The Dallas Cowboys should be expected to win the NFC East in Week 18 with a favorable matchup versus the Washington Commanders
Just about everything went the Dallas Cowboys’ way this past weekend. The weekend started with the Cowboys defeating the Detroit Lions 20-19. The Lions looked to complete a two-point conversion that would’ve given them a 21-20 lead with less than 30 seconds left, but a controversial illegal touching penalty on Taylor Decker took back the play, even though Decker reported as eligible. The Lions went for two again and were unable to convert, sealing a Dallas win.
After their win, the Cowboys sat back and watched the Arizona Cardinals come back and upset the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cardinals victory moved the Cowboys back up from the wildcard to the No. 2 seed, since they have tiebreakers over the Eagles and Lions.
They are just a Week 18 win over the Washington Commanders from winning the NFC East. If they don’t win, they can also clinch the division with an Eagles loss. Here are three reasons Dallas should be expected to pull this off and win their division:
1. All the Cowboys have to do is beat Washington
The main reason the Cowboys will clinch the NFC East is they have one of the most favorable Week 18 matchups versus Washington. Dallas previously beat the Commanders 45-10 on Thanksgiving, which was one of their most dominant weeks of the season. In that game, the Cowboys took a 20-10 halftime lead before blowing the game out of reach in the fourth quarter when they scored four different times and held the Commanders without a score.
Washington has yet to announce if Jacoby Brissett or Sam Howell will be the starter, but either way Dallas should have no problem taking care of business. Even when Howell has played well, it’s often not enough for his team to win games.
2. Even if they don’t, there’s no guarantee that Eagles defeat the Giants
In a surprise situation where the Cowboys don’t handle Washington, they can always rely on the Giants to upset the Eagles. Hoping for the Eagles to lose definitely isn’t the safer option, but is far from off the table if Dallas can’t manage a win. For one, the Eagles are barely beating anyone right now, having lost four of their last five games. The one team they did beat was the Giants, but the Eagles almost let the Giants come back in a 33-25 win.
The Cowboys threw their trust into Tony Pollard during the 2023 NFL offseason and moved on from veteran starter Ezekiel Elliott to do so,” writes Camenker. “The results haven’t been great, as Pollard is averaging a career-worst 4.0 yards per carry and has ceded some of his workload to Rico Dowdle in recent weeks.”
