Because the Cowboys suddenly can’t win at home anymore, a trip to MetLife Stadium and a game against the Giants just might be the well-timed cure for their ills.
All the preseason tension that was supposed to disappear after quarterback Dak Prescott and receiver CeeDee Lamb signed contract extensions worth a combined $376 million has instead only been amplified entering Thursday’s turning-point game between two teams trying to avoid the early-season basement in the NFC East.
The Cowboys’ 16-game regular-season home winning streak gave way to back-to-back home losses to the Saints and Ravens in which the defense allowed nearly 500 total rushing yards under new coordinator Mike Zimmer.
Suddenly, a fourth straight 12-win regular season – after the last three were deemed not good enough because of playoff failures – feels less automatic to a restless fan base.
“I feel like [as] a competitor, at some point you’ve got to be prideful enough to say, ‘I’m not going to allow this to happen to me,’” linebacker Micah Parsons said. “I just feel like some people are just allowing them to keep getting smacked in the face. Like, when are you going to stand up?”