Cowboys Playoff Picture: New York Giants seem likely to rest players against Philadelphia Eagles

This is a strange week for the Dallas Cowboys. As usual we want to see the Cowboys win the football game that they are about to play. But there are a couple of things that we want to see besides Dallas taking home the victory this week. In a perfect world, the Arizona Cardinals would beat the San Francisco 49ers, but more importantly the New York Giants would beat the Philadelphia Eagles.

A 49ers loss is necessary for the Cowboys to capture the one seed (beyond Dallas winning their own game obviously) but it is all moot if the Eagles do not lose to the G-Men. Dallas would win the NFC East with a win and Eagles loss. and even if San Francisco won the Cowboys would still be the #2 seed.

Unfortunately for all of us, the Eagles are playing a New York Giants team that is locked into the #6 seed in the NFC. New York has no motivation to risk anything and could prioritize resting their starters if they would like to. As of Thursday, it seems like this is the direction that they may be leaning.

It is hard to blame the Giants for looking out for themselves. While every Cowboys fan would appreciate them doing everything they can to see the Eagles lose, their responsibility should be setting themselves up for the best possible playoff run that they can.

It is still possible for the Giants to win on Sunday even if they do decide to give a few players some rest, but only in the sense that anything is possible.

It will be interesting to see if the Eagles do get out to an early lead against the Giants whether the Cowboys decide to take their foot off of the gas and prepare for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the team they would face in the Wild Card Round if they do wind up as the #5 seed.