A quote-on-quote good week has been hard to come by for Dallas Cowboys fans this season.
The injury to quarterback Dak Prescott during Week 5 was, of course, gut-wrenching. And then primetime losses like Week 6 against the Arizona Cardinals, Week 12’s Thanksgiving loss to the Washington Football Team and Week 13’s verdict against the Baltimore Ravens all made coffee taste worse the next day, too.
Week 14 wasn’t that bad for the Cowboys and their fans, but it wasn’t necessarily that good, either.
For the Cowboys, who have continued to express their intent on making a run at the NFC East, they defeated the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. And for their fans who are more realistic, just wishing the team would punt on the rest of its season in hopes of landing a high draft pick, well, Sunday’s win didn’t cost them drastically.
If the season ended after Week 14, the Cowboys would possess the No. 5 overall pick. It’s been a position they’ve been in for the last few weeks — behind the winless Jets, Jaguars, Bengals and Chargers. That’s good.
What stops it from being great, though, is that the Cowboys had a real chance Sunday to gain ground on the No. 4 overall selection. The current team drafting fourth, the Chargers, pulled out a win over the Falcons. Dallas would’ve leaped Los Angeles if the result against Cincinnati was different.
Here’s how the top 10 picks would fall if the draft was held Monday morning:
1. New York Jets: 0-13
2. Jacksonville Jaguars: 1-12
3. Cincinnati Bengals: 2-10-1
4. Los Angeles Chargers: 4-9
5. Dallas Cowboys: 4-9
6. Carolina Panthers: 4-9
7. Atlanta Falcons: 4-9
8. Miami Dolphins (from 4-9 Houston Texans)
9. Philadelphia Eagles: 4-8-1
10. New York Giants 5-8
The Cowboys still have time to better their position… in the NFL Draft.
Dallas will host the 5-8 49ers during Week 15 with the Eagles and Giants closing the season in Weeks 16 and 17, respectively. The Chargers will travel to the Raiders on “Thursday Night Football” and host the Broncos in Week 16, two very winnable games.
We’ll see if and how the next three weeks impact Dallas’ draft stock.
