vs the Bucs, and Vikings and then on the road vs the Bears who they just destroyed and then the Packers. So it doesn't look likely they will lose another game until they play the Packers. The Packers are at home vs the Pats and Falcons, and then on the road vs the Bills and Bucs, and then at home vs the Lions. I would say the Packers have the tougher schedule out of the 2.

If one of them end up with a 10-6 record and we end up 11-5 then that obviously knocks that team out of the playoffs. Then we are looking at Seattle, Arizona, and SF. Seattle or Arizona is going to win that division. I don't think SF can do any better than 10-6 now because they play at Seattle in 2 weeks. So they are out of the picture as well if we can get to 11-5. That would mean Seattle or Arizona would win the division and the other one highly likely getting one of the playoffs spots and then us getting the other.

If we end up at 10-6 though, we can hang it up.

 

[ufcrules1]

If anything has been proven in recent memory, is there is no game for this team than can be counted on as a victory. Who knows what to expect?

This is a good point. it seems like most of our games this season could have gone either way. I don't think any of our remaining games are gimmies at this point. Hell it took the last drive to beat the Giants just last week and that is a 3-8 team. Our team would have to get on a hot streak to have a chance to make the playoffs and this is when our team typically folds every year.

 

[BigD5]

Jesus people. We are 8-4. 8 wins. 4 losses. And y'all are acting like we will be lucky to win another game. We still have the best off line in football. We still have an elite Qb. And an elite WR. A hall of fame TE. Just chill out. Teams lose games occasionally. You would think the past 20 yrs would have chilled y'all out. I'm just sick of after every loss everybody freaking panics and acts like we won't win another game.

If we go 10-6 or 11-5 and don't make the playoffs because the falcons win the NFC south at 5-11 can we really be disappointed in our team?

 

[BourbonBalz]

Jesus people. We are 8-4. 8 wins. 4 losses. And y'all are acting like we will be lucky to win another game. We still have the best off line in football. We still have an elite Qb. And an elite WR. A hall of fame TE. Just chill out. Teams lose games occasionally. You would think the past 20 yrs would have chilled y'all out. I'm just sick of after every loss everybody freaking panics and acts like we won't win another game.

If we go 10-6 or 11-5 and don't make the playoffs because the falcons win the NFC south at 5-11 can we really be disappointed in our team?

Yes. One of the four NFC South teams was going to make the playoffs regardless of their record. This year, like all years, gives us three available chances to claim a playoff spot. The fact that the South sucks changes nothing other than giving us an easy game this year. Too bad we didn't play the whole South this year, but again, the fact they suck makes this year no different from any other year from a playoff perspective. Starting off 6-1 and missing the playoffs should result in heads rolling.

 

[conner01]

Jesus people. We are 8-4. 8 wins. 4 losses. And y'all are acting like we will be lucky to win another game. We still have the best off line in football. We still have an elite Qb. And an elite WR. A hall of fame TE. Just chill out. Teams lose games occasionally. You would think the past 20 yrs would have chilled y'all out. I'm just sick of after every loss everybody freaking panics and acts like we won't win another game.

If we go 10-6 or 11-5 and don't make the playoffs because the falcons win the NFC south at 5-11 can we really be disappointed in our team?

before the season i thought going 8-8 would be tough for this team. i thought the defense would actually be worse than last year. winning 10 games and not making the playoffs will sux but its still a very good season

 

[Hawkeye19]

We just played the highest tempo offense in the NFL on a short week-- AFTER an emotionally draining win. Throw in the fact that Romo's back is still hurt and he didn't get his normal prep for this game-- and it's pretty obvious why they played flat and slow yesterday.

We get 10 days to prepare for Philly for round 2, and we are undefeated on the road. We'll have a much better showing on the road in that game I believe.

It all starts with Chicago though. We have to win that one to control our own destiny and start building some late season momentum. A loss there would be pretty devastating, as we would then have to win out to have a realistic shot at the playoffs.

I think the offense will be fine. The OL is solid and Romo is a vet QB. My concern is that this D is just a disaster right now. No pass rush. They can't cover anyone. They seem incapable of playing fundamentally sound football. Cutler and the Chi offense can put up a lot of points against this D. It's a bad matchup from that standpoint. Thankfully-- I think we can run the ball down their throats and Romo rarely has 2 bad games in a row.

I think we win next week and set up a HUGE rematch with Philly.