Adam Rank’s 2022 Cowboys record prediction features questionable losses

Every year NFL writer Adam Rank gives his predictions for every single team’s record for the upcoming season. That’s a lot of work. Luckily for us Dallas Cowboys fans, he started off with America’s Team, so you don’t have to watch the other hour of the segment unless you want to!

Despite the fact that many believe that Dallas has one of the easiest schedules in the entire league, there have been concerns that the Cowboys don’t have what it takes to repeat as NFC East champions. Most of this is because of major offseason moves made by other teams in the division.

Rank, however, does believe the Cowboys will take NFC East again. The problem? He thinks that they will do it via a 9-8 record. Last year, America’s Team finished with a 12-5 record, but they arguably didn’t face a top-tier team after their game against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 11. This season, while the team does have the luxury of facing NFC East teams twice, they do also have to play worthy opponents in the Bengals, Bucs, Rams, Packers, and more.

You’d think that those games would likely be a good chunk of those eight losses on Rank’s prediction list. But, they aren’t. While it’s not unreasonable for him to assume the Cowboys will go 9-8, the games he thinks the team will lose feel like a stretch. Here’s his exact prediction:

• Cowboys vs Buccaneers = Loss
• Cowboys vs Bengals = Win
• Cowboys @ Giants = Loss
• Cowboys vs Commanders = Loss
• Cowboys @ Rams = Win
• Cowboys @ Eagles = Loss
• Cowboys vs Lions = Win
• Cowboys vs Bears = Loss
• Cowboys @ Packers = Loss
• Cowboys @ Vikings = Win
• Cowboys vs Giants = Win
• Cowboys vs Colts = Win
• Cowboys vs Texans = Win
• Cowboys @ Jaguars = Loss
• Cowboys vs Eagles = Win
• Cowboys @ Titans = Loss
• Cowboys @ Commanders = Win

NFL’s Adam Rank thinks the Cowboys will win NFC East again but also predicts some odd losses

Some of those predictions are questionable at best. He thinks the Cowboys are going to beat the Bengals in Week 2, but lose to the the New York Giants and Washington Commanders the next two weeks in a row?! How does that make any sense?

There are some difficult games up top on this schedule. It’s way more likely that the Cowboys will lose to the Bengals than they are to lose to the Giants.

It gets even weirder. Rank thinks the Cowboys will also lose to the Giants, Bears, and Jaguars. The Bears and Jaguars should be two of the easiest non-divisional opponents for Dallas in 2022. How he thinks this team will lose to the Chicago Bears after going to Los Angeles and beating the Super Bowl champions is beyond my understanding.

It’s also worth noting that he sees one loss against each NFC East team, yet predicts the Cowboys will win the division again. As we stated at the beginning, making predictions and putting your opinions out there is not easy. We will take the Cowboys going back to back as NFC East champs any day. A 9-8 record doesn’t feel far fetched, but these exact wins and losses certainly do.