The Dallas Cowboys knew heading into Week 15 the playoffs were only in reach by winning out after losing to the New York Giants in Week 14. However, the Giants lost at home to the Washington Redskins on Sunday, less than 12 hours after the Cowboys dominated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to improve to 8-6. Now Dallas is back in the driver’s seat in the NFC East with two games to play.
Essentially, the Cowboys still have to win out to make the playoffs. Although the Cowboys lead the Giants by a game in NFC East, New York still holds the tiebreaker thanks to last Sunday night’s victory at Cowboys Stadium. Unless the Giants lose to the New York Jets next week and the Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas will have to win out to win the division.
The Cowboys absolutely cannot let up over the final two weeks of the regular season. Dallas has a huge home showdown with the Eagles looming on Christmas Eve, a game that will truly tell if the Cowboys have shaken the December curse that many believe have plagued Tony Romo throughout his career.
Romo sure made it seem like he’s shaken his December woes with a three-touchdown performance against the Buccaneers following his incredible game against the Giants six days earlier. The Cowboys won’t have to wait a day to find out how the NFC East shakes up in Week 15, either; both Dallas and New York play on Saturday this week.
Dallas faced a similar situation in 2008 when the Cowboys traveled to Philadelphia for basically the NFC East title game and got thumped 44-6. The Cowboys cannot control what happens to the Giants until Week 17, so Dallas must take care of business on Saturday at home against the Eagles and then root hard for Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan’s twin brother Rex Ryan’s Jets.
The Cowboys would benefit heavily from a Giants loss and a home victory over the Eagles, which would lead to essentially a meaningless final game with New York in which Dallas could rest its starters in anticipation for the playoffs.
The Cowboys can’t bank on that, obviously, so Ryan’s defense will have to step up against an inconsistent, yet dangerous Eagles offense and Romo will have to continue his stellar play to really seal the division title. The Giants’ loss to the Redskins was huge, but it doesn’t change things…yet.
Follow Jeric Griffin on Twitter @JericGriffin
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I think your wrong about one thing. The Cowboys don’t need to win out to win the division. Beating the Giants in week 17 wins the division regardless of the Eagles game. Cowboys would be 9-7. Since they both can’t win the game the tiebreaker doesn’t matter.
Get it right. Dallas does not have to beat the Eagles to win the division. They win the division just by beating the Giants in week 17. If the Giants beat the Jets the Cowboys Eagles game is totally meaningless to both teams. If the Giants lose to the Jets the Cowboys can clinch the division by beating the Eagles. The Giants hold the tiebreaker over the Cowboys now but if The Cowboys beat the Giants they would have splitt head to head but Dallas will have a better division record which is the second tiebreaker.