For the last three seasons, the Dallas Cowboys had two impressive streaks.
They won 12 games in each of those three seasons. Dallas also made the playoffs in the last three seasons.
One streak is officially dead.
The other is on life support.
With the Cowboys’ 34-6 loss to the Eagles on Sunday, they fell to 3-6 on the current season. Even if they win out the best they can do is 11-6.
No one, probably not even anyone in the organization, believes this team will win their next eight contests.
They’d have to win six of their next eight just to get back over .500 and that wouldn’t guarantee a playoff spot.
Mathematically, the playoffs are still possible even at 3-6. Realistically, this team is probably already looking ahead to 2025.
Trey Lance Debuts
By the time he came into the game, it was all over but the shouting. But Trey Lance finally saw his first action for the Cowboys in a regular season game.
It was also his first NFL regular season action since 2022.
His stat line wasn’t much to get excited over. To be fair, no one in the Cowboys’ locker room had anything to point at and cheer.
But he at least got into the game.
With Cooper Rush struggling as he did, Lance may be playing to remain in Dallas as Dak Prescott’s backup.
For the record, Lance finished just 4-for-6 for 21 yards with an interception. He also added 17 yards on three carries.
With the season pretty much over, perhaps Lance should be the starter the rest of the way.
It would give the Cowboys a better idea of what they’ll do with him, and Rush, going into 2025.
By The Numbers
The Cowboys had almost as many turnovers (5) as they did total points scored (6) in Sunday’s loss.
At 3-6, Dallas is at the record I predicted they would have after 10 weeks at the start of the season. Yes, I’m playing the “I told you so” card on a few people here.
You know who you are.
The Cowboys will have to go 5-3 just to match my prediction of an 8-9 season.
Sunday’s game was the second in Cowboys’ history to end at 34-6. The first was on Oct. 15, 2006, the sixth week of the season.
Drew Bledsoe threw two touchdown passes to Terrell Owens in the win over the Houston Texans.
Tony Romo threw his first career touchdown pass in this game, also to Owens. Romo was in the booth calling Sunday’s game for CBS.
Make of that what you will.
The loss dropped Dallas to 33-27-1 all-time in Week 10 games.
They are 14-12-1 at home in those contests. The Cowboys are now 9-6 against the Eagles in Week 10 battles.
Sunday’s defeat was the 450th all-time loss for Dallas when you combine their regular and post-season records. The Cowboys have 601 combined wins and six ties all-time.
NFL’s International Schedule Concludes
The NFL’s final international game of the season was played on Sunday morning. The 2–7 Giants met the 2–7 Panthers in Munich, Germany.
Fortunately, there appeared to be plenty of mugs filled with beer for the German fans to enjoy during the contest.
Unfortunately, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wants MOAR. Goodell is eyeing eight international games in 2025.
How about: No.
International games during preseason make sense. But let’s put an end to playing outside the U.S. in the regular season.
Out Of Control Fans
Sixteenth-ranked Ole Miss knocked off the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs 28-10 on Saturday night, one of two Top 10 teams to get upended over the weekend.
Georgia Tech edged No. 4 Miami, 28-23, in the other upset of the night. But what happened with 16 seconds left in Mississippi was more notable.
For whatever reason, with 16 seconds clearly on the clock, the Rebels students decided to run out onto the field.
It isn’t the first time this has happened, before and after time expired in a game, but it really needs to be the last. Preferably before someone gets seriously hurt.
In the aforementioned Miami-Georgia Tech game, the fans stormed the field after the clock hit zero.
As they did so, Miami players were trying to exit and more than one fan got pancaked by a Hurricanes player.
As I’ve mentioned before, there are far too many people on the sidelines of both NFL and college football games. Many of them have no real business being there to begin with.
Add in thousands of fans, fueled by too much alcohol consumption, racing out there and eventually the worst will happen.
If this keeps up, we’re eventually going to see games with no fans in the stands like we did during the COVID days.
Still Perfect After All These Weeks
The Kansas City Chiefs remained the NFL’s lone unbeaten team on Sunday. But just barely.
It took a blocked field goal as time expired to preserve a 16-14 win over Denver, but the Chiefs are 9-0.
In college football’s top division, there are now just four unbeaten teams left. Miami had been 9-0 before getting upended by Georgia Tech.
The last four unbeaten teams are: Army, BYU, Indiana, and Oregon.
BYU needed to rally back from an 11-point halftime deficit to beat Utah 22-21.
A last second field goal secured the win. Utah thought they had won the game on a fourth down sack.
But a holding call gave BYU new life, and the Cougars took full advantage.