Spagnola: Must wins along treacherous stretch

FRISCO, Texas – Needless to say, this has been a bumpy road for the Cowboys.

The blasted injuries, swiping away Pro Bowl players from them, at different times eight of them, the most recent cornerback Travon Diggs and Zack Martin for the remainder of the season.

There was that five-game losing streak, three of them to teams currently leading their divisions and another to a second-place team.

There was the unforgivable loss to the Saints in Week 2. The six-point loss to Atlanta when losing quarterback Dak Prescot for the season during the game.

There was the inability to stop QB Lamar Jackson on a third-and-6 with 2:36 left to play that would have given the Cowboys the ball back around the two-minute warning with one last gasp available in a 28-25 loss to Baltimore.

Add the gosh darn – as as strong as allowed to describe – blocked punt leading to the Cowboys then muffing the crazy oblong ball thus leading to the Bengals winning touchdown in the 27-20 loss to Cincinnati in the final two minutes.

Yet here the Cowboys are, three games left to play with a 6-8 record, and as one of those analytical sites points out with but a 1% chance to grab the seemingly final NFC wildcard playoff berth and knowing full well in order for that 1% to remain alive, they at least MUST win their final three games.

And after all they have been through this season, the injuries, the heartbreaking events, the crushing losses to the likes of New Orleans, Detroit, Philadelphia and Houston, now comes their football equivalent of the Burma Road. Look it up, a treacherous route during World War II during the China theater.

This three-game stretch is an arduous one.

First, the 8-6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, first place in the NFC South, Sunday night at AT&T.

Then at the 12-2 Philadelphia Eagles, first place in the NFC East, and on their own late-season march to conquer the top seed in the NFC, currently tied for the best NFC record with Detroit and Minnesota, aside from any relevant tiebreakers.

Finally 9-5 Washington Commanders back at AT&T, second place in the NFC East, but leading the pack for the third wildcard berth at this stage of the battle. A team the Cowboys already have beaten, but all the Commanders must do is win one game, get to 10 wins and eliminate the Cowboys no matter what they do going forward since they can’t finish any better than 9-8.

But as like to say, can’t win three straight unless you win the first straight, and that mission starts 7:20 p.m. Sunday at AT&T with the Buccaneers, a big game for former Cowboys assistant Todd Bowles’ crew, since the Bucs just might need to win out in order to claim the South crown over Atlanta, which has already beaten the Bucs twice to snatch the head-to-head tiebreaker just in case.

So not just a team with a winning record and has won the past four straight, a highly motivated one at that having given up only an average of 15 points a game during this four-game winning streak.

As Cowboys head man Mike McCarthy says, “This is a big challenge.”

Sure as heck is. Meet that challenge and the challenge swells next week at Philadelphia, another highly motivated team.

And consider this the next week, if having to face a Washington team coming in on potentially a two-game losing streak, with potentially second place in the East and that third wildcard spot on the line since the Commanders first have to play Philly and Atlanta before arriving in Arlington.

Now all this could be a moot point before the Cowboys even meet the Bucs Sunday night. This perilous predicament for the Cowboys could be decided before they even dress for Game 15 since the Philadelphia-Washington game kicks off at Noon. By around 3 p.m. Sunday the Cowboys will know either Washington has extinguished their playoff hopes by beating the Eagles to get that 10^th win the Cowboys can’t obtain or then again fueling those slim playoff hopes by losing to the Eagles, who with a win clinch the NFC East title, meaning once again the defending NFC East champs (Cowboys) will not repeat for the 20^th consecutive season, though we already knew that part, just not the who.

Ah, but after all the setbacks the Cowboys have endured, what if there still is bait on the hook?

As Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says of the motivation when facing adversity, “Well, I’ve never met a competitor who doesn’t wear it inside and out, the disappointment. You have to wear it, and candidly it’s got to eat you up. It’s got to eat you up and eat you up enough so that when you’re getting ready to go again, anything you may need to call upon you got to remember how bad it hurts when you don’t win. That’s there.

“You say, ‘Well you can’t win every time.’ Well, you don’t know that when you are getting ready to play that game or make that effort. It’s important. Listen, your mind is so much of it here.”

So then, is it conceivable Washington, a team fortunate to defeat the New Orleans Saints this past game, 20-19, the Saints going for two points and the win after scoring a touchdown with no time remaining in the fourth quarter only to fail, could lose the next two? Who knows. Remember, after the Philly game comes Atlanta for the Commanders, now 7-7, with hopes of winning the South still alive and motivated.

Then come the Cowboys, providing they can somehow beat the Bucs and win on the road at Philly where they haven’t won since the 2021 season, and remember the Cowboys have yet to beat teams with winning records in back-to-back games. If they do, then would need a third against the Commanders.

And on top of all this, the Cowboys, if hope’s still alive, would need either the 8-6 Rams or Seahawks to win no more than one of their three remaining games, and the 7-7 Cardinals to win no more than two of their final three games. A 9-8 Cowboys team would win 9-8 tiebreakers with all three of those teams based on a better NFC record but lose any 9-8 tiebreaker with Atlanta since the Falcons own the head-to-head advantage.

That’s why all the Cowboys need to do is to now worry about Tampa Bay, especially if the Eagles beat the Commanders earlier in the day, giving further meaning to this upcoming game.

Crazier things in the NFL have taken place, in the Cowboys favor and against the Cowboys down these unpredictable stretches. Why numerous times in the final game of the season the Cowboys in their 65-year history have played win-or-go-home games. They’d love to face another meaningful one come Jan. 4/5.

Get this, too. As odds go, 1% is 1%. But a heckuva lot better than 0 percent. Just beware the pitfalls along this tenuous road.