Inside The Star
After having a week off to a bye week in Week 10, the Dallas Cowboys get back in the saddle tonight against the Raiders in Las Vegas.
For Dallas, the situation is as crystal clear as it is dire. They can only afford two more losses over the final eight games to have any hope for the playoffs.
Losing to beatable teams is not within the Cowboys margin of error right now.
They hit the field tonight basically already in playoff mode.
The last thing that Dallas can afford to do tonight is start looking ahead to next week. The Cowboys have six days off before starting a brutal three-game stretch.
It begins on the 23rd at home against the Eagles. Four days later they host the Kansas City Chiefs.
That’s just the defending conference champions in back-to-back weeks.
Seven days later, Dallas hits the road to play the Lions in Detroit.
Three games that will not be easy to win in just 12 days. And if they lose all three, no matter what happens tonight in Vegas, the season is officially over.
This will be the first time the Cowboys have played the Raiders at Las Vegas. It’s only the second meeting between the two teams since the Raiders moved from Oakland.
Las Vegas, by virtue of a 36-33 overtime win on Thanksgiving Day in 2021, hold a 7-6 series edge over Dallas.
However, the Cowboys are 4-3 against the Raiders when the teams meet outside of Texas.
The last meeting in Oakland went to Dallas, 20-17, in 2017.
When it comes to Week 11 contests, the Cowboys are 34-27-2 overall. They are 17-16-1 when those games are on the road.
This will be the eighth-straight year that the Cowboys will be on the road in the 11th week.
They are 5-2 in those games after losing to Houston last year.
The last home game for Dallas in Week 11 came in 2017. They lost to the Eagles that year.
This will also be the first time Dallas has faced off against the Raiders in the 10th week of the season.
Their most common opponents in Week 11 are the Cardinals (6-1) and Commanders (5-2).
Back in August I wrote this about this game:
“This game just screams “IT’S A TRAP!” like Admiral Ackbar. And there’s your obligatory Star Wars reference for the 2025 season.
With that brutal six-game stretch that follows this one, the Cowboys are just begging to get caught looking ahead.”
The recent additions to the defense will help the Cowboys for sure. The only question is, will it help enough?
The Raiders have a solid running back in Ashton Jeanty.
If the Cowboys continue to struggle against the run, he will have a career day.
The real problem for Dallas will be its...
