The Cowboys went into Week 15 as the #4 seed in the NFC playoff picture. But after handling their own business against the Giants and then shocking losses by the Buccaneers and Cardinals, Dallas has now moved up to 2nd and just one game back of the Packers for the NFC’s top seed.
Yesterday, Arizona suffered a humiliating loss to the previously one-win Detroit Lions. Later on Sunday Night Football, Tampa Bay couldn’t even score a point at home against the New Orleans Saints.
These results left the Bucs, Cardinals, and Cowboys all at 10-4 overall for the season. But thanks to their 8-1 record against other NFC teams, Dallas holds the tiebreaker over both and vaulted up to the #2 seed behind Green Bay.
Arizona and Tampa are both 6-4 against the NFC, making this a tiebreaker that Dallas should hold the rest of the season. However, things get tricky if the Cardinals’ current losing streak continues.
While the Buccaneers beat the Cowboys in Week 1, Tampa’s head-to-head tiebreaker is currently nullified by the three-way tie between them and Arizona. In this situation, conference record takes precedent over any head-to-head victories.
Of course, this could still change over the final three weeks of the regular season. Not only could overall and conference records change, but the Week 17 matchup between Dallas and Arizona could dramatically alter tiebreaking scenarios.
Though all of this is currently tentative, it’s still nice to see the Cowboys move up the potential playoff bracket and out of that dreaded #4 spot. With the 5th seed likely being either Arizona or the Los Angeles Rams, moving up and drawing a lesser wild card team is arguably Dallas’ top goal for the rest of the regular season.
So no, nothing was clinched or written in stone yesterday. But at the very least, the Cowboys are in a better potential position now than they were 24 hours ago.
