The 6-6-1 Dallas Cowboys are one-and-a-half games behind the 8-5 Philadelphia Eagles for the NFC East division race. With their season series against Philadelphia complete, Dallas does not control its own destiny, so the Cowboys must root against the Eagles down the stretch.
That isn’t an issue for Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who told reporters on Thursday that he would be doing that anyway.
To Prescott’s overarching point, the Cowboys can only control themselves at this juncture. They will fight to win out and hope for the best.
On that front, the Cowboys going 4-0 down the stretch seems manageable. Their toughest game is Sunday, Dec. 21 against the 9-4 Los Angeles Chargers, but Dallas is home for that one.
The other games are home against the 5-8 Minnesota Vikings on Sunday evening and at the 3-10 Washington Commanders and 2-11 New York Giants to finish out the campaign.
Unfortunately for Dallas, the Eagles’ schedule down the stretch is mostly navigable vs. the 2-11 Las Vegas Raiders and home-and-away against the Commanders. The toughest game down the stretch is at the 9-4 Buffalo Bills on Dec. 28.
Philadelphia is also reeling after losing three straight, but those three losses were against teams at .500 or above in Dallas, the 9-4 Chicago Bears and Chargers.
The Eagles need to win three of four to clinch the division if Dallas wins out. That can certainly be done. In the meantime, Dallas focuses on its own task at hand, beginning with Minnesota on Sunday at 8:20 p.m. ET.