Jerry Jones hints Cowboys will play starters in Week 18

The Green Bay Packers already locked up the top seed, a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the 2022 NFC playoffs. The Dallas Cowboys clinched the NFC East division title and will likely be the conference's No. 4 seed in the postseason.

There is, however, a slight chance that Dallas could get bumped up to the No. 3 or No. 2 seed with a win in Week 18 over the Philadelphia Eagles, plus some help from a few other teams. Even though the likelihood of altering their playoff positioning is slim, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones implied Tuesday that the team could very well trot out many of its starters on Saturday night in Philadelphia.

"We plan to play. We plan to play to win," Jones said during his weekly radio appearance on 105.3 The Fan. "Obviously, the debate over the two ways to go is pretty obvious, but I like to play. In this particular case, we're going to have an extra day's rest between our last game and the first playoff game. ... I think we're better served by going out there and executing and having our team out there really playing like it's the playoff game we'll be playing the next week."

According to NFL.com's Chase Goodbread, "Per NFL Research, among 32 possible Week 18 scenarios that don't involve ties, the Cowboys will keep the NFC's No. 4 seed in 28 of them." 

Dallas would move up to the No. 3 seed only if it wins against the Eagles, and the San Francisco 49ers (at Rams), Seattle Seahawks (at Cardinals) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (vs. Panthers) are also all victorious in their regular-season finales.

In order for the Cowboys to snag the No. 2 seed, they would need to defeat Philadelphia and have San Francisco, Seattle and the Carolina Panthers (vs. Buccaneers) each win as well.

The Cowboys' last playoff appearance was in 2018, and while they've captured five Super Bowl titles in eight appearances overall, their last 10 postseason experiences have ended in either the wild-card or divisional round.