NFC East remaining schedules and likely outcomes

[Miller]

We are 2 back with 5 to play and need 3 teams to drop. I don't care how bad Philly is they beat us and are in front of us. Even 7-9 winning the division would be us going 4-1. Just not going to happen. Skins will beat us one and Pack. Even take the Jets. Haven't had a backup with a game since 2010 and now a guy is going to quadruple it?

I was honestly rooting Giants last week so this would go away

 

[JoeyBoy718]

If the rest of the division loses out, the Cowboys win the division. It would mean the Cowboys got 2 wins and would win tie breakers.

My point exactly. Do you really see the Cowboys winning 2 of the next 5 games? Our opponents are probably tougher than they were during our 7-game losing streak (besides Pats). I'm saying, we couldn't win the division even if everyone else lost out.

 

[Kevinicus]

How do you figure that? Even if the Cowboys by some chance sweep the Commanders, that only gives them 5 wins. The Commanders and the Eagles still have to play and somebody has to win that game. If the Commanders beat the Eagles, they win with 6 wins, and then you have to hope that they don't beat anyone else. The Giants and the Eagles still have another game to play and somebody has to win that game, and if the Eagles win that game on top of beating the Commanders then they win the division, and if the Giants win, they will win the division with 6 wins. The Cowboys have too much to overcome and everything has to go exactly right, in a year where nothing has gone right. I don't like those odds.

Well, the whole idea of the division losing the rest of their games isn't possible...so.

 

[Kevinicus]

My point exactly. Do you really see the Cowboys winning 2 of the next 5 games? Our opponents are probably tougher than they were during our 7-game losing streak (besides Pats). I'm saying, we couldn't win the division even if everyone else lost out.

2? Probably.

 

[Michael88Irvin]

People are fooling themselves. This team is not very good this year. I don't blame people. We were in every game (except the Pats) when Romo was out. That would make people think that having Romo back would mean we'd win all those games (and maybe even the Pats game). Not bad logic. But the reality is, we weren't that great in the games with Romo. We really shouldn't have won that Giants game. That was once-in-a-decade idiocy on behalf of the Giants (Eli? Coughlin?) even giving us a chance to win that one. We didn't look great against Philly or Miami (two bad teams), and we got embarrassed by Carolina (a good team). People are confusing this year's team with last year's team. If Romo was healthy all 16 games, it's much more likely we'd be the 8-8 Dallas Cowboys than the 12-4 Dallas Cowboys. It was very unlikely we'd run the table if Romo didn't re-break his shoulder. And it's impossible we'll run the table now that Romo is out (again) for the season. We play 5 solid teams. Green Bay has Rodgers, the Jets and Bills have dominant defenses, and the Commanders are playing much better than any other NFCE team at the moment. We've drastically overrated this team. Not only do we sorely lack talent on the field, but we're a very undisciplined and poorly run team. We need to rebuild our personnel the right way and seriously reconsider how we do things or we'll continue to be the Raiders of the NFC.

We were fine in the games Romo won, we have just been out of synch without him (although improving under Cassel). We just need to gel, and we can do that with Cassel now that he has 4 1/2 games under his belt. He came in against Carolina and drove us down the field for a TD drive. That is more than Carolina did, as we held them to 5 FGs, other than the 2 pick sixes and the over the top FG blocking penalty. They did not 'embarrass' us, Tony didn't play well. Cassel actually played better than Romo in that game.

What are you basing this statement on: "If Romo was healthy all 16 games, it's much more likely we'd be the 8-8 Dallas Cowboys than the 12-4 Dallas Cowboys" - that makes no sense. We were 2-0, then Weeden's 3 losses (Atlanta after leading most of the game, Saints in OT, and the Patriots) were unfortunate, Cassel's 4 games were better:

1) he led us to a 20-20 tie against the 1st place Giants (AT New York), standing in there with excellent poise and leading an 80 yard game tying Touchdown drive in the fourth quarter (after overcoming 2 early INTs). Had it not been for a miraculous KO return by Harris to go up 27-20, and Beasley muffing that punt with plenty of time, we had a good chance of winning that game.
2) He performed well against the Seahawks, Cowboys barely losing 13-12, with the Seahawks kicking a game winning FG in the final minute. We had some bad calls in that game, and had a TD taken away for a bogus OPI flag as I recall. And I believe Bailey had a rare FG miss!
3) Against Philly he played really well (3 TDs, 300 yards), leading us 54 yards down the field to tie the game 27-27 with a Bailey FG at the end of regulation... as you recall we lost the toss, and the eagles got a TD on their opening drive ending the game. There were a mountain of bad calls in that game. Very frustrating, but as you can see, we are not getting blown out in these games... all razor thin losses that could easily have been W's
4) There was plenty of blame to go around for the Tampa game... we came out flat across the board, but again, only lost by 4 points and with the D holding them to 10 points, could have easily won that game.

Knowing that he led the Patriots to an 11-5 record and the playoffs shows that he can get it done... the difference there was that he had a couple years to learn the system under Brady, and he ending up playing the entire 2008 season after Brady was knocked out in the 1st game of 08. The 5 games he has played this year have been his learning curve. His 1st win against the skins will give us all the confidence and momentum we need to go on to beat the 1-4 Packers and likely be tied for 1st after that. At that point, the naysayers will be scrambling to get their seats back on the bandwagon. Will be satisfying to treat them like they treated us.

I think the naysayers are going to be in shock after we pound the Skins on Monday.

 

[Michael88Irvin]

Dez isn't healthy and losing is losing, anything else outside of winning are losing teams making excuses for being a losing team. Look man, I hope you're right, I really do, but I don't see any evidence to see anything changing to see a Romo-less team going 4-1 or 5-0 down the stretch. I don't think anybody on here would be upset if the Cowboys made the playoffs. I know many of us have said that they hope we tank, but most of us are all just frustrated at this point and just want the wounded dog to get put out of its misery, BUT if by some chance the wounded dog gets miraculously healed, you can bet that everyone who is down on the team right now, myself included, will root for them to win. I'm a man who needs to see evidence to believe, and right now, I don't see any.

I appreciate that... and truly believe Monday night will give you the evidence and confidence to believe. I just have a ridiculously strong gut feeling on this (obviously). It will be a fun ride to say the least should we do what I believe we will. At 7-9 or 8-8, with what we have been through, it will feel like a 12-4 season, plus we will be peaking at the right time heading into the actual playoffs. It doesn't matter how you get in the playoffs, many teams have proven that. And I don't think the Boys are scared of any team. We have the talent to hang with anyone. And yes the coaches do need to get their heads out of their a$$es. Play calling has also been a big part of their close losses. The whole world knows we are going to run on 1st down. Fixing the play calling, and not playing so conservative will make a world of difference. Garrett got into a rut of playing 'not to lose', but that is simply a mindset issue, and fixable.

Our playoffs start Monday. If you look at it that way, we will get to enjoy the playoffs longer than most.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

We were fine in the games Romo won, we have just been out of synch without him (although improving under Cassel). We just need to gel, and we can do that with Cassel now that he has 4 1/2 games under his belt. He came in against Carolina and drove us down the field for a TD drive. That is more than Carolina did, as we held them to 5 FGs, other than the 2 pick sixes and the over the top FG blocking penalty. They did not 'embarrass' us, Tony didn't play well. Cassel actually played better than Romo in that game.

What are you basing this statement on: "If Romo was healthy all 16 games, it's much more likely we'd be the 8-8 Dallas Cowboys than the 12-4 Dallas Cowboys" - that makes no sense. We were 2-0, then Weeden's 3 losses (Atlanta after leading most of the game, Saints in OT, and the Patriots) were unfortunate, Cassel's 4 games were better:

1) he led us to a 20-20 tie against the 1st place Giants (AT New York), standing in there with excellent poise and leading an 80 yard game tying Touchdown drive in the fourth quarter (after overcoming 2 early INTs). Had it not been for a miraculous KO return by Harris to go up 27-20, and Beasley muffing that punt with plenty of time, we had a good chance of winning that game.
2) He performed well against the Seahawks, Cowboys barely losing 13-12, with the Seahawks kicking a game winning FG in the final minute. We had some bad calls in that game, and had a TD taken away for a bogus OPI flag as I recall. And I believe Bailey had a rare FG miss!
3) Against Philly he played really well (3 TDs, 300 yards), leading us 54 yards down the field to tie the game 27-27 with a Bailey FG at the end of regulation... as you recall we lost the toss, and the eagles got a TD on their opening drive ending the game. There were a mountain of bad calls in that game. Very frustrating, but as you can see, we are not getting blown out in these games... all razor thin losses that could easily have been W's
4) There was plenty of blame to go around for the Tampa game... we came out flat across the board, but again, only lost by 4 points and with the D holding them to 10 points, could have easily won that game.

Knowing that he led the Patriots to an 11-5 record and the playoffs shows that he can get it done... the difference there was that he had a couple years to learn the system under Brady, and he ending up playing the entire 2008 season after Brady was knocked out in the 1st game of 08. The 5 games he has played this year have been his learning curve. His 1st win against the skins will give us all the confidence and momentum we need to go on to beat the 1-4 Packers and likely be tied for 1st after that. At that point, the naysayers will be scrambling to get their seats back on the bandwagon. Will be satisfying to treat them like they treated us.

I think the naysayers are going to be in shock after we pound the Skins on Monday.

So you're saying we just needed to get in sync and that we were in position to win all of those games? Like you said, Cassel is a vet and not a bad QB. And if this team (outside of QB) was any good, they wouldn't have lost 7 straight with a QB like Cassel. There's no excuse for it. I don't care how close they were to winning some of them. They lost them all. The 0-16 Lions kept getting closer and closer too. A good team does not become the 0-16 Lions when their starting QB goes down, especially if they have a backup like Cassel. But you can keep riding the playoff train. I had to read new "We're going X-0" threads after EVERY game we lost with Romo out. Then again when Romo returned (which was legitimate). And now again after Romo gets hurt again. Maybe we'll keep clawing away and finally win a game without Romo. That would make us 1-12 without our starting QB. Bring on them Commanders

 

[Michael88Irvin]

My point exactly. Do you really see the Cowboys winning 2 of the next 5 games? Our opponents are probably tougher than they were during our 7-game losing streak (besides Pats). I'm saying, we couldn't win the division even if everyone else lost out.

I'm sorry, that is just wrong... Yes I see us winning 4 or 5 of the next 5 games.
To say our upcoming opponents are "probably tougher" than the 7 game streak is inaccurate.
Atlanta (when we played them) was a top team.
Saints have played well off and on all year.
Patriots - favored to win SB
Giants - 1st place in Div and we beat them already, and should have won that game.
Seahawks are always tough, and we had them beat
Philly had won 4 of 6 including our game, and one of those 2 losses was Carolina, and the other was a FG loss
and I will give you Tampa, as our weakest loss - however we led the whole game (they scored with less than a min) and we played way too conservative.

Our upcoming schedule is fairly weak:
W - Commanders 5-6
L - Packers (possibly W, as they are on a 1-4 kick the last 5)
W - Jets 6-5 very winnable
W - Bills 5-6 " "
W - Commanders 5-6 (likely 6-9 going into this game)

 

[Alexander]

Winnable. I love that phrase.

 

[Michael88Irvin]

Winnable. I love that phrase.

Should we lay down to the Jets or Bills?! We can beat them... I have no doubt

 

[JoeyBoy718]

I'm sorry, that is just wrong... Yes I see us winning 4 or 5 of the next 5 games.
To say our upcoming opponents are "probably tougher" than the 7 game streak is inaccurate.
Atlanta (when we played them) was a top team.
Saints have played well off and on all year.
Patriots - favored to win SB
Giants - 1st place in Div and we beat them already, and should have won that game.
Seahawks are always tough, and we had them beat
Philly had won 4 of 6 including our game, and one of those 2 losses was Carolina, and the other was a FG loss
and I will give you Tampa, as our weakest loss - however we led the whole game (they scored with less than a min) and we played way too conservative.

Our upcoming schedule is fairly weak:
W - Commanders 5-6
L - Packers (possibly W, as they are on a 1-4 kick the last 5)
W - Jets 6-5 very winnable
W - Bills 5-6 " "
W - Commanders 5-6 (likely 6-9 going into this game)

We haven't faced a defense like the Jets' and Bills' this season. Packers are still a good team despite the recent skid, and they have Rodgers. And the Commanders are probably better now than the Giants and Eagles have been. It's really a crap shoot. Besides the Pats, it's really a wash. No sense arguing over marginal differences like Commanders vs Giants/Eagles or Packers vs Seahawks. You don't go from being 0-6 (not counting Pats game) vs a similar schedule to being 4-1. But I don't want to kill your enthusiasm. You can hope all you want. It's your right. I just don't want the "hope" to blind the organization to the mediocrity that's been the Dallas Cowboys for a long time now.

 

[Michael88Irvin]

http://sportsday.***BANNED-URL***/d...-disastrous-jason-garrett-cowboys-locker-room

 

[Alexander]

Should we lay down to the Jets or Bills?! We can beat them... I have no doubt

Considering we could not beat the Bucs, Saints, Falcons or any of the other collection of "winnable" games that people thought we could win, just understand the skepticism.

 

[Alexander]

We haven't faced a defense like the Jets' and Bills' this season.

I don't fear either defense as I think they can be beaten. Which obviously has been proven.

I just doubt our ability to prepare for either adequately.

They throw multiple attacks at you and change from game to game.

I don't think we have had a superior gameplan to anyone this year, including the games where Romo was healthy overall.

The one shining moment was being able to basically hoodwink Chip Kelly for a game.

And well, now, we see that was no big significant feat.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

I don't fear either defense as I think they can be beaten. Which obviously has been proven.

I just doubt our ability to prepare for either adequately.

They throw multiple attacks at you and change from game to game.

I don't think we have had a superior gameplan to anyone this year, including the games where Romo was healthy overall.

The one shining moment was being able to basically hoodwink Chip Kelly for a game.

And well, now, we see that was no big significant feat.

I don't think the Jets or Bills defenses can't be beat. I think Brady carved them both up this season. But we're talking about the Cassel/McFadden Dallas Cowboys. We've gotten shut down by much worse defenses this year. Our only real hope is that our defense shuts down their offenses.

 

[Alexander]

I don't think the Jets or Bills defenses can't be beat. I think Brady carved them both up this season. But we're talking about the Cassel/McFadden Dallas Cowboys. We've gotten shut down by much worse defenses this year. Our only real hope is that our defense shuts down their offenses.

Brady carved them up. Okay, cool. Makes sense.

I don't think even Romo could "carve them up". We have serious schematic issues with this offense.

I know a lot of people still don't want to talk about Murray and HAW HAW LOOK AT EM in Philadelphia, but this was a dominant offense.

And we now know this.

No, nobody can run behind this line.

Sorry, not the same. Thanks.

 

[john van brocklin]

http://sportsday.***BANNED-URL***/d...-disastrous-jason-garrett-cowboys-locker-room

They don't have to try and tank, they will lose the majority if the next 5 games simply because they are not good enough.
This Team has serious issues from the HC down to the waterboy.
Romo is not here anymore to cover them up and bail them out.

 

[Risen Star]

Giants 2-3
Commanders 1-4
Eagles 0-5
Cowboys 4-1. Possibly 5-0

Please keep in mind this is only the likely outcome. It's a crazy league.

 

[waving monkey]

0-5 what's the benifit of going one and done in the playoffs. No superbowl win means the season is a bust.

noot so

 

[Michael88Irvin]

Giants 2-3
Commanders 1-4
Eagles 0-5
Cowboys 4-1. Possibly 5-0

Please keep in mind this is only the likely outcome. It's a crazy league.

Can definitely happen that way... did you see the end of the Packer / Lion game...
proves my point. The lowly 4-7 Lions had the Pack beat. Game was over. Without the 70 yard, ridiculous hail mary from Rodgers to Rodgers, the Pack would be 1-5 their last 6...
OK, so the point is, the Pack can be beat, many teams are doing it, even the Lions.
After we beat the Commanders, we play GB, who are clearly not playing well. They will have a let down after this too... this was an extremely emotional/exhausting game for them.

Good for them though, they didn't give up, they overcame a 20 point deficit, and won it with an amazing hail mary.

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN in the NFL.