While the Dallas Cowboys had the week off for their annual bye week, the rest of the NFC continued to paint a picture for how the playoff race will shape up.
DALLAS — There was no drama for the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday because they were on their bye week. A day of peace and quiet was a welcomed change of pace after a roller coaster off week that included owner Jerry Jones making headlines.
What Dallas did do is sit back and watch as the NFC continued to jockey for their place in the conference hierarchy. As bad as the Cowboys have looked at times this season, they’re still 3-3 and in the thick of the playoff race. They’ll return from the bye just a game out of the wild card spot. Nevertheless, they are 10th overall in the NFC standings with a lot of work to do to rise up the ranks.
There’s a lot to clean up, and the road ahead isn’t easy, but if head coach Mike McCarthy’s team can kick things into high gear like they did last year after their bye week, anything is possible.
Here’s where the Cowboys stand in the NFC after Sunday’s Week 7 results:
Third in the NFC East
Nothing changed for Dallas in the division as the Washington Commanders easily beat the Carolina Panthers and the Philadelphia Eagles cruised past their rivals, the New York Giants.
The Commanders came into the week as a surprise first place team, and they continued to look like the best team in the NFC East with a 40-7 win at home. Former Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn’s team lost starting quarterback and Rookie of the Year candidate Jayden Daniels early in the game, but it didn’t matter. The questions now are how long will Daniels be out, and will the Commanders be able to keep their outstanding start going if he’s sidelined for an extended period of time?
The Eagles, meanwhile, also had little trouble in their matchup, beating the Giants in running back Saquon Barkley’s return to New York. In the process of getting blown out, the Giants benched starting QB Daniel Jones, who now hasn’t thrown a touchdown in any of the team’s four home games, but has been intercepted four times.
Washington remains the leaders in the division at 5-2, followed by the Eagles at 4-2. At 3-3, the Cowboys remain ahead of the 2-5 Giants and out of the East’s cellar. There was no change in the standings from the Week 7 outcomes, but it is apparent that the Commanders and Eagles look like the two best teams in the division for now.
NFC North looks like NFL’s best
One of the best divisions in the NFL is in the NFC North, where the top three teams are leading playoff contenders and that doesn’t look like it will change. In Week 7, two of the top teams in the conference battled as the Detroit Lions knocked the Minnesota Vikings from the ranks of the undefeated.
The Vikings came into the contest at 5-0, but the Lions got a last second field goal to get the win, which helped them claim first place in the North, as well as vault to the top seed in the conference at 5-1.
The Green Bay Packers, meanwhile, won a close game too, also getting a game-winning field goal as time ran out against a Houston Texans team that was 5-1 coming into the game. The victory was the third in a row for the Packers and they’re just a half game back of the Lions and Vikings for first place in the division.
Upon watching all three of these teams in Week 7, it becomes obvious that the Cowboys aren’t on the same level. Dallas is now behind all four NFC North teams in the standings. The Chicago Bears also had the bye week, but are 4-2, winners of three straight, and are just one game back in the division.
NFC South spirals, while the NFC West looks uneven
While the North showed their mettle, the NFC West had results that shook up the standings. The Seattle Seahawks went on the road and beat an improved Atlanta Falcons team, while the San Francisco 49ers were dominated by the Kansas City Chiefs in a Super Bowl rematch.
Usually playing an early game on the East Coast is tough for a West Coast team, but the Seahawks were unfazed by the start time and blew out the Falcons 34-14. In doing so, the Seahawks snapped their three-game losing skid and took sole possession of first place in the division.
Each of the three NFC South teams that played lost, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers can salvage a win for the division on Monday night and stay in first place. It’s a two-team race in the South right now with the Buccaneers and Falcons duking it out, but it’s too early to tell if both are headed for the playoffs.
The 49ers were not only beaten by the Chiefs again, but they were also beaten up in the process. San Francisco had their two of their best wide receivers go down with injury in the loss, and it’s feared that their top option in the passing game, Brandon Aiyuk, tore his ACL, which would end his season.
There’s no word on how bad the injury is for fellow wideout Deebo Samuel, but the Cowboys play the 49ers in Week 8 so they will be keeping close tabs. If Kyle Shanahan’s offense is missing their two best receivers, Dallas would have fewer things to worry about against a team with an offense that has given them fits in recent years.
Surprisingly, the Cowboys are 3-3, while the reigning conference champion 49ers are 3-4. That’s not exactly the big matchup that everyone expected when the schedule came out. The loser could find themselves buried even deeper in the standings, and it could serve as an important tiebreaker late in the year. It’s only Week 8, but it feels like the loser would need to win their division to have a chance at a postseason berth.
For Dallas, there are six games remaining against teams who are ahead of them in the NFC standings, and there are four games remaining against the squads ahead of them in the division.
If the Cowboys want to make the playoffs, they’ll need to win the majority of those games. To do that, they need to play better than they did during the first six weeks of the season.
Do you think the Cowboys are still in a good position to climb in the NFC? Share your thoughts with Ben on X (formerly Twitter) @BenGrimaldi.