Dallas Cowboys are turning AT&T Stadium into house of horrors for opponents | Opinion
As the Dallas Cowboys have continued to win, a narrative is beginning to emerge about their status among the league’s best team’s.
They are one of four remaining teams in the NFL with just one loss. It’s a list that includes three 7-1 teams — the Green Bay Packers , the Los Angeles Rams and the Arizona Cardinals — and the Cowboys also own the league’s second-longest active winning streak at six games.
With a headlock on the rest of the NFC East — they are a full three games ahead in the win column and four games ahead in the loss column of the second-place Philadelphia Eagles — the Cowboys should rightly start thinking about jockeying for the league’s best record and possible home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
But before the Cowboys (6-1) make home-field advantage mean something in the postseason, the need to continue to establish their dominance at home at AT&T Stadium.
It’s something that coach Mike McCarthy has emphasized with his team heading into Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos (4-4), the first of two straight at home. They host the Atlanta Falcons (3-4) next Sunday.
“It’s definitely a focal point,” McCarthy said. “I mean the old saying in the NFL, win all your home games, split on the road is obviously a pretty favorable position to be in when tournament time comes around. We talk about it the week of the home game. But it’s definitely an emphasis. It’s something we did not accomplish last year so that was duly noted in training camp. So we’re off to a really good start.”
The Cowboys were 4-4 at home in McCarthy’s first season last year when AT&T Stadium was one of the venues that allowed fans in the stands due to pandemic protocols.
But AT&T Stadium at 25 percent capacity is nothing like it’s been so far with packed houses in 2021.
The Cowboys are 3-0 at home so far in 2021 and won those games by a combined score of 121-69 — an average margin of victory of 17 points — against the Eagles, the Carolina Panthers and the New York Giants.
McCarthy said the Cowboys are at their best when they are at home and credit the crowd and electric atmosphere at AT&T Stadium.
“It’s an incredible environment,” McCarthy said. “Obviously our players are extremely comfortable there the way you should be with your home-field advantage. We’re looking for a great crowd. Love the environment that the first three games.”
The Cowboys haven’t always known to present a tough environment in the stands because the capacity of AT&T Stadium allows a large number of the opposing team’s fans to be able to secure tickets.
And many fans love to come to Dallas-Fort Worth for the weather and to see the stadium.
“People love coming to Dallas. It’s part of the challenge,” McCarthy said. “It’s part of the challenge that you get from the opposition. The teams love to come here and play. It’s all part of having that target on you. And definitely with our record and what we’ve done to this point. We acknowledge all those things. It’s all part of the competition.”
It’s also not lost on McCarthy that the last two times the Cowboys had home-field advantage throughout the playoffs in 2007 and 2016, they lost in the first round to the Giants and the Green Bay Packers team of which he was the coach.
But this is a different year and a different team.
The Cowboys and their fans will have a little more bounce in their step Sunday as they hope to continue streaking toward home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
They will be buoyed by the return of quarterback Dak Prescott, who missed last Sunday’s 20-16 win against the Minnesota Vikings with a calf strain.
No one makes the Cowboys offense go like Prescott, who has thrown at least three touchdown passes in a team-record four consecutive games, a streak that started in the team’s home opener against the Eagles.
Prescott said the Cowboys are hard to defend anywhere but “there’s nothing like playing at AT&T Stadium.”
The Cowboys are focused on doing everything they can to put themselves in the best position to bid for a trip to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1995.
They feel it and they are embracing it.
“We feel like we have something really special going on with our locker room and everything that is going on,” McCarthy said. “We’re about beating Denver. We need to keep winning. This is the most important game because it’s the next game.
“I definitely feel strongly we have something special brewing here.”
