Over the last decade, the NFC has had some Hall of Fame-level quarterback play, and the Dallas Cowboys have faced memorable names like Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees. They’ve even played some Hall of Very Good quarterbacks in Matt Ryan, Russell Wilson, Eli Manning, and Cam Newton.
Somehow, the rogues’ gallery of signal callers for the Cardinals—Kurt Warner, John Skelton, Kevin Kolb, Carson Palmer, Kyler Murray, Joshua Dobbs, and Jacoby Brissett—has an 8-1 record vs. Dallas since 2008. The last time
the Cowboys beat Arizona at home was in 2005, when it was still Texas Stadium; Drew Bledsoe was the quarterback, and Bill Parcells was the head coach.
Even against an NFC powerhouse like the Green Bay Packers, Dallas has managed a 2-7-1 record against their hated rival. The Cardinals have given the Cowboys the worst record against any NFC opponent during this stretch.
Cowboys Regular Season Records vs NFC opponents since 2008 (via Stathead)
Arizona Cardinals: 1-8
Green Bay Packers: 2-7-1
Chicago Bears: 3-5
New Orleans Saints: 4-6
Atlanta Falcons: 4-4
Seattle Seahawks: 5-5
Carolina Panthers: 5-3
Minnesota Vikings: 5-3
San Francisco 49ers: 5-3
Detroit Lions: 6-4
Los Angeles Rams: 6-3
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 7-3
New York Giants: 24-12
Philadelphia Eagles: 20-16
Washington Commanders: 25-11
Can this version of the Cowboys finally get a home win against the Cardinals? Not much has changed on the roster from when Dallas faced them a year ago on Monday Night Football. Head coach Mike LaFleur is a new face, but Brissett is still at quarterback (for now), Trey McBride is at tight end, and Michael Wilson is still their No. 1 wide receiver. On the defensive side of the ball, Josh Sweat is there (for now), and he seems to have a career game whenever he plays the Cowboys. Same goes for safety Budda Baker.
Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb said this week that he’s never beaten the Cardinals since he was drafted and that their energy has always been better than Dallas’s coming into the game.
“They’ve always had more energy,” Lamb said via Todd Archer on X. “Just coming out in the game, they’re more excited regardless of if it was at 12 o’clock, Sunday night, Monday night. We played them in primetime, they beat us there. So just coming in, treating them as if they are a Super Bowl contending team, which they may be, you know what I’m saying? So hats off to them in their prep and we just got to go match them, if not overpower them.”
The Cowboys are looking to get their first winning streak of the season going after taking care of business against a Philadelphia Eagles team that’s a shell of what it was even a year ago. With the New York Giants continuing to win and two games up over Dallas in the loss column, they need a win on Sunday to stay in the NFC East.
Dallas came into the year preaching that things would be different this season. A win on Sunday will prove it, considering it’s been the same for Dallas at home against Arizona for over twenty years.
