The Falcons can now pass the Cowboys in the standings, opening up the range of first-round possibilities for Dallas’ own selection.

The Dallas Cowboys got an unexpected Christmas gift on Monday night, but they may not want it. The final game of Week 17 took place as the Atlanta Falcons unexpectedly took down the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football. The Rams entered the contest knowing they were relegated to the wild-card spots, no longer mathematically able to win the NFC West despite having an MVP candidate at QB in Matthew Stafford. The Falcons are playing out the string, starting a QB they no longer wanted but were forced to put back on the field in Kirk Cousins.

The victory moved the Falcons’ record to 7-9 on the year, tying them in the win column with the Cowboys with just one game remaining. That adds one more club that could theoretically finish with a better winning percentage than Dallas, and thus placing them behind the Cowboys in first-round draft order.

Entering Week 18, the 7-8-1 Cowboys are slotted to select No. 14 in the first round. By virtue of their tie, the Cowboys will pick after every team with the same number of wins, and before every team with the same number of losses.

Prior to Sunday’s game, it was generally considered gospel the Cowboys were going to finish the year 8-8-1. However the New York Giants pummeled the Las Vegas Raiders in a game where they could’ve guaranteed the No. 1 overall selection for themselves. Two days earlier, the Cowboys didn’t look overly impressive in beating down lowly Washington, who was playing a third-string quarterback.

It isn’t guaranteed (though still likely) the Cowboys escape their Noon kickoff at Met Life Stadium victorious. If they lose, they will fall “behind” any of the seven-win teams that win in Week 18. That group now sits at three clubs, with Atlanta joining Tampa Bay and Miami.

That means the Cowboys could end up drafting as high as No. 11 overall if they lose and get the maximum amount of help. If Dallas falls to the Giants, the worse they will pick will be No. 14

If the Cowboys win, as expected, on Sunday. They will then care about the results of all of the teams who currently have eight wins.

That group sits at five; though there are caveats for two of them. The Detroit Lions, Indianapolis Colts and Minnesota Vikings are all straight forward. All have been eliminated from the playoffs and thus it’s simply about draft positioning for those teams. The Baltimore Ravens and Carolina Panthers, both 8-8, can both still win their divisions, though.

If the Ravens win, they move to nine wins, where the Pittsburgh Steelers currently sit, and Baltimore wins the tiebreaker. The Steelers will miss the playoffs, but have more wins than Dallas, meaning the Cowboys will pick before them.

A Ravens’ loss coupled with a Cowboys’ win would push Baltimore atop them in the draft order.

Meanwhile the Panthers will play the Bucs. If Dallas wins, they will draft behind whomever loses the contest. If the Cowboys lose, they’d still draft behind Tampa Bay if they also lose, but draft ahead of the Panthers if Carolina loses.

In other words, there’s plenty on the line with a myriad of weekend matchups in Week 18, even for the teams not competing for playoff positioning.

Dallas could draft as high as No. 11 or as low as No. 18. On the Jimmy Johnson trade value chart, the difference between those picks is 350 points, or the equivalent of the No. 55 overall pick.

The Cowboys, of course, also own the Green Bay Packers’ first rounder by virtue of the Micah Parsons trade back in August. The Packers are in the playoffs and locked into the No. 7 seed in the NFC. Their draft pick will be determined by the round they are eliminated in, and then a reverse ranking of records of all of the teams that go out in that same round.

If the Packers lose in the wild card round, they will slot no higher than No. 21 and could slot as low as No. 19, a real possibility as the two teams with worse records than them are going to be hosting their initial matchups.

The Cowboys could end up with the No. 11 and No. 19 picks in the first round.