With their hopes for the playoffs far in the Dallas Cowboys’ rear view mirror, the team and a few players have some personal marks to play for on Sunday.
The New York Giants have little hope at reclaiming the No. 1 draft pick in April even with a loss.
Most of the roster is probably playing for their jobs next year as well.
The two top goals for Dallas will be ending the season on a two-game winning streak and finishing the season at .500.
An 8-8-1 record would help the team avoid its first back-to-back losing seasons since the Dave Campo nightmare 2000–2002 seasons.
They will match the first back-to-back non-playoff seasons last accomplished in 2019-2020. In this century, the Cowboys have missed the playoffs in three-straight years (2000-2002) and four straight (2010-2013).
The two longest playoff droughts in franchise history came in the first six seasons, 1960-1965, and five years, 1986-1990.
Tom Landry was the head coach for the first three seasons while Jimmy Johnson had the last two as he rebuilt the team.
Here are some of the individual marks that some of the Cowboys will be shooting for on Sunday.
Dak Prescott
Dak Prescott has one last career passing mark to take away from Tony Romo.
The Cowboys’ all-time leader in completions, attempts, and yards needs five touchdowns to tie Romo for the franchise lead at 248.
With 65 more rushing yards, Prescott would pass Ron Springs for 15th. Prescott begins play on Sunday with 2,116 yards.
With just one more passing yard on Sunday, Prescott would slip past Romo (4,093 yards in 2012) for the most passing yards in a single season for a Cowboys’ quarterback.
The Top 8 seasons by yardage is currently split evenly between Romo and Prescott at four each.
Javonte Williams
Javonte Williams enters Sunday with 1,201 yards, 19th-best all-time in Dallas for a single year. With just four yards, he would move up to 17th.
A monster day of 274 yards would get him into the Top 10.
DeMarco Murray’s 1,845 yards in 2014 is still the franchise best.
In just his first year in Dallas, Williams needs just 26 yards to move past Timmy Newsome for 22nd. He would leapfrog over Preston Pearson (1,207) and Don Meredith (1,216) in the process.
After Newsome, though, he would need another 238 yards to catch Rico Dowdle for 21st.
CeeDee Lamb
CeeDee Lamb isn’t threatening any single-season marks this year, but he can move up the career-record ladder on Sunday.
Lamb, with 7,412 yards, needs 48 yards to move past Dez Bryant for 5th all-time in Dallas. He trails Drew Pearson by 411 yards for 4th.
Jason Witten (12,977) and Michael Irvin (11,904) are sitting comfortably in the top two slots.
Tony Hill is third with 7,988 yards.
Witten and Irvin top the career receptions mark as well, with 1,215 and 750 catches respectively. Lamb enters Sunday in third with 570 catches.
Lamb is currently tied for eighth with 41 touchdowns with Billy Joe DuPree.
Dez Bryant leads all Cowboys with 73.
George Pickens
In his first season in Dallas, Pickens isn’t challenging any career marks of note yet. But he has a few single-season notches he can carve into his belt.
With a 10-reception game on Sunday, he can pass Lamb for 5th with 102 catches for the season.
Lamb has the Cowboys’ season mark at 135 receptions in 2023.
At 1,420 yards for the year, Pickens needs 104 yards on Sunday to move past Irvin (in 1991) for 3rd, 184 to pass Irvin (in 1995) for 2nd, and an unlikely 330 yards to pass Lamb (in 2023) to set the franchise record.
Brandon Aubrey
Aubrey needs just eight points to break his own record for most points by any Cowboys’ player in a single year.
In 2023, in his rookie year, Aubrey tallied 157 points. He has already matched his 2024 output of 150 points, and needs only an extra point on Sunday to break the tie.
Aubrey is currently sixth all-time in scoring for Dallas with 457 points.
Here are the current Top 6 scorers for Dallas:
- 986 – Emmitt Smith
- 874 – Rafael Septien
- 834 – Dan Bailey
- 516 – Tony Dorsett
- 506 – Ezekiel Elliott
- 457 – Brandon Aubrey
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