2021 NFL Week 14 Dallas Cowboys Fan Rooting Guide: A Los Angeles Rams win would go a long way

Somehow we are already at Week 14 of the 2021 NFL season. The Dallas Cowboys look well-positioned to be playing beyond the regular season although we are all going to feel a sense of tension up until what is hopefully Sunday’s win against the Washington Football Team. Winning that game would go a long way at securing an NFC East title for the Cowboys, and while that is not the only goal we have for this season, it is the first one.

As far as other goals, wants, and wishes are concerned, there are other things that we are paying attention to regarding the Cowboys. It is for this reason that we put together a rooting guide every week and as fate would have it this week features a relatively short to-do list.

The Philadelphia Eagles are on bye this week as are the two teams who’s first-round picks that they will own next year (Indianapolis and Miami) so we needn’t worry about them. We always want to see the New York Giants lose so they are on this list, but the truly important things lie elsewhere in the NFC.

At present time the Cowboys are the fourth seed in the NFC Playoff Picture and need a teeny bit of help to make getting out of that spot more manageable. In a perfect world we would see all of the top three seeds (Arizona Cardinals, Green Bay Packers, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers) lose this week and every week and so all of our energy needs to go into that cause.

We have included rooting for the Chicago Bears in our rooting guide before and that is because the New York Giants hold their first-round pick next year so we want to see it be as low as possible, so this is a two-birds-one-stone sort of situation with them this week.

The most likely playoff draw for the Cowboys right now is a Wildcard matchup at AT&T Stadium against the Los Angeles Rams

While we are on the subject of this sort of conversation we should note that - entering Week 14 - the most probable playoff matchup for the Cowboys is a home game against the Rams. That likely has some of you feeling queasy.

This has felt obvious all season long, this meaning that the fourth seed would host whoever does not win the NFC West. While the Rams stumbled around the same time that Dallas did throughout the month of November, their recent win steadied the waters and if we get the win that we want from them this week it will only help to further lock them in as the top Wildcard team.

As you can see the most likely matchup for Dallas in the first round of the playoffs would be the Los Angeles Rams. A win from L.A. this week would theoretically open the door for that to change as it would also be a loss for the Arizona Cardinals. Dallas would then control their own destiny against the Cardinals given that they play them in Week 17, a hypothetical that could see Dallas surpassing Arizona in seeding even if they both won their respective divisions.

We can worry about the potential of the Rams later, but for this week it would significantly help the Cowboys if they could drop the Cardinals into catchable range.

Get it done, Rams.