ARLINGTON, Texas -- Here’s some good news for the Dallas Cowboys after a horrendous Thanksgiving Day: They only have one more home game left on the schedule.
Yes, that qualifies as good news.
The Cowboys are the best road team in the NFL this season. They are 5-0 away from home, the only team in the league without a blemish on their road record.
How then to explain the Cowboys’ 3-4 record at home?
“Some of the home games are against very good teams,” quarterback Tony Romo said after Thursday’s 33-10 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. “That is usually a good analysis of that sometimes. I don’t have a good answer for you.”
That’s as good of an answer as any.
With the exception of the Washington Redskins, the Cowboys’ home losses have come against quality teams. The Arizona Cardinals and Eagles lead their divisions. The San Francisco 49ers have advanced to at least the NFC Championship Game the past three seasons and are currently fighting for a playoff spot.
Only one of the Cowboys’ road wins came over what could be considered a quality opponent: the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, who had lost only once before at home with Russell Wilson at quarterback. The rest of the Cowboys’ road wins came over opponents with a combined 10-34 record.
The AT&T Stadium crowd isn’t the issue, no matter what defensive end Jeremy Mincey might have said Thursday evening.
There’s no question that the Cowboys didn’t have much, if any, of a home-field advantage in their first three games at JerryWorld this season. Those felt like bowl crowds, with bunches of 49ers, New Orleans Saints and Houston Texans fans invading Jerry Jones’ $1.2 billion football palace, but the Cowboys went 2-1 in those games.
The Cowboys have had no complaints about the makeup of the crowds in the past four home games. If the crowds haven’t been loud, it’s because the Cowboys failed to give their fans reasons to get fired up.
“I’d have to count it, but this may have been the most numbers of fans that we’ve had, or in the top two or three of the fans,” Jones said after the loss to the Eagles. “I was excited about it being Thanksgiving, excited about the makeup of the crowd, almost 100 percent Cowboys fans, good and loud, and they never got to get in it, because again, we just couldn’t respond after Philadelphia did so well in the initial drives.”
It won’t be easy for the Cowboys to finish .500 at home. Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts are the one opponent left on the home schedule.