Philadelphia Eagles vs. 49ers: Does Dallas Cowboys 'Easy Schedule' Even Matter?

There will be no satisfying the most vocal critics ... save for one "Super" way ... but Thursday's win over the Seattle Seahawks should buy the Dallas Cowboys some leeway as we ready to watch 49ers at Eagles on Sunday.

Leave it to the new-century Dallas Cowboys to doom their own case in the eyes of the football-loving public.

Dallas took the long way but handled business to the tune of a 41-35 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in a nationally-streamed Thursday night triumph. With the win, the Cowboys (9-3) have still not beaten a team with an active winning record: Seattle (6-6) saw its playoff hopes take a hit as they linger on the outskirts of the NFC Wild Card picture.

For the Cowboys, however - as they settle in for a Sunday of NFL-watching featuring the other two top NFC superpowers in 49ers at Eagles - it certainly beats the alternative.

"It's great. It was a great win," cornerback Stephon Gilmore said. "It isn't always going to be pretty. Sometimes it's going to come down to the wire like that. I think we'll be ready next week."

"Next week'' is of course a visit from the 10-1 Eagles to the 9-3 Cowboys house. In the meantime ...

The 10 days between the Cowboys' consecutive Thursday games ... almost as much of a post-Thanksgiving tradition as Cyber Monday at this point ...  gives extra room to the discourse about the team's schedule. 

While Dallas' nine wins put them on steady postseason ground, it's perhaps a good thing they're not vying for a spot in the College Football Playoff, where strength of schedule and victory are often viewed as deciding factors for inclusion (the lack of a division title probably wouldn't help either).

With the win over the Seahawks being the only game on Thursday, dealing Seattle a loss did little favors for the Cowboys' strength of victory. 

The current number of .330 is second-worst among the NFC's current top 10, behind only a New Orleans group whose postseason hopes are partly sustained by divisional caveats. Seattle was certainly an upgrade in opponent worthiness, but that's only perhaps because the Cowboys' CFP-competing companions in Austin might've been an upgrade over their prior three victims (New York, Carolina, Washington).

Dak Prescott has been the face of the revamped Cowboys / USA TODAY SPORTS

Compare that to what the Cowboys' ultimate competition, the league-leading Philadelphia Eagles, has faced: their lone loss to the New York Jets looks increasingly bizarre but the Birds have more or less buried with wins over Miami, Kansas City, Buffalo ... and, of course, Dallas. The Eagles will have another chance to impress hypothetical voters when they face the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday late afternoon.

But there's plenty to talk about when it comes to the Cowboys' crucial NFC East showdown against Philadelphia on Dec. 10 (7:20 p.m. CT, NBC). Schedules shouldn't be a part of it.

Life in the NFL differs from the College Football Playoff: it's hard enough to win nine games by December in any medium of football and former Dallas boss Bill Parcells said it best when he declared "you are what your record says you are." If moral victories counted, there'd be no shortage of 1972 Miami Dolphins chasers.

All that matters is continuing the one-week-at-a-time approach that this current crop of Cowboys has seemed to have mastered. If one can adequately panic over a September loss to Arizona, the same amount of care and acknowledgement of handling business against subpar foes can be equally expressed.

The quality of opponent is one thing, but the Cowboys can be further commended for keeping their mental ducks in a row as well: the annual three-game holiday haunt, wrapped up in less than two weeks more often than not, can sometimes the nature of the final stages of Dallas' season. 

The tradition was skipped last season but a packed, physical stretch against Kansas City and Las Vegas yielded a win over New Orleans and the start of a 5-1 stretch to close out the regular season. A similar stretch in 2019, which also saw losses in two of three, set the pace for a dreary end to the year at 2-4 and the end of the Jason Garrett era. 

Safe to say, the pace and future are bright in Arlington, at least for now. For quarterback Dak Prescott, the face of this revamped success and active winning streak, embraced the sense of familiarity, one of the latest signs of his growing development, advancement, and maturity.

Of course, there's only one "Super" way to fully eradicate the critics. But there's something undeniably different about this group this time around.

“It’s a crunch,” Prescott said leading into Seattle's visit. “We’ve been in this position, having this game, for a number of years, just even Thursday games, understanding the body aspect of it, understanding the mental aspect of it and what we need to do and how we need to take care of it. Mentally, I feel great right now to go play these guys.”

Good teams know how to do ordinary things extraordinarily well. Can one truly argue that Dallas - as it sits on the couch today to watch - isn't doing that ... all while evolving?