ARLINGTON (CBSNewsTexas.com) – What a difference a few weeks makes in the NFL. Three weeks ago, Dallas was totally dismantled by San Francisco. The final score was 42-10. The drubbing seemed even worse than the final score indicated.
Coming out of that game, the Cowboys lost starting middle linebacker Leighton Vander Esch to a neck injury. He joined starting cornerback Trevon Diggs (ACL) on injured reserve.
Meanwhile, the 49ers were unbeaten (5-0) and remarkably healthy. Not a single starter or key backup was on the injured list. This kind of good fortune just doesn’t happen in the NFL. And, it didn’t continue for the Niners.
The very next week, San Francisco fell to the Browns in Cleveland, but most notably, the Niners lost two of their best players, Pro Bowl wide receiver Deebo Samuel and future Hall of Fame tackle Trent Williams, to injuries.
Now here we are at the end of October, and the Cowboys (5-2) have surpassed the Niners (5-3) in the NFC standings, having won two in a row while San Francisco has lost three straight.
Going back to last season, the Cowboys had played eight of their last 10 games on the road. After romping past the Rams at home on Sunday, 43-20, Dallas has now won 11 straight home games.
The Cowboys have outscored three opponents at home this year by a combined score of 111-33. That’s an average score of 37-11. That kind of dominance doesn’t happen in this league very often.
Dallas scored 23 points in a span of less than three minutes of the game Sunday. First, Daron Bland picked off a Matthew Stafford pass and returned it 30 yards for his third pick six of the season, then Micah Parsons sacked Stafford on a third down play, Sam Williams blocked a punt through the end zone for a safety, Kavontae Turpin returned the free kick 63 yards, and one play later, Dak Prescott connected with CeeDee Lamb for the first of two second quarter TD passes.
So, the Cowboys come out of their bye week with their strongest overall performance of the season, but the next test at Philadelphia is a bigger one than they faced three weeks ago against San Francisco.
Simple math tells you how big this game is. The Eagles (7-1) have the best record in the league. Currently, the Cowboys are 1 1⁄2 games behind them in the NFC East. If Dallas wins Sunday, the lead is down to 1/2 a game. Lose, and Philly commands a 2 1⁄2 game cushion plus the head-to-head tiebreaker.
The Cowboys have proven how big a home field advantage they have in Arlington. They can go a long way toward making it pay off for them in the playoffs if they can win at Philly on Sunday.
