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This Sunday is the latest game of all games for the Dallas Cowboys. They’re 3-5 with everything on the line. Is that enough to motivate them? Only time will tell.
The last time that we saw these two teams square off in a game of significance was November 19th of last year. That game ultimately wound up as a loss for the Cowboys, the worst loss in AT&T Stadium’s history.
Tonight the Cowboys are on the road. What will happen? Will it be epic? Will it be fun? Whatever it is, it’s surely going to be something special. Here are BTB’s five bold predictions.
The Dallas Cowboys break 17 points offensively
Through four road games this season the Cowboys have yet to score more than 17 points on the road. That’s not good and it’s certainly not a formula for victory as they have yet to win away from AT&T Stadium.
Whether it comes in legitimate time or garbage time, the Cowboys are going to break 17 points this particular Sunday. The offense has been the criticism of the world for weeks on end now, if they fail to do this yet again they’ll have reached a truly new low.
Jason Garrett will win two challenges in Philadelphia
People are still unsure exactly why Jason Garrett threw the challenge flag on Monday night against the Tennessee Titans, but hey the past is the past.
Weird things happen in Philadelphia, really weird things. This night is so weird that the Philadelphia Eagles have a Super Bowl banner hanging in their stadium for crying out loud. It doesn’t get any weirder than that.
There’s no explaining what will happen tonight, and that’s why Red Ball is going to win two red challenge flag moments.
Amari Cooper has more receptions than Golden Tate
The last time that these two teams met, which was also in Philadelphia, the only touchdown of the game was scored by the wide receiver for the Cowboys that wore number 19 (shout out Brice Butler). We highlighted this in our YouTube preview of the game (subscribe to our re-launched channel here).
The Cowboys got to break in their new wide receiver last week and did so to a nice degree. Philadelphia is anxious to debut Golden Tate, and would you believe that he’s also wearing number 19 just like Amari and Brice?
Golden Tate will probably be used more effectively by Philadelphia than Amari will by Dallas, but Tate also plays in an offense with far more mouths to feed. This should be Amari’s night in terms of straight comparison to Golden Tate.
Leighton Vander Esch will record an interception
No Sean Lee means the Cowboys are going to be leaning on their first-round rookie linebacker quite a bit, and Leighton Vander Esch has certainly lived up to that challenge all season long.
Carson Wentz and Vander Esch are both from small-school programs, it’s a unique common denominator that the two share and something that makes for fun and interesting stories about how they grew up.
It’s time for LVE to properly introduce himself to the quarterback he’ll spend a lot of his career hunting down. Go get your hands on that ball, Leighton. Maybe take it back to the house, too. That seems like a good idea.
Ezekiel Elliott will have three rushing touchdowns
Look, I know this sounds ridiculous but they’re called bold predictions for a reason. We’ve talked a lot all week long about how this is the first game of significance for the Cowboys in Philadelphia since 2015, but it’s their first time playing there under the lights of Sunday Night Football since 2014.
You’ll remember that 2014 as the night of Dez Bryant. The Cowboys all-time leader in receiving touchdowns hauled in three of them (shout out to Nolan Carroll) that night as the Cowboys took a huge step towards winning the NFC East.
Tonight on SNF it’s time for another Cowboy to get his own hat trick. Ezekiel Elliott (and Dak Prescott for that matter) have yet to play in Philadelphia in a game that matters as mentioned. These are moments that Zeke thrives on. Let’s hope he cashes in on that.