3 trap games the Cowboys can’t afford to lose
By John Buhler
If the Dallas Cowboys want to win the NFC East, they must avoid losing these trap games.
The Dallas Cowboys have the talent to win the NFC East, but must avoid the trap games first.
With a healthy Dak Prescott under center, we should expect the Cowboys to be infinitely better than they were a year ago. This is the second season with head coach Mike McCarthy at the helm. They added former Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn to coordinate their defense, so what could go wrong? What could go wrong is dropping these trap games and missing the playoffs.
The Cowboys have to do everything in their power to avoid losing these three trap games.
Dallas Cowboys: 3 trap games they cannot afford to lose in 2021
3. Week 17: Arizona Cardinals at Dallas Cowboys (Jan. 2)
From Dec. 12 to the end of the regular season, the Cowboys will play four games against their three NFC East division rivals. This is where the Cowboys will either win the NFC East or lose it in epic fashion. There is no in between. However, there is one game that is unlike the rest. That would be a home date vs. a former division rival in the Arizona Cardinals in Week 17 on Jan. 2.
This one is a trap game for a few reasons. One, we don’t really know how good Arizona will be this year. Will the Cardinals be good enough to make the playoffs in the deep NFC West or will they be a last-place team in a great division? Two, Dallas will almost certainly play down to the level of their division competition from Dec. 12 on. And three, Arizona may play with greater urgency.
If the Cardinals were a more high-profile team out of the NFC West like the Los Angeles Rams or the Seattle Seahawks, the Cowboys would really get up for this game. However, this is a game where the Cowboys could enter it on a sleepy Sunday and get burned by native Texan Kyler Murray rifling it to DeAndre Hopkins and A.J. Green. Don’t lose this one to miss out on a Wild Card berth.