Dallas Cowboys want to be home in playoffs, but need to be home to reach Super Bowl
Let’s just call it what it is, the Dallas Cowboys are a different team at home than they are on the road.
That has been the case all season and they provided additional proof of that in their record-setting 56-14 demolition of the Washington Football Team Sunday night, hours after clinching the NFC East title.
Record wise, the Cowboys are 5-2 at home and 6-2 on the road with one of each left in the regular season.
But the devil is in the details, especially for the Cowboys offense. Before the Washington game, the Cowboys were averaging 35.5 points per game at home, but that balloned to 38.4 after Sunday’s romp. Dallas is avergaging 23.5 points per game on the road.
The 56 points the Cowboys put up Sunday was the most points scored by a team in the NFL this season, the most points scored by a Cowboys team since their 52-17 victory against the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVII in January of 1993 and the third-highest point total in franchise history.
For a Cowboys team looking to reach the Super Bowl for the first since the 1995 season, it’s even more of a reason the newly-crowned NFC East champs need to continue to strive to get the No. 1 seed to secure home-field advantage throughout the NFC title game.
Quarterback Dak Prescott couldn’t explain why the team performs that much better at home. “Obviously we want to get the away numbers identical to these home numbers,” he said. “We are putting in ourselves in a position to play at home and I think that is important to play our best ball regardless if it is home or away in the later part of the season. We are trending in the right direction.”
At 11-4, the Cowboys are currently the No. 2 seed behind the 12-3 Green Bay Packers.
They are already assured at least one home game as a division champ but they will need to win the final two games against the slumping Arizona Cardinals (10-5) on Jan. 2 and at the streaking Philadelphia Eagles (8-7) on Jan. 9, and hope the Packers drop one of their final two games against the Minnesota Vikings (7-8) or Detroit Lions (2-12-1) in order to claim the top seed. The Cowboys own the tiebreaker against the Packers if the two teams end the season with the same record.
Coach Mike McCarthy said the Cowboys are shooting for that top spot and he credited the crowd at AT&T Stadium as a big reason why.
“Definitely. I think everybody wants to play at home,” McCarthy said. “If you look at the environment that we just competed in, to have that environment the biggest games of the year, that’s exactly what you’re looking for. We’ve done a number of good things that we can build on and what’s exciting is that we have two more left to play and we have a playoff-type game coming in seven days here with Arizona. We’re excited about the position we’re in.”
While it’s hard to recognize AT&T Stadium as a home-field advantage for the Cowboys, considering the number of opposing fans who are able to get tickets to every game, the numbers don’t lie.
And neither does the fact the Cowboys are seemingly more comfortable playing at home.
The crowd and the familiarity played a huge role in Sunday’s explosion against Washington.
A Cowboys offense that had struggled with just six touchdowns in their previous 18 trips in the red zone preceding three games went 6-for-6 in the red zone against Washington.
“Amazing. That atmosphere felt like a playoff atmosphere,” Prescott said. “We knew we were coming in and trying to win this division here at home and I think the fans obviously stuck around here now to support. With the game lopsided, they stayed. I think it was great all around and we’re fortunate to have the fans that were a big part of the game.”
Being at home seemingly makes all the difference in the world for Prescott.
He has a passer rating of 104.2 with 11,297 yards, 81 touchdowns and 24 interceptions in 42 games at home in his career.
But in 2021, he is simply off the charts with a passer rating of 117.9 on 1,961 yards, 20 touchdowns and two interceptions in seven games at home, compared to a passer rating of 86.6 on 1,967 yards, nine touchdowns and eight interceptions in seven games on the road.
Consider the Cowboys last eight games. They have played four at home and four on the road. Prescott had 10 touchdowns and one interception at home, and three touchdowns and five interceptions on the road.
So it goes without saying that if the Cowboys hope to realize their potential in the playoffs, AT&T Stadium needs to be a big part of their journey.
