The Dallas Cowboys clinched a playoff berth over the weekend, but Sunday’s road loss to the Buffalo Bills re-emphasized the importance of winning the division and clinching some form of home-field advantage, whether it’s just as a division winner or as the first-place team in the entire NFC.
Dallas has dominated teams on its home field at a near-historic rate, averaging nearly 40 points and over 400 yards per game. Yet, when the Cowboys hit the road, they become a different team, averaging nearly 100 fewer yards and 20 fewer points.
“There’s a gap,” head coach Mike McCarthy acknowledged postgame. “That was part of my message. We play so well at home, and there’s just too big of a gap in our road games. We’re conscious of it. … We’ve got to be much better on the road regardless of what’s in front of us and all the other conversations because there’s too much of a gap between home and away.”
Dallas is 3-4 on the road this season and has to play two of its final three regular-season games away from Arlington, including next Sunday’s matchup with the Miami Dolphins, who are battling with the Baltimore Ravens for the No.1 seed in the AFC.
“I think there’s normally a gap … but it’s about performance,” McCarthy added. “You want to be hardened in these games. That’s why I go back to this schedule — playing Philadelphia, Buffalo, and Miami. I think this is a great stretch for us to get ready for playoff football, but we’ve got to play better than this tonight. We’re all disappointed.”
Buffalo running back James Cook was the standout from Sunday’s game, running for a career-high 179 yards and scoring two touchdowns.
Run defense has been a problem for Dallas on the road. While the Cowboys have held four of their seven home opponents under 100 rushing yards, six of their seven road opponents have reached the mark, and Buffalo and Arizona both surpassed 200 yards on the ground.
“Honestly, it’s just unacceptable at this point,” linebacker Micah Parsons told the media after Sunday’s loss. “There’s no excuse for it. It’s mind-boggling. I don’t understand why we’re not playing well and why we’re not coming together on the road. It’s something we need to look at and get better because we’re back on the road next week.”
After the regular season concludes, the winner of the NFC receives a first-round bye week in the playoffs and hosts all its playoff games until the Super Bowl. Additionally, each division winner hosts at least one playoff game, while the three wildcard teams will likely spend the postseason on the road.
Entering Monday night’s game between Philadelphia and Seattle, Dallas sits half a game behind the Eagles for first place in the NFC East and is tied with Detroit at 10-4. An Eagles loss would create a three-way tie between the three teams for second place in the NFC, while a win would put Philadelphia in a tie atop the NFC with the San Francisco 49ers at 11-3.
However, because Philadelphia and Dallas play in the same division, one of them will be opening the playoffs on the road as a wildcard and have to hope for some “upsets” to happen to be able to host a playoff game.
At the same time, the division winner will also be battling (likely) fellow division winners Detroit and San Francisco for seeding in the NFC to determine who gets the overall home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, placing even greater importance on Dallas’ upcoming games.
“It’s a mindset,” defensive back Stephon Gilmore told reporters. “No matter where we play, we should be able to play anywhere. At the end of the day, you’re still putting on your cleats, [and] you’re still lining up. You’ve just got to be able to handle your business no matter where it’s at.”
