No NFL team wants a must-win game in Week 7, but at 2-4 and with the NFC East-leading New York Giants having already improved to 4-2-1 with a win last Sunday over the Houston Texans, that's basically what the Dallas Cowboys faced this past Monday night in prime time against the rival Philadelphia Eagles.
The Cowboys certainly didn't make it easy on themselves against a banged-up Birds team, but after falling behind 21-20 late in the third quarter, they reeled off 18 unanswered points and ultimately cruised to a 38-21 victory, thus upping their record to 3-4 to keep pace with Big Blue.
Now, for those who buy into remaining strength of schedule, Brian Schottenheimer's squad is in excellent shape in that regard, as the 10 remaining opponents for America's Team currently own a combined winning percentage of just .441, which ranks as the fourth-lowest in the league behind only the Jacksonville Jaguars (.408), the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (.426), and the aforementioned Houston Texans (.434).
And the big reason why the Cowboys rank where they do is their slate over the next five weeks, which features matchups with the Arizona Cardinals (2-5), the Indianapolis Colts (2-5), the San Francisco 49ers (6-1), the Tennessee Titans (1-6), and the rematch with the Eagles (2-5). Simply put, Dallas has to take advantage of this portion of the schedule, and if we're being honest, anything less than a 4-1 mark during this stretch would have to be deemed a disappointment.
So, with that in mind, let's quickly run through things and make a prediction on each contest.
Week 8: vs. Arizona Cardinals
If this matchup with the Cardinals feels a little eerie on this Halloween weekend, it should, as Dallas was in almost this exact same situation a season ago.
Last year, these two teams met on Monday night in Week 9, with the Cowboys coming into that contest at 3-4-1, while Arizona sat at 2-5. And as we're sure you all recall, Dallas couldn't get the job done to get back to .500, taking an embarrassing 27-17 defeat. But we don't see the same result playing out on Sunday.
At the start of this season, if you had said the Cards would take wins over both the Chargers and Rams, it would have sounded impressive, as both LA teams were supposed to be among the elite ranks this year. But with the Bolts currently sitting at 0-6 and the Rams only 3-4, those wins don't look nearly as good.
That's not to say the Cowboys can overlook Arizona (look only to last year's game to see how that can turn out), but they should be able to walk away with a win here.
Prediction: Cowboys win 28-17
Week 9: at Indianapolis Colts
The Week 9 matchup with the Colts is actually the only road game of this entire stretch, but given how Indianapolis has seemingly given up on the season, first trading Quenton Nelson to the Seattle Seahawks and then dealing DeForest Buckner to the 49ers, the Cowboys shouldn't have much of a problem winning this one either.
And if Indy ends up trading superstar running back Jonathan Taylor as well, there would be absolutely no excuse for Dallas to lose this game. To their credit, the Colts did give the undefeated Minnesota Vikings a good game last week in a 16-10 loss. But the week before, they also allowed the Titans to pick up their first win. So, there's that.
Taylor or no Taylor, the Cowboys should take another double-digit victory here.
Prediction: Cowboys win 33-10
Week 10: vs. San Francisco 49ers
After winning their first six games of the season, the 49ers looked to be cruising toward a seventh straight win last Sunday, as they jumped out to an early 14-3 lead over the Atlanta Falcons before being outscored 26-6 the rest of the way en route to a 29-20 loss.
Despite the defeat, this San Francisco team, which has had all of this early success while dealing with a ton of injuries on both sides of the ball, is still easily one of the most balanced teams in the NFL, with the offense ranking seventh in total yardage (371.4) per game and third in scoring (28.1), and the defense surrendering the fourth-fewest total yards (299.3) per contest and the sixth-fewest points (19.9).
If the Cowboys are at their best on both sides, they can compete with the Niners. I really do believe that. But the inconsistency is tough to get past, and Dallas just has too much of that right now to genuinely compete with the elite teams in this league. It is worth noting that this will be the first week after the trade deadline, so if Jerry Jones can make some kind of big move, we could see a different team. Even so, I still think Dallas drops this one, but it'll at least be close.
Prediction: Cowboys lose 24-20
Week 11: vs. Tennessee Titans
Dak Prescott and the Dallas offense should have no problem putting points on the board against the Titans in Week 11, especially now that star defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons has been traded to the Chicago Bears.
And as bad as the Cowboys' defense can be at times, the Tennessee offense is one of the worst in the league, ranking dead last at 32nd in yardage (248.6) and 31st in scoring (15.4). There is absolutely no excuse to lose this football game.
Prediction: Cowboys win 31-10
Week 12: vs. Philadelphia Eagles (Thanksgiving)
As mentioned, the Cowboys let a battered Eagles team give them more of a game than they should have last Monday night, but to their credit, they stepped it up when they needed to in the second half to pick up a victory.
Philadelphia is obviously a much different team without Jalen Hurts on the field, and Dallas did get a little lucky that Saquon Barkley wasn't 100 percent either. But those two obviously have nothing to do with the defense, and the Eagles simply aren't playing well on that side of the ball at all, allowing the 371.3 total yards and 25.0 points per game.
So, even if a weakened Philly offense can still score a few points against the Dallas defense, Prescott and the Cowboys' offense, like it did last week, should still be able to have its way.
Prediction: Cowboys win 28-14
Well, there's your 4-1, and if this does go down this way, the Cowboys would be sitting at 7-5 heading into their final five games, which should be enough to put them right in the thick of things in the NFC East race and perhaps the wild-card race as well. But we now just wait and see how things play out.
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