'Fuzzy' Jerry Giddy With Cowboys on Brink of Improbable NFC East Title

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is embracing a Happy New Year filled with a controversial win, a Ring-of-Honor reconciliation, a gift from the Philadelphia Eagles and a clear path to the No. 2 seed and a home game in the NFC Playoffs.

So far ... so great.

No team in the NFL is having a better 2024 than the Dallas Cowboys. They benefited from a controversial, game-deciding penalty to beat the Detroit Lions last Saturday night. They ended decades-long chasm between owner Jerry Jones and former coach Jimmy Johnson with an emotional Ring of Honor ceremony. They received a late Christmas gift from the Philadelphia Eagles, who coughed up a 15-point lead at home and lost to the lowly Arizona Cardinals, opening the door for the NFC East title.

And, perhaps best of all, the Cowboys now face the ideal opponent on the regular season's final Sunday with a chance to secure not only their division championship but also the NFC's No. 2 seed and a home game in the playoffs. To fully take advantage of all their good fortune, all Dallas has to do is beat the Washington Commanders Sunday afternoon at FedEx Field.

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The 4-12 Commanders have lost a league-high seven in a row, including a 45-10 laugher to the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on Thanksgiving.

"What a way to start the year. It's exciting to no end," Jones said on his radio show on 105.3 The Fan Tuesday morning. "Back in training camp it was printed on our forehead that the goal was to have the best possible situation for the playoffs. That implies getting to this spot going into the final game. This is where we wanted to be."

In an audibly giddy mood, Jones downplayed the "luck" of the final play against the Lions in which Detroit's two-point conversion to take a lead with 23 seconds remaining was negated by a technically confounding "reporting" penalty.

"I can't believe the convoluted way that we ended up winning that game," he said. "But just one play doesn't do it. There were a lot of plays in that final sequence that were questionable. But let me put it like this: The defensive team is supposed to know who the eligible receivers are. Anything you do to fuzzy that up can get fuzzy for you."

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As for the Eagles loss, Jones said "I literally couldn't believe it."

And as for his long-awaited Ring-of-Honor reconciliation with Johnson: "It was a great day for both  of us."

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