2022 NFL Week 7 Power Rankings: The Dallas Cowboys remain a top 10 team

We are approaching the midway point of the 2022 NFL season and thankfully the Dallas Cowboys have “only” lost two games. In many ways their season is about to begin in the way it was supposed to look what with Dak Prescott looking to be back in the starting lineup for the first time since Week 1 (we will see what happens as the week goes along, though) come Sunday.

There are a lot of things happening across the league and thankfully we are just about done with the Denver Broncos in primetime. This past NFL week brought with it more chaos in its usual way; consider that New York football (as in the Giants and Jets) has as many losses between them as the squad they both just beat in the Green Bay Packers.

Big Blue View’s Ed Valentine joined myself and Arrowhead Pride’s Pete Sweeney on the latest episode of Monday Football Monday on The SB Nation NFL Show to discuss the Giants and how they just keep surprising people. The G-Men have risen rather high in my power rankings over the weeks and have finally cracked the top five.

What about the rest of the league, though? And where do other outlets have the Dallas Cowboys ranked? We have gathered all of that for you as we usually do in one single place.

You can visit last week’s rankings right here. Let’s begin.

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1 - Buffalo Bills (LW: 1)

Sunday’s big-time matchup between the Bills and Chiefs fell a little short of the firework-type expectations, but Buffalo pulled off an impressive win nonetheless and a big reason why was the presence of Von Miller near the end of the game.

It is their league right now.

2 - Philadelphia Eagles (LW: 3)

Obviously the Eagles are the lone undefeated team left in the NFL and while we are all obviously upset about losing to them, it does feel like they are a notch below the Bills right now.

They are the class of the NFC at present time. It cannot be disagreed with.

3 - Kansas City Chiefs (LW: 2)

As noted their loss to Buffalo was hardly a massive moment. They will be fine.

4 - Minnesota Vikings (LW: 5)

It feels like this is the least-respected team in the NFL. The Vikings are 5-1 with their lone loss coming on the road in Philadelphia. Their offense is among the league’s best when rolling and right now they are the only NFC team not in the East that is above .500!

5 - New York Giants (LW: 10)

It is time to take them a little bit for real. The win against the Packers was fine, but the Baltimore one is legitimately impressive. The NFC East is all the way back save for Washington.

6 - Baltimore Ravens (LW: 4)

It is so hard to drop them partly because of the teams behind them but also because you do not have to move a ton of goal posts to make their record prettier. I believe in the Ravens long-term, but right now they are making it a little bit more difficult.

7 - Dallas Cowboys (LW: 6)

They lost. It was frustrating. Nobody is happy about it.

But the way that Dallas stood tall in the second half was impressive and showed signs of legitimate fight. Considering that the team in question is about to get a top-shelf quarterback back in Dak Prescott is very exciting.

8 - Los Angeles Chargers (LW: 9)

It is true that the Chargers won, but that is about the only good thing that you can say about them. How are they so dysfunctional with a talent like Justin Herbert?

9 - New York Jets (LW: 13)

As noted the Packers are no longer kingmakers, but goodness the New York Jets are fun. They have a young nucleus that makes you feel like they are building something legitimate. Good for them.

10 - Cincinnati Bengals (LW: 14)

After starting off 0-2 (what up) they have scratched and clawed to get to 3-3. Their loss to Baltimore will hurt in the divisional race but we certainly cannot count out the Bengals.

11 - San Francisco 49ers (LW: 7)

They were ravaged by injuries heading into Atlanta and sometimes those things are too much to overcome. Up and down goes the 49ers roller-coaster.

12 - Seattle Seahawks (LW: 16)

They could win the NFC West. Right?!

13 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers (LW: 8)

Stating the obvious here, but doesn’t this operation seem clunky? It is just so painful and uncomfortable to watch this team play football right now.

14 - Tennessee Titans (LW: 11)

No game played this past week, but they are the clear favorites in the AFC South.

15 - New England Patriots (LW: 18)

They look somewhat complete when they are rolling, but it is so hard to know what we are going to get from them week to week.

16 - Los Angeles Rams (LW: 17)

Beating the Matt Rhule-less Carolina Panthers is hardly anything to feel great about. But it is a step in the right direction.

17 - Green Bay Packers (LW: 12)

They look all kinds of terrible. You just hate to see it.

18 - Atlanta Falcons (LW: 19)

They love to run the ball. Could they possibly do it on the way to an NFC South title? It isn’t impossible. Also please wear the throwback uniforms all of the time.

19 - New Orleans Saints (LW: 15)

Andy Dalton started against the Bengals for the third year in a row with a third different team. How was that not a bigger deal?! Unfortunately this was his first loss.

20 - Pittsburgh Steelers (LW: 28)

Sunday’s win was certainly impressive but it still feels like this team has a clear ceiling.

21 - Cleveland Browns (LW: 22)

They are one of the more blah teams in the league right now.

22 - Las Vegas Raiders (LW: 23)

Another bye week.

23 - Arizona Cardinals (LW: 21)

They look so broken offensively which is very difficult to believe given how dynamic we know Kyler Murray can be. Maybe getting DeAndre Hopkins back will help?

24 - Detroit Lions (LW: 24)

See you on Sunday.

25 - Indianapolis Colts (LW: 30)

They stood tall and pulled out an impressive win, but we have seen way more bad than good here to this point. Can they do it again next week? We will see.

26 - Miami Dolphins (LW: 20)

Remember when they were 3-0? Everything about them feels off. That ping pong story last week was weird.

27 - Washington Commanders (LW: 27)

Perhaps missing Carson Wentz will cause some sort of rally, but right now Washington is way down in the cellar of the division.

28 - Denver Broncos (LW: 31)

It is bad. Very bad. Just a teeny bit less bad than last week.

29 - Chicago Bears (LW: 25)

Yikes.

30 - Houston Texans (LW: 26)

Back from the bye as well.

31 - Jacksonville Jaguars (LW: 29)

Losing to the Texans and Colts in back to back weeks is a tough scene.

32 - Carolina Panthers (LW: 32)

They are a professional football team in a technical sense. That is about all there is to say.

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NFL.com: 6 (LW: 10)

On Sunday night’s episode of the Around The NFL podcast Dan Hanzus (who writes these power rankings) explained that the Cowboys were going to rise for him this week based on the gumption that they showed during the second half in Philadelphia when all seemed lost. They seem to have risen quite a bit!

It’s time for Dak Prescott to rejoin the gang. Cooper Rush’s run as an undefeated starting QB came to an unceremonious end on Sunday Night Football, as the Eagles picked off the Dallas passer three times in a 26-17 loss at the Linc. Rush struggled in new territory at QB1, playing from behind in a difficult road environment. The results weren’t surprising, but Rush deserves credit for doing his part to keep the season afloat while Dak works his way back from thumb surgery. Early reports point to a Prescott return in Week 7 against the Lions.

ESPN: 6 (LW: 5)

The worldwide leader had the people who cover these individual teams answer something they got wrong about the team (Todd Archer for the Cowboys). Ultimately only a drop of one spot here so still in the top 6.

First, I didn’t get anything wrong. I thought the defense would be the strength. I thought the run game would be better than people thought. I didn’t know they would win four straight games without Dak Prescott, and neither did anybody else not related to the franchise. Cooper Rush deserves a ton of credit for what he was able to do in Prescott’s absence. He has earned a job as a backup in the NFL for however long somebody wants him to be a backup. He kept the season alive because there was nothing but doom and gloom after Prescott suffered a fractured thumb in the season opener. The Cowboys play Detroit and Chicago before heading into the bye week. If Prescott plays as expected, the Cowboys will be in the thick of the playoff chase. — Todd Archer

USA Today: 4 (LW: 5)

Another rise!

There seems to be a pretty clear point of demarcation here, Dallas arguably headlining the second tier of clubs in an uber-compressed, hyper-balanced league. But the pending return of QB Dak Prescott – assuming he can augment the team’s recent winning formula – could vault the Cowboys into the top stratum. Playing their next four games against the NFC North may also help.

Yahoo: 4 (LW: 4)

No drop here. And for what it’s worth Yahoo’s Frank Schwab only has the Bills, Eagles, and Chiefs ahead of Dallas.

I’m not downgrading the Cowboys for losing on Sunday night. If anything, it was impressive they made it a game after being down 20-0. When Dak Prescott returns, this is going to be a playoff team. Is it possible the three best NFC teams are in the NFC East? Perhaps.

CBS Sports: 6 (LW: 6)

Again, no change.

They will be getting Dak Prescott back, which changes this team in a big way. Cooper Rush was OK, but he isn’t Prescott.

The Athletic: 6 (LW: 7)

Yet another outlet who raised the Cowboys. This is a pretty unique thing.

One year after they were the most penalized team in the league, the Cowboys have dropped all the way to No. 5 in both penalties and penalty yardage. They were whistled for three separate unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the Sunday night loss to the Eagles. Maybe Mike McCarthy and his staff spent so much time figuring out how to keep things afloat for five games with Cooper Rush, they didn’t have the bandwidth to teach the team the rules.

No matter. All signs point to Dak Prescott returning Sunday, armed with a new thumb and the benefit of playing with an explosive pass-rush unit. Considering how dour things seemed when Prescott suffered his Week 1 injury, the Cowboys are feeling good.

Sports Illustrated: 10 (LW: 7)

For what it’s worth they had the Packers (5), Buccaneers (6), and Dolphins (8) all ahead of the Cowboys. Interesting.

A new season begins with the return of Dak Prescott. He returns at a time when Ezekiel Elliott seems to have dipped himself in the fountain of youth. Who knew that Ponce De Leon was just 1,000 miles too far to the east?