Blogging The Boys
Not much went right for Dallas in Week 14, but the Eagles stopped the bleeding with their Monday night loss to the Chargers. With the Cowboys’ best shot at making the playoffs now clearly in their own division, it’s more important than ever that we dive into the goings on of the NFC East.
Philly’s third-straight loss pulled Cowboys Nation out of a state of mourning, following our own defeat last Thursday to the Detroit Lions. It kept Dallas’ goal of overcoming the Eagles’ two-game lead manageable, especially if Philadelphia’s losing streak is the beginning of a complete second-half collapse. Considering they just had one in 2023, going 1-5 in their final six games, it’s not an unreasonable scenario.
Here are the NFC East standings going into Week 15:
All Dallas has to do to win the division is match win totals with Philadelphia after Week 18. Tiebreakers won’t matter; the Cowboys would have the better overall record thanks to their tie with Green Bay. And even if Philly winds up with their own tie, which is highly doubtful, Dallas still has a superior record within the NFC East to carry them. If we get to the point that the Cowboys actually have caught up with Philly, that shouldn’t change.
Unfortunately, the more reasonable goal for Dallas this week is just to maintain their current deficit. The Eagles are hosting the 2-11 Raiders, so that’s a good balm for their current rash of losing. If we’re going to get two more losses out of Philly, they’ll likely have to come from their final three games: two against Washington with Buffalo in between.
Anything can happen, of course. If Philadelphia did somehow lose to Vegas, Dallas can’t afford to squander it. Their Sunday night game against Minnesota is really a must-win for momentum and pressure purposes, even if not mathematically. If the Cowboys don’t get the job done against the Vikings, we really can just start talking about 2026.
Elsewhere in the East, Washington and New York face each other this week in about as meaningless a game as you could ask for. QB Jayden Daniels has already been ruled out, and now we’re just hoping he returns for those games against Philly. But outside of that and next April’s draft order, nothing to see here.
