In case you hadn’t heard, the Dallas Cowboys have won two straight games. They are now at 5-7 for the season after their 27-20 victory over the Giants on Thanksgiving Day.
They are also facing a nightmare scenario.
Dallas’ next two games are winnable, even for a team that has struggled as the Cowboys have.
They host Cincinnati on Dec. 8th in a Sunday night game at AT&T Stadium.
The Bengals have had their own issues. Depending on how their game against the Steelers plays out on Sunday, Cincinnati could either be 5-7 or 4-8.
Like Dallas, the Bengals playoff hopes are on life support, and they too will almost need to win out to have any chance.
If the Cowboys find a way to get past Cincinnati, winning at home for only the second time this season, they travel to the even lowlier Carolina Panthers. At best, Carolina would be 4-8 to start that game.
And here’s where the nightmare scenario rears its ugly head for Dallas.
Let’s say they win those two games and get to 7-7. Riding a four-game win streak, Dallas closes the schedule at home against Tampa Bay, at Philadelphia, and then at home against Washington.
Let’s say Dallas goes at least 2-1 in those three games, if not 3-0.
Suddenly, the Cowboys are either at 10-7 or 9-8 and could possibly sneak in as the seventh seed.
Now let’s really take the nightmare down a dark path. The Cowboys then win their wild card, divisional, and conference playoff games and make it to Super Bowl LIX in February.
You’ll have Cooper Rush with either a 10-2 or 9-3 record as the starter.
But you could possibly have Dak Prescott healthy enough to return to the active roster by then too.
Who do you start? The guy who got you there or the guy you shelled out $60 million a year for and has a 3-5 record this year?
There’s the true horror of this nightmare.
Who do you choose, and what happens if you choose wrong?
Worse yet? What if you choose Rush, and he wins it all?
That Prescott contract extension just hours before the season kicked off suddenly looks really bad, doesn’t it?
More so if you choose Prescott, and he struggles in a Super Bowl loss.
The good news is that it seems highly unlikely that the scenario will play out that way anyway.
Scoragami And Turkey Day Records
The win over the Giants improved Dallas’ Thanksgiving Day record to 34-22-1. They are 3-0 against the Giants and 12-4 against the NFC East on the holiday.
The Cowboys are 9-2 against Washington but 0-2 against the Eagles.
It was the third-straight Thanksgiving Day victory for Dallas.
The 27-20 final was the 12th time the Cowboys have played in a game with that final score. They are 9-3 in those games.
It was the fourth-straight win for Dallas when the game ended in a 27-20 final.
The last time the Cowboys lost a 27-20 game was in the seventh week of the 2015 season. Ironically enough, it was against the Giants, in New York, on Oct. 25th of that year.
Dallas is now 41-23 all-time in Week 13 contests, 29-12 at home, and 5-3 against the Giants when the teams play in a Week 13 contest.
The Cowboys have won their last four Week 13 contests.
A Feast Of Football
As bad as we think we have it as Cowboys fans, it could be worse. We could be fans of the Chicago Bears.
Da Bears have been finding innovative ways to lose games this year.
They may have saved their pièce de résistance of shame for Thanksgiving Day for the entire world to share.
Down three points to the Detroit Lions, after trailing 16-0 at halftime, Chicago was driving and already in position for a game-tying field goal attempt, albeit a long one.
On second down, quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked with 32 seconds left, and the Bears were holding onto a final timeout. They never used that timeout.
Because Williams allowed the clock to wind down all the way to six seconds before snapping the ball.
His desperation pass fell incomplete, and well short of the end zone anyway, as time expired.
It was the sixth straight loss for the 4–8 Bears. Four of the six were by three points or less, and one came on a last-second Hail Mary that started the Bears on their slide.
In the final game of the night, the Packers and Dolphins battled it out on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field.
As expected, the Packers rolled to a relatively easy, 30-17, win over a Miami team that just doesn’t seem to be able to get on track this year.
College football even got in on the fun with Memphis upsetting No. 17 Tulane, 34-24, on Thursday evening.
A Rose By Any Other Name
Prior to the 2020 season, the NFL’s franchise in Washington, D.C. was known as the Redskins. Then-owner Dan Snyder finally caved to the political correctness crowd in a bid to retain his ownership and changed the name.
The move didn’t save his ownership.
For two seasons they were just the Washington Football Team. Ugh.
The last three seasons they have played as the Washington Commanders.
Better, yes, but still not so hot and their fan base has not been happy with it.
Now it seems sanity may be returning to D.C.
https://twitter.com/NFL_DovKleiman/status/1861854216978882672Bringing back the logo would be welcome news to just about every NFL fan.
Although it seems unlikely that the Redskins name would be re-instated, even though it was never meant as an insult. The vast majority of Native Americans had no problem with the old name either.
Frankly, they should be the Washington Redskins with the old logo.
However, an acceptable alternative is to bring back the logo and change the name to the Washington Warriors.
Because internet scolds have nothing better to do but ruin nice things, going with Warriors is likely the only way to head off any further issues. Let’s hope this comes to fruition for 2025.
Wouldn’t this make for wonderful television viewing twice a year again?
The Eagles Need To Stop
Am I the only one getting tired of Nick Sirianni and the Eagles playing games with the rules? And the NFL letting them get away with it?
Hopefully, the answer is no.
The Tush Push/Brotherly Shove was bad enough.
It’s a rugby play, not an American football play. The NFL finally tweaked the rule about how the Eagles lined up for the play, but that wasn’t enough.
It should be deemed an illegal formation, a five-yard penalty, and a loss of down.
That would put an end to it for good.
Emboldened by the NFL’s lack of a spine, Sirianni recently pulled a fast one on a Sunday night game against the Rams.
After declining a penalty to set up a fourth and short, Sirianni “changed his mind” but only after the Rams lined up to go for it. The officials allowed it and even Chris Collinsworth, in the booth, was not amused.
Once a team accepts or declines a penalty, they shouldn’t get a do-over after they see what the opponent is going to do.
It’s nonsense like this that makes Sirianni the most hated coach in the NFL right now. It also takes away from the fact that the Eagles are having a great season.
If Philadelphia’s General Manager, Howie Roseman, is incapable of sitting his head coach down and straightening him out, then the NFL needs to crack down on the franchise.
No more tush push and no more gaming the system and getting away with it.