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The Cowboys' road woes should be very alarming
The Dallas Cowboys have a problem, and it showed itself again on Sunday evening in Buffalo. The problem — they are simply not a very good football team when they have to play a game away from AT&T Stadium.
They demonstrated that point once again in a 31-10 loss to the Bills on Sunday that was a complete one-sided beatdown. The Cowboys not only lost, they got manhandled and pushed around the field on both sides of the ball.
It was such a physically dominant win by the Bills that quarterback Josh Allen only had to throw for 94 yards. Not because he was ineffective, but because the Bills had no reason for him to pass.
They ran over, around and through the Cowboys' vaunted defense all evening to the tune of 266 yards, averaging 5.4 yards per carry.
Defensively, Buffalo put a major dent in quarterback Dak Prescott's MVP push by limiting to 134 yards, keeping Dallas out of the end zone until the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, sacking him three times and intercepting him one time.
All of that is concerning from a Dallas perspective as it relates to Sunday. But what is truly concerning from a big picture perspective is just how bad the Cowboys have been on the road this season and what a complete 180 it is from their performance at home.
The numbers are staggering. At home the Cowboys are 7-0, average 39 points per game and have outscored teams by a 279-108 margin. Dating back to the start of the 2022 season they are 15-1 at home with 15 consecutive wins.
It is a totally different story on the road. With Sunday's loss the Cowboys are 3-4 away Texas and have been outscored by 156-152 margin. They have also averaged just 21 points per game and have lost three road games (at Arizona, at San Francisco and at Buffalo) by at least two scores. Over the past two years they are just 8-9 (including playoffs) on the road.
This is such an issue because the Cowboys are looking at the very real possibility of needing to play their playoff games on the road. Sunday's loss to the Bills puts the the Philadelphia Eagles back in the driver's seat for the top spot in the NFC East and the guaranteed home game that would come along with it.
If Dallas can not secure the top spot in the division it will most likely be the No. 5 seed in the NFC. That might not be a huge problem in the opening round (where it would almost certainly play the winner of the NFC South), but it would be a huge problem for the potential Divisional and Championship rounds should they advance.
The Cowboys are almost certainly going to have to beat a good team (and probably more than one) on the road if they are going to get to the Super Bowl. They have not shown they can do that for two years now.
Things are not going to get any easier next weekend when they have to play another top team (Miami) on the road. If they lose that game and struggle to keep it competitive Cowboys fans should be majorly concerned.
More must-reads:
- Dallas Cowboys All-Pro guard Zack Martin suffers leg injury vs Bills
- Is Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy in line for extension?
- The 'Most interceptions in a season' quiz
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