Questions linger for ‘battle-tested’ Cowboys ahead of playoffs

ARLINGTON, Texas — Before the Dallas Cowboys played the Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 10, coach Mike McCarthy said he was looking forward to a four-game stretch against their NFC East rival Philadelphia Eagles and the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions.

“This is an excellent opportunity for us to play in playoff-type games without playoff consequences,” McCarthy said. “I think that serves us very well because December football is something I’ve personally always enjoyed. And I think it’s a great indication of where you are as a team and what you need to do to get into the playoffs and to be ready for the playoffs. We’re looking forward to it.”

With their 20-19 win against the Lions on Saturday, the Cowboys finished 2-2 during that stretch. And their play showed how close — and how far away — they are from being solidly in the mix for a Super Bowl run with the playoffs two weeks away.

They dominated the Eagles 33-13. They got blown out 31-10 at Buffalo. They lost a close one at Miami, 22-20, on a last-second field goal. Then they won a close game against the Lions, 20-19, with a bizarre ending where they were helped by a controversial penalty.

Regardless, the Cowboys are 11-5 and enter their Week 18 meeting against the Washington Commanders with a chance to win the NFC East.

With the Eagles losing to Arizona on Sunday, all the Cowboys need to do is beat Washington, and they will win the division and keep the remarkable run of having no repeat NFC East winner since 2003-04. It would also mean the Cowboys could play two playoff games at AT&T Stadium, where they went 8-0 in the regular season.

Oh, and they would avoid playing the San Francisco 49ers until the NFC Championship Game.

“Obviously, we play well at home,” McCarthy said after the Detroit win. “We love playing at home, but I do think being on the road the last couple of weeks … we’ll be ready for whatever comes our way. But yes, we’re at 11 wins and it’s clearly what’s in front of us.”

They also know they need to be better.

A lot better.

An offense that scored at least 33 points six times in a seven-game stretch (Weeks 8-14), has not topped 20 in their past three games. The running game has sputtered. Against the Lions, they had 61 yards on 21 attempts. The only game with fewer rushing yards was their Week 5 loss at San Francisco (57).

“We’re struggling,” All-Pro right guard Zack Martin said. “The big thing — the frustrating part and the disappointing part a little bit — is some of the negative runs we have. Look, [Detroit has] a good run defense, but we’ve got to always be going forward. We can’t put Dak [Prescott] and coach in those second-and-12s, second-and-11s. It’s hard to call plays when it’s those down and distances. So we’ve got to do a better job up front. They won’t be home runs all the time, but we’ve got to get some positive plays.”

On defense versus the Lions, the Cowboys got their first two takeaways in their past three games with interceptions by cornerback Jourdan Lewis and safety Donovan Wilson, but their end-of-game play has been subpar the past two weeks. They allowed a game-winning drive against Miami with 3:27 to play after Prescott delivered a go-ahead 17-play drive. They allowed the Lions to drive 75 yards for a touchdown after taking over with 1:41 to play. A potential game-winning two-point play by the Lions was negated by a penalty. Instead of trying the tying extra point, Detroit tried two more attempts and fell short.

“That’s something that we got to look at,” linebacker Micah Parsons said. “For me, it’s frustrating, I don’t know what’s going on. I know everybody sees what I’m facing, but we got to look at it and get better from it, because to be a championship team, we got to get those type of stops.”

McCarthy has talked about the road to the Super Bowl not being smooth. He believes wins like Saturday’s can serve the Cowboys well when the playoff games have playoff consequences.

“We need these games. I think they’re going to be battle-tested and ready to go into the playoffs,” McCarthy said. “These are the kinds of games that character is enhanced, and the adversity advancement that you need, and you train all year for.”

The losses to Miami and Buffalo spoiled the good feelings from a five-game winning streak, and while the win against Detroit was much needed, it did not remove the questions.

However, it did show they can win a game against an NFC contender. Now can they do it when they are in playoff games with playoff consequences?

“It’s important as we move forward understanding that this is playoff football,” Prescott said. “We’ve got one more game here against a division opponent and then everything counts. It’s a one-game season each, and every week. So we’ve got to continue to build off of what we’ve done good here lately — but make sure that we’re locking in in every aspect, being detailed, being disciplined, not hurting ourselves and finding a way to play our best ball right now and create that momentum.”