The Landry Hat
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Dallas Cowboys must reclaim road warrior mentality

By Brad Austin

LANDOVER, MD - OCTOBER 29: Defensive end Tyrone Crawford #98 of the Dallas Cowboys, Demarcus Lawrence #90, and David Irving #95 celebrate after defeating the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field on October 29, 2017 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
LANDOVER, MD - OCTOBER 29: Defensive end Tyrone Crawford #98 of the Dallas Cowboys, Demarcus Lawrence #90, and David Irving #95 celebrate after defeating the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field on October 29, 2017 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /
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In recent seasons the visiting Dallas Cowboys were a home team’s worst nightmare. 2018 hosts are now rolling out the welcome mat.

Over the past two seasons, the Dallas Cowboys posted an astonishing 12-4 record in road contests. 12 road wins was the most by any NFC team during this period, while only the AFC’s Patriots fared better with 15 wins.

Simply put, in recent seasons the Cowboys not only wiped out the opponents’ home field advantage, they turned it into a psychological weapon in their favor.

Fast forward to this year and the 2018 team has already lost more road games than either Dallas team did the two year priors. Three road games to date, three losses.

Home field advantage is figured into betting lines for a reason. Familiarity with facilities, lack of travel constraints, favorable crowd noise, acclimation to local weather. Any of these if exaggerated on game day can strongly boost a home team.

No logical fan expected the Cowboys to produce a 6-2 road record for the third consecutive season. But dropping the first four travel games would be devastating.

BIG CONSEQUENCES AT STAKE

Losing Sunday would bounce 3-4 Dallas 1.5 games behind Washington for first place in the NFC East. They would also flop to a game below .500 heading into the break.

Furthermore, it’s worth noting that no Cowboys playoff team this century has lost more than four regular season road contests.

2003: 10-6 overall, 4-4 road

2006: 9-7 overall , 5-3 road

2007: 13-3 overall , 7-1 road

2009: 11-5 overall, 5-3 road

2014: 12-4 overall, 8-0 road

2016: 13-3 overall, 6-2 road

If Dallas moves to 0-4 on the road after Sunday, the above trend says they’d need to win all four of their remaining road games to make the playoffs.

That unlikely feat would include road wins against the defending world champion Eagles and 2017 divisional round playoff participant Atlanta. Good luck with that.

However, a victory Sunday would shake the Cowboys 2018 road jinx and let them stroll into the bye week feeling confident about future away battles.

Next. Cowboys at Redskins - 3 things you need to know before Sunday. dark

Most important, a win ushers in first place in the NFC East. Even if the Eagles are tied with a 4-3 record, the Cowboys best division record (2-0) decides the pecking order.

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