Toward the end of his press availability following the Dallas Cowboys’ controversial 20-19 win over the Detroit Lions at AT&T Stadium on Saturday night, Jerry Jones was asked if the Jimmy Johnson curse was finally lifted, after the former Cowboys head coach had been inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor just hours prior.
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Jones broke out into a hearty laugh for four seconds.
“Well, if it’s there, I’ll take it being over,” Jones said. “Boy, I’ll sure take anything along those ways. As a matter of fact, you might not have an appreciation for what I would do if I thought being sweet to Jimmy would help us get to a Super Bowl. And I don’t mind being sweet to him either.”
To wrap things up following that answer, Jones was asked how much of an Arizona Cardinals fan he would be Sunday when they take on the Philadelphia Eagles.
“Well, it happened to us, it certainly ought to be able to happen to them,” Jones said, through another laugh.
The Dallas Cowboys control their own destiny in the battle for the NFC East.
If the Cowboys win in Week 18, Dallas could clinch the division. pic.twitter.com/aFIUJKXqgk
— The Athletic NFL (@TheAthleticNFL) December 31, 2023
Whether a curse was lifted or it was typical NFL chaos at its finest, the vibes were good in Dallas on Saturday night. The same can’t be said for the vibes in Philadelphia after the Eagles lost their grip on the NFC East with a troubling 35-31 loss to the Cardinals. After winning 10 of their first 11 games, Philadelphia has lost four of its last five, including a drubbing at the hands of the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.
If the Cowboys and Eagles both win in Week 18, they will end the regular season with the same record, having split their head-to-head matchups. By virtue of tiebreakers, the math is simple now for the Cowboys: Beat the Washington Commanders and take the division crown, and the No. 2 seed in the conference.
The result Sunday in Philadelphia further emphasizes just how crucial the results Saturday were. On the surface, the officiating snafu at the end — the latest in a long list of missteps by NFL officiating this season — rocked the NFC playoff picture. If the Lions beat the Cowboys, suddenly Detroit is the team Sunday afternoon with the inside track at the No. 2 seed and the Eagles, even with their loss to the Cardinals, have the advantage to lock up the NFC East with a win over the Giants in Week 18. The Cowboys would be favored to finish as the No. 5 seed, although given the way the Eagles have played recently, including at home against the Giants in Week 16, winning in New Jersey for them would be far from a given. Still, the Cowboys would need help.
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It’s unfortunate that the dialogue of such seismic repercussions in playoff seeding is rooted in conversations about the officials rather than the players and coaches. It’s even more unfortunate that the league refuses to take accountability for it, which is something it expects when its teams, players and coaches fall short. What happened at the end of the Cowboys-Lions game is hard to discern as black and white because of how badly the referees botched a preventable situation. It’s different than botching a costly penalty in the heat of the battle of play, as they did in incorrectly assessing Cowboys tight end Peyton Hendershot with a tripping penalty on the Cowboys’ last offensive possession.
Maybe if Hendershot isn’t called for tripping, the Cowboys ice the game on that drive. Maybe if the referees correctly announce the eligible players on the final two-point conversion, the Cowboys play the eligible lineman in question differently. Maybe the Lions still score on the play and win the game.
There will be a lot of hypotheticals in the minds of multiple fan bases entering Week 18. But if the Cowboys beat the Commanders, they will win the NFC East. No “maybe” about that.
GO DEEPER
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As last season showed, you can’t take for granted that the Cowboys will take care of business. In Week 18 last year, the playoff-bound Cowboys looked putrid in the nation’s capital and lost 26-6 in the regular-season finale. The road has been a demon for the Cowboys this season but, aside from the loss to the Cardinals, it’s mostly been a problem against quality teams. The Cowboys do have a 40-0 road win over the New York Giants and a 33-10 win in Carolina on their resume this season, not to mention solid showings in Philadelphia and Miami.
Meanwhile, the Commanders haven’t won a football game since Nov. 5, when they squeaked past the New England Patriots. Washington has four wins and not a single one over a team that enters the final week of the season with a winning record. So, while the result next week isn’t automatic, it’s extremely favorable for the Cowboys.
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The NFC East has not had a repeat champion since the 2003 and 2004 seasons, when the Eagles concluded their run of four consecutive division crowns, culminating with a Super Bowl appearance in the 2004 season. After Philadelphia won the division in 2022, a Dallas win next week would keep the streak alive.
(Photo of Dak Prescott and Brandin Cooks: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)
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