The Dallas Cowboys are the exception. Unfortunately for all of us in this context being the exception is not good. The Cowboys, who were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs several days before Christmas for the second year in a row, have had moments of extreme success this season, but they have also had some that made us want to bury our heads in the sand.
The latter is more relevant with these two data points. Week 17 saw most of its action unfold on Sunday, and as it did, the Arizona Cardinals
lost to the Cincinnati Bengals. The Detroit Lions lost to the Minnesota Vikings three days earlier on Christmas Day, just a few hours after Dallas won themselves.
Why is this relevant? The Cowboys are the only team that both the Cardinals and Lions have beaten in some time.
- The Arizona Cardinals have lost 13 of their last 14 games.
- The Detroit Lions have lost 4 of their last 5 games.
- The Cowboys are the one win for both of them.
If you subscribe to the notion that other teams “get up” to play the Cowboys and that they treat it as a bigger game than any other, then this evidence certainly leans into that idea.
The Lions have been one of the better teams in the NFL for quite some time so losing to them in the middle of a collapse is way less embarrassing. That the Cowboys are the one team the Cardinals have beaten in their last 14 tries… well… that is, um, different.
