The Dallas Cowboys have been an absolute juggernaut at home this season, posting a 7-0 record while outscoring their opponents by an average of 24.4 points per game.
We can’t say the same thing about Dallas on the road. Following Sunday’s narrow 22-20 loss to the Miami Dolpins in South Beach, the Cowboys are now 3-5 on the road.
Dallas’ latest loss came after Tua Tagovailoa led Miami down the field for a game-winning field goal as time expired. It represented the Cowboys’ second consecutive road loss in as many weeks and has them dangerously on the verge of missing out on the NFC East title.
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy talked about the team’s road struggles after Sunday’s two-point loss. He promised that things would change moving forward.
“It was a juggernaut game. That’s what we expected. It’s a challenge in these games because you know it’s gonna come down to one play. And they probably made a play or two more than we did. It was a hard fought game. We may have to go on the road, obviously, to get this done. I think we got a lot that we can draw from this. We got to play better than we did today, because you have to play above it on the road, and road warriors we will be.”
Dallas Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy after latest loss
To be fair. It was a hotly-contested game against one of the best teams in the NFL. Dallas competed. It had a late-game lead after Dak Prescott led the team down the field on a 17-play touchdown-scoring drive. However, the ‘Boys defense just couldn’t do its thing.
As for Prescott, he seemingly offered up the same optimism in talking to reporters after the game. “The confidence is high with this group. We understand that we can beat good teams on the road. And we will,” Prescott said.
Dallas is yet to defeat a winning team on the road this season. It was blown out by the San Francisco 49ers by the score of 45-10 back in Week 5. The Cowboys also suffered a narrow loss to the division-rival Philadelphia Eagles on the road back in Week 9. Their only road wins have come against the Los Angeles Chargers (5-10), Carolina Panthers (2-13) and New York Giants (5-9).
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Dallas Cowboys might be forced to play road postseason game
Dallas is now a half game behind Philadelphia in the NFC East with the Eagles set to take on the New York Giants Christmas day. Philadelphia also holds the tiebreaker over Dallas due to a better conference record.
If the ‘Boys do end up finishing second in the NFC East, they’ll be forced to play a road postseason game for a second consecutive year. Remember, Dallas defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Wild Card Playoffs last season, ending Tom Brady’s career in the process.
As of right now, a rematch against the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay would be in the cards. Baker Mayfield has his team at 8-7 and playing stellar football following Sunday’s blowout win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Tampa is one game ahead of the New Orleans Saints in the NFC South with two games remaining. Those two will do battle in Tampa Bay next week. If the Bucs come out on top, they’ll clinch the division title.
McCarthy’s words are interesting in this regard in that he seems to know that Dallas is headed for a road playoff game.
Dallas hosts the NFC North champion Detroit Lions in Week 17 before a road outing against the Washington Commanders to close up shop on the regular season.