Must wins on a treacherous track

Must wins on a treacherous track

FRISCO, Texas – Needless to say, this has been a bumpy road for the Cowboys.

The cursed injuries have left them deprived of Pro Bowl players, eight of them at various times, most recently cornerbacks Travon Diggs and Zack Martin for the remainder of the season.

There was that five-game losing streak, three of them against teams currently leading their divisions and another against a second-place team.

In Week 2 there was the unforgivable loss against the Saints. The six-point loss to Atlanta when quarterback Dak Prescot was lost for the season during the game.

Failing to stop QB Lamar Jackson on a third-and-6 with 2:36 to play, which would have given the Cowboys the ball back after the two-minute warning with one last gasp and a 28-25 loss Baltimore.

Add to that the damn strong blocked punt that goes to the Cowboys and then intercepts the crazy long ball, leading to the Bengals’ winning touchdown in the final two minutes of their 27-20 loss to Cincinnati.

Yet here are the Cowboys, with three games left, a record of 6-8, and as one of these analytics sites points out, they only have a 1 percent chance of clinching what appears to be the final spot in the NFC Wild Card Playoffs, and with In good conscience 1%, to stay alive they MUST win at least their last three games.

And after everything they’ve been through this season, the injuries, the heartbreaking events, the crushing losses to the likes of New Orleans, Detroit, Philadelphia and Houston, here comes their football equivalent of Burma Road. Look up, a treacherous path during World War II during the China Theater.

This three-game stretch is arduous.

First up are the 8-6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, first place in the NFC South, Sunday night on AT&T.

Then at the 12-2 Philadelphia Eagles, first place in the NFC East, and on their own late-season march to capture the top seed in the NFC, which currently has the best NFC record with Detroit and Minnesota, bar none from all relevant tiebreakers.

Finally, 9-5 Washington Commanders back at AT&T, second in the NFC East but leading the field for the third wild card spot at this stage of the battle. A team that the Cowboys have already beaten, but all the Commanders have to do is win one game, get 10 wins and eliminate the Cowboys no matter what they do in the future since they are no better than 9th -8 can complete.

But as we said, you can’t win three in a row without winning the first time in a row, and that mission begins Sunday at 7:20 p.m. on AT&T with the Buccaneers, a big game for the former Cowboys’ team- Assistant Todd Bowles, as the Bucs are in the process They may need to win to secure the South crown over Atlanta, which has already beaten the Bucs twice to secure the head-to-head tiebreaker just in case.

So not only is this a team with a winning record, having won the last four games in a row, but also a highly motivated team that has only given up an average of 15 points per game during this four-game winning streak.

As Cowboys boss Mike McCarthy says, “It’s a big challenge.”

It’s that safe. Take on that challenge and the challenge grows next week in Philadelphia, another highly motivated team.

And keep that in mind next week when you face a Washington team that may be on a two-game losing streak and may have second place in the East and the third wild card spot at stake as the Commanders first have to play against Philly and Atlanta before arriving in Arlington.

Now, all of this could be a moot point before the Cowboys even face the Bucs on Sunday night. This dangerous dilemma for the Cowboys could be decided before they even play for Game 15, as the Philadelphia-Washington game begins at noon. By 3 p.m. on Sunday, the Cowboys will know that Washington has either dashed its playoff hopes by beating the Eagles and reaching that 10Th Victory that the Cowboys can’t get, or rekindling their slim playoff hopes with a loss to the Eagles, who will clinch the NFC East title with a win, which in turn means the reigning NFC East champions (Cowboys) can’t repeat themselves again in 20 yearsTh Season in a row, even though we already knew that part, just not the who.

Ah, but what if there’s still a bait on the hook after all the setbacks the Cowboys have suffered?

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says of motivation in the face of adversity: “Well, I’ve never met a competitor that doesn’t wear it inside and out, the disappointment. You have to wear it, and frankly it has to eat you up.” . It has to consume you and consume you so much that when you set off again you have to think about how much it hurts when you don’t win.

“They say, ‘Well, you can’t win every time.’ Well, you don’t know that when you prepare to play this game or put in the effort. “Listen, your mind is so important here.”

So is it conceivable that Washington, a team that was lucky enough to beat the New Orleans Saints 20-19 in their last game, with the Saints going for two points and the win after a touchdown with no time left in the fourth quarter and then failed? could lose the next two? Who knows. Remember, after the Philly game, Atlanta comes for the Commanders, now it’s 7-7, and the hopes of winning the South are still alive and motivated.

Then come the Cowboys, assuming they can somehow beat the Bucs and win on the road in Philly, where they haven’t won since the 2021 season, and remember, the Cowboys have never beaten teams with winning records in consecutive games. If so, a third against the commanders would be necessary.

And beyond that, if there’s any hope left, the Cowboys would need either the 8-6 Rams or the Seahawks to win no more than one of their three remaining games, and the 7-7 Cardinals to win no more than two of theirs last three games. A 9-8 Cowboys team would win 9-8 tiebreakers with all three of those teams due to a better NFC record, but would lose any 9-8 tiebreaker with Atlanta because the Falcons have the head-to-head lead.

So now the Cowboys only have to worry about Tampa Bay, especially if the Eagles beat the Commanders earlier in the day, adding further significance to this upcoming game.

In these unpredictable stretches, crazier things have happened in the NFL, in the Cowboys’ favor and against the Cowboys. Why the Cowboys have often played win-or-lose games in the final game of the season in their 65-year history. They would like to face another meaningful competition on January 4th and 5th.

Get this too. Chances are, 1% is 1%. But a lot better than 0 percent. Just beware of the pitfalls on this difficult path.

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