Of all the weeks to be playing on Monday Night Football, Week 9 seems like the perfect setup for the Dallas Cowboys as far as understanding what might be gained with a win over the struggling Arizona Cardinals.
The Cowboys got to sit home on Sunday and watch one potential NFC playoff team after another fall — specifically 2 teams right ahead of them with upsets of the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers. That means the Cowboys, who are 3-4-1, can actually gain significant ground by beating the Cardinals.
It also put the Cowboys in a position where they almost have to make a move ahead of the NFL trade deadline on November 4.
“Both Green Bay and Detroit lost today, the Cowboys hopes remain in a parity filled NFC where there is no juggernaut,” Cowboys reporter Clarence Hill Jr. wrote on his official X account. “It’s wide open as it’s ever been. Jerry Jones should make a trade.”
According to NFL.com’s latest playoff picture update, the Cowboys are just one game out of taking the seventh and final playoff spot in the NFC from the Lions.
The Cowboys’ NFC East rivals and the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles currently hold the No. 1 seed in the NFC while the Indianapolis Colts currently hold the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
Cowboys Have
If we were doing a draft in which we got to pick NFL offenses, you can make a good argument for taking the Cowboys at No. 1 overall.
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has been playing at an NFL MVP level for most of the season to go with an elite offensive line, above average running back in free agent Javonte Williams, a pair of Top 5 wide receivers in CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens and what looks like another Pro Bowl season from tight end Jake Ferguson.
The problem is the defense. They’re terrible.
The Cowboys are ranked 31st out of 32 NFL teams in team defense and are giving up just a shade over 400 yards per game.
Which Players Fit Cowboys Best in Trade
The Cowboys are in desperate need of an elite pass rusher, with fans pining for either Cincinnati Bengals edge rusher Trey Hendrickson or Las Vegas Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby.
“If the Raiders don’t want to trade Crosby and he doesn’t want to get moved, that should end the trade talk around him,” Heavy’s Austin Boyd wrote on October 26. “There will likely continue to be rumors, but it looks like a certainty that Crosby will still be on the Raiders’ roster at the end of the season.
Crosby, who signed a 3-year, $106.5 million contract extension in March, has indicated he doesn’t want to leave Las Vegas.
“So the Raiders told them, they’re not moving him, but also Maxx Crosby said, ‘I don’t want to go anywhere,’” Jay Glazer said on “Fox NFL Sunday.” “There was one team that called me and said, ‘Hey, could you find out?’ I said, ‘Nope, he doesn’t want to go,’ and a team said, ‘Man, we love him because of his loyalty. Wish he wasn’t, though.’”
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