Could Cowboys be NFC’s No. 1 seed?
Nobody would have blamed the Dallas Cowboys for losing on Sunday night.
When you take the safe route on Dak Prescott and sit him for a game at a solid Minnesota Vikings team, allowing him to rest his injured calf another week, you have to prepare for a loss. It was going to be hard enough to beat Minnesota with Prescott.
Instead, the Cowboys have to feel like they stole a win.
To cap a Sunday in which multiple backup quarterbacks played the hero role, Cooper Rush made several key plays including a game-winning touchdown pass to Amari Cooper. The Cowboys escaped with a 20-16 win and gave Prescott another week to get healthy. It’s the kind of win that can and should get the Cowboys thinking about getting the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
There are five teams in the NFC that should legitimately believe they are the best in the conference: Cowboys, Buccaneers, Packers, Cardinals and Rams. The edge the Cowboys have on most of those teams is their schedule.
ESPN’s FPI has the Cowboys with the ninth-easiest remaining schedule. Football Outsiders also ranked the Cowboys’ remaining schedule as the ninth-easiest before Week 8 started. The Rams have the third-hardest remaining schedule via ESPN, the Packers have the hardest remaining schedule via Football Outsiders and the Cardinals are 11th and eighth on those lists, respectively.
The Cowboys have a lot of games left against the NFC East. If you’ve seen the NFC East play, you know that’s a good thing for Dallas.
The problem might be the Buccaneers. The Buccaneers have an even easier remaining schedule than Dallas (eighth easiest on ESPN, fourth on FO). They also have the tiebreaker over the Cowboys due to a win all the way back on opening night of Week 1. Who thought that game might determine who gets the NFC’s lone bye in the playoffs?
But more than the schedule, the Cowboys have the look of a contender. Everyone knows how good the offense is. The defense has been surprisingly good too. The Vikings had a…
Source : yahoo
