It seems somewhat fitting that today’s opponent for the Dallas Cowboys is the Philadelphia Eagles.
Including the playoffs, it will be the 134th meeting between the teams since 1960. It seems like every single one of them has been a hate fest at that.
For Dallas, it is almost a must-win situation.
A loss drops them to 4-6-1, 4.5 games behind the Eagles with six games left.
It also puts additional pressure on the Cowboys, who will play three games in 12 days beginning with today’s contest. Dallas faces defending champion Kansas City on Thursday.
Seven days later, they face the up-and-coming Lions in Detroit.
The math is very simple.
A 3-0 run over the next 12 days and the Cowboys are likely to make the playoffs. Even a 2-1 record gets them back to .500 and very much alive.
But 1-2 and they are on life support for the postseason.
An 0-3 run, and we’re writing the obituary on Dallas’ season on Dec. 5th.
The Cowboys cannot look ahead though. They have to focus on each game, one at a time, and find a way to win that week’s game and worry about next week after this week’s game ends.
That starts with today’s game.
- Who: Philadelphia Eagles
- Where: at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas
- When: Today, 3:25 p.m. (CST)
- How (to watch): FOX
All-Time Marks
The Cowboys are 74-59 all-time against Philadelphia. They are 43-25 when hosting the Eagles.
Philadelphia’s win last November snapped the Cowboys’ six-game win streak at AT&T Stadium.
The Eagles hold a three-game win streak over Dallas and have won three of the last four meetings.
This includes the season-opener back in September, when Prescott and Hurts were in a shootout. Until a rain delay paused everything for nearly an hour.
Both teams came out ice cold the rest of the way.
Dallas is 42-23 in Week 12 games in their history. Better still, they are an impressive 32-9 when those games are played at home.
The Cowboys have won their last three Week 12 contests, and the last two when playing at AT&T Stadium in this week of the schedule.
Against the Eagles, they are 3-1 in Week 12 games. However, this will be the first time since the 1989 season that the two teams have played a Week 12 contest.
That game saw an 8-3 Eagles team rout a 1-10 Dallas squad, 27-0, on Thanksgiving Day.
Cowboys’ faithful know it as round one of the Bounty Bowl. I mean, Philadelphia boos Santa Claus, does it surprise you that they’d put a $200 hit on a 5’-9”, 170-pound place kicker?
Dallas’ most common Week 12 foe has been Washington. The Cowboys have won 13 of the 17 games played on Week 12 against the Redskins/Commanders.
The Prediction
After last week’s win over the Raiders, a lot of folks in Cowboys Nation were ready to crown the Cowboys Super Bowl Champions.
Let’s see how these next five weeks play out first. Starting with today’s game against an Eagles team that so far is getting all the breaks and making all the plays at the right time.
A Dallas win, and maybe we can start to believe last week was the rule and not the exception.
Prediction: Eagles 35, Cowboys 27
