The Dallas Cowboys late-season gauntlet will continue with their final regular home season contest of 2025.
The Chargers were an 11-win playoff team last year. They are coached by a man who knows how to get teams to title games and win them.
If the Cowboys are still alive for the playoffs, or possibly the division title or the top seed, by the time this game kicks off it will be a challenge to win.
Dallas’ defense is going to get a good look at receiver Tre Harris, taken in the second round after the Cowboys passed on him in April.
Harris could be an annoyance with Mike Williams and Ladd McConkey roaming the defensive backfield. Quarterback Justin Herbert will have plenty of targets to throw to.
That could make Harris a Randy Moss 2.0 unless the Cowboys’ second round pick, edge player Donovan Ezeiruaku, makes life difficult for Herbert.
Which seems unlikely with him currently being fourth on the Cowboys’ depth chart at the position behind Micah Parsons, Marshawn Kneeland, and Sam Williams.
The Chargers will also have a 1-2 running back punch of Omarion Hampton and Najee Harris. That will put pressure on the interior of the Cowboys’ defensive line.
At least Joey Bosa won’t be around to make life miserable for Dak Prescott, or Joe Milton for that matter, since Bosa left for Buffalo in free agency.
Plus And Minus
On the positive side, Dallas has won the last two meetings between the teams, both in Los Angeles.
The Cowboys have won five straight Week 16 home games and seven of their last eight. A 2017 loss to Seattle was the only home blemish.
On the negative side, the Cowboys have lost the last three games they’ve played at home against the Chargers.
The last time Dallas beat this franchise at home was all the way back in 1990 at Texas Stadium. Troy Aikman scored from a yard out with just under two minutes left for the come-from-behind 17-14 win.
The first-ever meeting in Texas between the two teams was 10 years earlier, when Danny White out dueled Dan Fouts in a 42–21 Cowboys’ win.
Dallas is 6-2 against the Chargers when they play out in California, giving the Cowboys their 8-5 series lead.
By The Numbers
In Week 16 contests, the Cowboys are 25-22 overall in games played in the 16th week of the season. They are 16-10 when those games take place at home.
This is the latest in any of their previous years that they have played the Chargers and will only be the 10th time out of 48 that they will face an AFC team in Week 16 contests.
Dallas is 4-5 in those previous nine games.
