Cowboys Blessed With 'Super' Schedule

The NFC East leaders may not face another winning team until Thanksgiving

Dak Prescott has come back from his injuries, and regained MVP-caliber form.

Dan Quinn has reincarnated the defense, spiked by Trevon Diggs.

Also playing a vital role in what so far is a special season potentially headed for super, the Dallas Cowboys' schedule has cooperated - if not absolutely laid down.

How perfectly are things lining up for the Cowboys? At 5-1 they have only beaten one team with a winning record (Los Angeles Chargers), and might go until Thanksgiving before facing another (Las Vegas Raiders). They are good, no doubt. But also reaping the benefits (third-place schedule) of last year being bad.

Last February we diagnosed the Cowboys' 2021 as the NFL's third-easiest. And even before the season opener at Tampa Bay, we mapped out an inviting schedule that had them playing only winnable games from Labor Day to Thanksgiving.

Bottom line: The Cowboys are great partly because their schedule is so good.

First and foremost, Dallas, which has never started a season 5-1 without making the playoffs, has the advantage of playing in an atrocious NFC East where the other three teams are 2-5. The Cowboys have games remaining against the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles and two with Washington.

But otherwise, it's also smooth sailing.

Until the holiday hosting of the 5-2 Raiders at AT&T Stadium  Nov. 25, the Cowboys play the 3-3 Minnesota Vikings, 3-4 Denver Broncos, 3-3 Atlanta Falcons and 3-4 Kansas City Chiefs. They could realistically be 9-1 on Thanksgiving with only one win over a team with a winning record on their resume.

The only unlucky scheduling quirk: The Cowboys have to face the NFC West's third-place team from 2020 - the Arizona Cardinals.