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The Dallas Cowboys entered their game on Sunday in Indianapolis knowing that a win would clinch them the NFC East. Unfortunately, they didn’t score a single point.
A victory isn’t the only way that the Cowboys can claim the NFC East though. If the Cowboys get one more loss from both the Washington Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles that would secure a home playoff game for them. Unfortunately, both Washington and Philadelphia won on Sunday. It was that kind of week.
NFC East standings through Week 15
- Dallas Cowboys: 8-6 overall, 4-1 in division
- Philadelphia Eagles, 7-7 overall, 3-2 in division
- Washington Redskins: 7-7 overall, 2-3 in division
- New York Giants: 5-9 overall, 1-4 in division
It’s simple for the Cowboys, win and you’re in
As mentioned, all the Dallas Cowboys have to do is win one of their two remaining games (Tampa Bay, at New York Giants) and they will wear the NFC East crown. Their next opportunity to do so will be on Sunday against the Buccaneers, but they’ll know if they have some room for error before the game even kicks off.
Washington visits the Tennessee Titans on Saturday afternoon and if they lose, the Cowboys will be halfway towards the losses that they need. Philadelphia hosts the Houston Texans at the same time Dallas does Tampa Bay so the Eagles could theoretically even lose before the Cowboys game is over. That would the division right there.
Sunday will be the last game at AT&T Stadium of the regular season and therefore the last before a would-be playoff game. It would be quite sweet if the Cowboys were able to sew up a division title in front of the home crowd a few days before Christmas, but if we’re talking about things that would be sweet I’m sure we could come up with a long list.
It’s worth noting that in Week 17 the Eagles will head to Washington. That could provide for a sneaky bit of complication if things run amok in the regular season’s penultimate slate of games, but again as long as the Cowboys win we’ll all be ordering hats and t-shirts.