Out of Slump, On to Super Bowl: Can Cowboys Get No. 1 Seed in NFC Playoffs?

With NFC East clinched, Cowboys can now realistically eye home-field advantage in playoffs

Dallas Cowboys' checklist back in August at training camp in Oxnard, Calif.:

*Get Dak Prescott healthy. Check.

*Improve last season's historically horrible defense. Check.

*Re-boot Zeke Elliott/lighten his workload. Check.

*Have a winning record. Check.

*Win the NFC East. Check.

If you recall Mike McCarthy during Episode 1 of HBO's Hard Knocks almost five months ago, those accomplishments should all add up to the ultimate goal of playing in Super Bowl LVI Feb. 13 in Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium.

"F*ck last year," McCarthy said passionately during one of the team's first meetings. "Charlie F*ckaround? He doesn't work here. High School Harry? Get his ass out the f*cking door. This is about winning a world championship. Nothing else. Winning season? Not good enough. Playoffs? Not good enough. Getting to the conference championship game? Not good enough. This is about winning the Super Bowl. Period."

In the wake of last Sunday night's devastatingly dominant 56-14 victory over the Washington Football Team, the Cowboys are seemingly on track to meet McCarthy's lofty goal. But what's next?

*Be the NFC's No. 1 seed and secure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

At 11-4, the Cowboys are the No. 2 seed. Because of a better conference record (9-1) they own tiebreakers over the Buccaneers and Rams, who are also 11-4 overall. With two games remaining they trail only the No. 1-seeded and 12-3 Packers by one game.

If Dallas can make up that game and finish with the same record as Green Bay, it will get the No. 1 seed - also because of a superior NFC record that would climb to 11-1 by winning out. The Cowboys' final two games are against the Cardinals Sunday in Arlington and Jan. 9 at Philadelphia. The Packers finish with the Vikings at home Sunday and at the lowly Lions Jan. 9 in Detroit.

While the Packers will be heavily favored in both games and are likely to finish 14-3, a 2-0 finish by the Cowboys will give them hope. And winning out is certainly worth it.

Since the NFL started seeding teams and awarding home-field advantage to the best record in 1975, the Cowboys have been No. 1 six times - 1977, 1979, 1993, 1995, 2007 and 2016. On those occasions they won the Super Bowl three times.

In all, NFC No. 1 seeds have advanced to the Super Bowl 25 times in the last 46 seasons (54 percent).

By winning their division, the Cowboys will host at least one playoff game at AT&T Stadium. The significance of hosting more cannot be understated.

They are 5-2 in Arlington - for what it's worth, the Packers are 7-0 at Lambeau Field - and average a whopping 38 points per game. Only once this season (Nov. 7 vs. Denver) have the Cowboys been held below 30 points at home. In Prescott's last 11 full games at home, he has averaged 327 passing yards with a completion-rate of 69 percent, 31 touchdowns and only four interceptions.

Lots of boxes already checked in 2021. More important work to be done.