Coming off an encouraging 44-22 victory over the rival Washington Commanders in Week 7, the Dallas Cowboys came into their Week 8 matchup with the Denver Broncos with a chance to get over the .500 mark for the first time all season. But as every fan of America's Team knows, they failed miserably in that attempt, taking an embarrassing 44-24 beating that marked their worst defeat of the season.
Not only was the 22-point margin of defeat the biggest of the season thus far, but the 44 points scored by the Broncos marked the most allowed by the dreadful Dallas defense during this up-and-down campaign. The 426 total yards recorded by the Denver offense were the third-most surrendered by Matt Eberflus' unit, trailing only the 506 allowed to the New York Giants in Week 2 and the 489 given up to the Green Bay Packers in Week 4.
The difference in those two games, of course, was that the Cowboys' high-octane offense kept the team competitive, ultimately helping Dallas get a 40-37 win over New York and a 40-40 tie with Green Bay. But with Dak Prescott throwing a pair of picks and Dallas posting its second-lowest rushing total of the season, there was no chance for Brian Schottenheimer's squad to win this game after about 20 minutes had passed.
With the loss, the Cowboys dropped to 3-4-1 on the year and cost themselves a shot to inch closer to a wild-card spot in the NFC.
The Cowboys sit in the No. 10 slot in the NFC heading into their Week 9 matchup with the Cardinals
Here's an updated look at the NFC playoff picture heading into Week 9. The top seven teams, of course, will earn a trip to the postseason come January.
Updated NFC playoff picture
- Green Bay Packers (5-1-1, 1st NFC North)
- Philadelphia Eagles (6-2, 1st NFC East)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-2, 1st NFC South)
- Seattle Seahawks (5-2, 1st NFC West)
- Detroit Lions (5-2, 2nd NFC North)
- Los Angeles Rams (5-2, 2nd NFC West)
- San Francisco 49ers (5-3, 3rd NFC West)
- Chicago Bears (4-3, 3rd NFC North)
- Carolina Panthers (4-4, 2nd NFC South)
- Dallas Cowboys (3-4-1, 2nd NFC East)
- Atlanta Falcons (3-4, 3rd NFC South)
- Minnesota Vikings (3-4, 4th NFC North)
- Washington Commanders (3-5, 3rd NFC East)
- Arizona Cardinals (2-5, 4th NFC West)
- New York Giants (2-6, 4th NFC East)
- New Orleans Saints (1-7, 4th NFC South)
As you can see, the Cowboys currently sit in the 10th position. Any hope of winning the NFC East is pretty much gone now, as the Philadelphia Eagles improved to 6-2 with a Week 8 win over the New York Giants. It's not impossible, but sitting several games behind and having already lost to the Birds in Week 1 naturally makes things much more difficult.
As mentioned, a win over the Broncos would have moved the Cowboys closer to the final wild-card slot, as the team that currently holds that position, the San Francisco 49ers, suffered a Week 8 loss of their own to the Houston Texans.
Both of the teams directly ahead of the Cowboys in the standings, the Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers, also took losses. At 4-3-1 (.563) instead of 3-4-1 (.438), Dallas still would have been behind the Bears (.571) but would have leapfrogged the Panthers (.500) to move into the No. 9 slot. And it's absolutely crucial for the Cowboys to finish with a better record than either team, as they've already lost to both, thus putting them at a big disadvantage if a head-to-head tiebreaker is needed down the road.
The Cowboys will attempt to get back to .500 this Monday night against an Arizona Cardinals team that's coming off a bye but lost their last five leading into their break.