Playoff Race: Dallas Cowboys Win Over Eagles Means 1st Place in NFC East - But Only Temporarily

NFL Playoff Race: Dallas Cowboys Win Over Eagles Means 1st Place in NFC East - But Only Temporarily

FRISCO - The good news for the Dallas Cowboys resulting from the Philadelphia Eagles' loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday?

This upcoming "Sunday Night Football'' duel between 9-3 Dallas and 10-2 Philly is kinda "for all the marbles'' ...

But also "for only just a moment.''

If Dallas is able to win this week at AT&T Stadium - and the Cowboys have been installed as a three-point favorite to do just that, thus extending "America's Team's'' NFL-best home winning streak to 15 games - the Cowboys would march into the final four weeks of the regular season ahead of the Eagles in the NFC East.

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But don't schedule the parade just yet.

Dallas would indeed take the division lead based on the fact that the Cowboys have won one more NFC East game than Philadelphia. 

But if both teams win the rest of their games? It’s an advantage that would disappear, as if the Eagles run the table in their final four games while Dallas does the same in its final five, the third tie-breaker - best record in common-opponent games - would drop the Cowboys.

Why? Because Philly has lowly Arizona coming up on the schedule ... and Dallas - ouch! - already lost to lowly Arizona.

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So again, even if Dallas wins next weekend and both teams finish 14-3, Philadelphia wins the division and would bump the Cowboys to Wild Card status.

To tuck away for future reference, the tie-breakers are ...

1. Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games between the clubs)

2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division

3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games. ("The Arizona Problem.'')

4. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference

5. Strength of victory in all games

6. Strength of schedule in all games

7. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed in all games

8. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed in all games

9. Best net points in common games

10. Best net points in all games.

11. Best net touchdowns in all games

12. Coin toss

There are other wrinkles involved, including of course if both teams finish 13-4 (in which case Dallas can win the division if its fourth loss is to Detroit, the least of the complicated scenarios) and on and on. 

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Bottom line: Philly at Dallas on Sunday will no doubt feel like it's "for all the marbles.'' But it'll take another month to truly know ... and if the Cowboys fall short? It'll likely be about that crummy September day in the Arizona desert.