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Patrik [No C] Walker joined the Dallas Cowboys digital media group as a workers author and media persona in July 2022, having professionally lined the NFL and, extra particularly, the Cowboys since 2007.
He most just lately did so for CBS Sports activities by means of 247Sports, the place he additionally hung out delving into collegiate recruiting as effectively – finally changing into well-known for his stage of unapologetic objectivity labeled by many as his personal distinctive model of soccer “science”.
Welcome to “The Science Lab”, a spot the place soccer info and in-depth evaluation all the time overcome emotions.
FRISCO, TX – I really feel like I am sitting within the viewing room on the Time Variance Company, as a result of I’ve low key (Loki) now seen all variants of the Dallas Cowboys in 2022, and the one the world witnessed ship Ragnarok to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday is, in my humble opinion, one of the best group in your complete NFC, excluding nobody.
So why are they not atop the NFC East proper now?
If they will start stringing collectively video games that even remotely appear like the eruption that buried Pompei … er, um … Minneapolis in Week 11, there are solely two groups within the NFL who’re formidable sufficient to go 12 rounds with them they usually’re each within the AFC – i.e., the Buffalo Payments and the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs. And whereas that is no disrespect to the Philadelphia Eagles at 9-1, it’s to say there are cracks starting to indicate of their armor the previous two weeks.
First got here the loss to the Washington Commanders at Lincoln Monetary Area after which the near-loss to the Indianapolis Colts, a victory gained within the waning seconds of the competition after the Colts protection did their greatest Moses and The Purple Sea impression to permit Jalen Hurts a walk-in game-winning landing.
And, sure, they defeated the Cowboys in Week 6, however it was a three-interception sport by Cooper Rush that gave solution to a nine-point (sure, solely 9) margin of victory for the Eagles.
Can Philly defeat the model of the Cowboys that hung 40 factors on the Vikings (13 greater than the Eagles did) whereas holding them to solely three (4 fewer than the Eagles did) on the highway at U.S. Financial institution Stadium (Eagles defeated them in Philadelphia)?
For me, the reply is, objectively, no.
They’d need assistance from the Cowboys, once more, as famous above within the Week 6 recap.
That is not to say the Eagles can’t defeat the Dak Prescott-led Cowboys in 2022, however somewhat to say {that a} second Dallas loss to Philadelphia would doubtless be predicated upon an incapability (on that day) of Dan Quinn’s protection to cease the run and/or miscommunication(s) between Prescott and his receiving corps that devolve into turnovers.
However what in the event that they line up towards a hungry, mistake-free, visceral variant of the Cowboys offense, protection and particular groups?
Um, good luck stopping that.
It is no secret the Eagles are constructing to stave off the Cowboys within the NFC East, including Linvale Joseph and Ndamokung Suh to bolster the inside run protection after the Commanders uncovered it within the absence of Jordan Davis, however the Cowboys have not been shy about including expertise themselves, evidenced by the commerce for Johnathan Hankins and their presently energetic pursuit of Odell Beckham, Jr. – a race they (in the mean time) have an edge in.
My my my, Christmas Eve will probably be electrical, as it would assist determine the division and general playoff seeding within the convention.
As a associated sidebar,I am left to marvel if Beckham is eager to make his last choice primarily based upon the end result of the Thanksgiving bout between the Cowboys and the Giants, two groups all-in on touchdown him, with the eventual victor efficiently making their last case for him to affix them to place them excessive inside the division and the convention. I might see the Giants upping their supply within the wake of shedding rookie wideout Wan’Dale Robinson to a torn ACL on Sunday.
However hey, I am simply pondering out loud right here, however ought to Beckham be part of this model of the Cowboys?
Once more, collect all the four-leaf clovers, rabbit’s ft, horseshoes and plucked eyelashes you’ll find as a result of good luck stopping that.
In a wide-open NFC, the Cowboys overcame a wildly missed alternative of their Week 10 collapse towards Aaron Rodgers and the Inexperienced Bay Packers by taking the No. 2-seeded Vikings out again and beating them like a grimy rug and regain floor within the course of – the Giants having suffered their very own embarrassing loss simply this previous weekend with a 31-18 loss to the Detroit Lions at MetLife Stadium (additionally shedding Adoree Jackson for a number of video games attributable to damage together with the aforementioned Robinson).
Every part remains to be very a lot in entrance of Dallas as the vacations take maintain, and now you can justifiably start wanting on the standings and asking your self a particularly reasonable query: “When the Cowboys play like they did in Minnesota, are they higher than the opposite present playoff groups?”
This is the sphere heading into Week 12:
- Eagles (9-1)
- Vikings (8-2)
- Seahawks (6-4)
- Buccaneers (5-5)
Wild Card (non-Cowboys) –
With Large Blue weakened and the Cowboys getting more healthy, as within the looming return of eight-time Professional Bowl left sort out Tyron Smith to improve and already top-performing offensive line together with new defensive addition Takk McKinley to probably strengthen the run protection additional (whereas additionally dropping in one more proficient move rusher), indicators level towards Dallas shifting additional north within the NFC standings going into their mini-bye to finish the month of November.
If they will step right into a document of 8-3 this week, they’re going to stay in putting distance of an Eagles group who should now face an unpredictable Packers group who has proven they could determine to indicate up on any given week to land an upset.
That is one time the Cowboys will probably be actively rooting for Rodgers.
To various levels, I say sure, the Cowboys are higher than the others within the convention, however not except the model that confirmed up towards the Vikings (whom they now personal the tiebreaker towards, together with one over the Giants) retains displaying up going ahead, and particularly in January and … dare I say … early February.
For it will be then, and solely then, that they may really management their very own future like Kang the Conqueror. Something much less and it’s again to the middle of the multiverse to regroup for 2023.
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