Let’s face it, things aren’t looking particularly good for the Dallas Cowboys right now.
Dallas sits at 3-5 after the first half of the season. They’ve already had their bye week.
Nine weeks ahead without a break, and the Cowboys sit 3.5 games behind the Commanders for first place in the NFC East.
If the playoffs were to begin today, Dallas’ players would be watching from their homes.
They trail the Packers, who currently would be the seventh seed in the NFC, by 2.5 games. The Cowboys are 13th out of the conference’s 16 teams.
The combined record of Dallas’ next three opponents is 19-7. Two of the three, Washington and Houston, are in first place in their respective divisions.
The third team, Philadelphia, is only a half-game out of first place.
For the cherry on top of this nightmare parfait, the next two games are at AT&T Stadium. The Cowboys haven’t won a game at home since last December.
Grim is a gross understatement when describing the Cowboys’ prospects.
But is there a reason for hope today?
Actually, there may be because it happened as recently as two years ago.
Near the end of the season-opening loss to Tampa Bay in 2022, Dak Prescott injured his thumb and would miss the next five weeks.
Pretty much everyone was throwing in the towel on the season. Enter Cooper Rush.
Rush To The Rescue
Rush would win the next four games before falling to the Eagles in what would be his last start.
Still, his 4-1 stint had Dallas at 4-2 when Prescott returned. Prescott would win eight of the next 11 to get the Cowboys to 12-5.
It wasn’t enough to win the division, but it got the Cowboys to the playoffs.
Admittedly, the mountain Dallas has to climb is much steeper this year.
They are two games under .500 with only nine games left to erase a much greater deficit. They also are a whole lot more banged up at nearly every position.
However, if Rush can somehow recapture the magic of 2022 and get three wins on the board, Dallas’ schedule becomes a little easier.
It would also put the Cowboys back above .500 and likely back into the playoff hunt.
How Rush Can Succeed
In his four wins in 2022, Rush was a game manager. His one loss, for reasons that escape logic, came when Kellen Moore threw out what was working.
Moore had Rush trying to become Tom Brady.
He turned him into Brady Quinn instead.
If Mike McCarthy can layoff abusing the iPads on the sideline and calls a run-first, short passing attack, Rush has a shot to win these games.
But if they try to act like nothing has changed at quarterback, it isn’t going to be pretty this month at all.
Prediction
The Eagles are healthy, Dallas isn’t.
Philadelphia has Saquon Barkley; the Cowboys have Rico Dowdle and (maybe?) Ezekiel Elliott who appears to have checked out on the team.
My heart says the Cowboys will rally behind Rush.
My head looks at this roster and says otherwise.
Today’s game is going to be ugly. Nick Sirianni is going to want to rub it in if he gets a chance.
Eagles 38, Dallas 13.
Against the Eagles
This will be the 131st time the two teams have met on the gridiron. Dallas holds a 74-56 lead in the series.
The Cowboys are 43-24 at home against the Eagles, they have beaten Philadelphia in the last six games played at AT&T Stadium.
Dallas won the last meeting between the teams, also at AT&T Stadium, 33-13 on Dec. 10th.
The last Eagles’ win in Dallas was a 37-9 rout on Nov. 19, 2017. Carson Wentz threw two touchdowns in that victory.
Jalen Hurts has never beaten Dallas at AT&T Stadium.
All-Time Week 10 Records
Dallas is 33-26-1 all-time in Week 10 games. They lost a game to the 1982 strike and have had three bye weeks fall on this week in the schedule.
The Cowboys are just 14-11-1 at home on Week 10, however.
Dallas has won its last two Week 10 home games, a 2021 win over Atlanta and a win last year over the Giants.
The Cowboys are 9-5 against the Eagles when the teams meet in the tenth week. However, they are 3-4 when those games were played in Texas.
Week 10 All-Time Vs. Opponents
- GIANTS (7-3)
- EAGLES (9-5)
- COMMANDERS (5-2-1)
- CARDINALS (2-1)
- RAMS (0-1)
- 49ERS (0-2)
- SEAHAWKS (0-0)
- FALCONS (1-1)
- PANTHERS (0-0)
- SAINTS (0-1)
- BUCCANEERS (0-1)
- BEARS (0-2)
- LIONS (1-0)
- PACKERS (1-2)
- VIKINGS (0-1)
- BILLS (4-0)
- DOLPHINS (0-1)
- PATRIOTS (1-0)
- JETS (0-0)
- TEXANS (0-0)
- COLTS (0-0)
- JAGUARS (1-0)
- TITANS (0-0)
- RAVENS (0-0)
- BENGALS (0-0)
- BROWNS (0-1)
- STEELERS (1-1)
- BRONCOS (0-0)
- CHIEFS (0-0)
- RAIDERS (0-1)
- CHARGERS (0-0)