Cowboys' Dak Prescott is ready for his team's brutal three-game gauntlet.
The Dallas Cowboys, at 4-5-1, are well aware that their 2025 season is slipping away, even as, yes, the win over the Las Vegas Raiders was good for the soul.
Attention now turns to the next three weeks. ... with some opportunities that could be good for the standings.
Dallas ...
*Faces the Philadelphia Eagles at home on Sunday.
*Then comes another home game at AT&T Stadium, welcoming the Kansas City Chiefs on Thanksgiving.
*And then comes the capper on the "Triple Gauntlet'' with a daunting trip on the road to Ford Field to face the Detroit Lions.
The Cowboys' margin for error to make the playoffs is wafer-thin right now, and one could make the case that a loss in any one of the next three games would be devastating to their already shrinking playoff hopes.
So ... are they all season-defining for the Cowboys?
Dak Prescott thinks so.
"Yeah, they will be defining," Prescott said. "I don't think there's any ifs and buts about it. Knowing where we put ourselves, what we have to do. Yeah. After these three games, we'll either have given ourselves a good shot or put ourselves in a hole. So, I don't think that'll be really a discussion."
The Cowboys narrowly lost to the Eagles 24-20 in Week 1 and had CeeDee Lamb catch just one of his late drops in the fourth quarter, maybe Dallas wins that game, so there is confidence there.
The Chiefs, if they lose to the Indianapolis Colts this week, would nearly be out of playoff contention, so the Cowboys could catch them napping, and as far as the Lions go, that will be a tough matchup regardless.
But first up is the Eagles, who, offensively, have been so-so all year but are doing just enough, while their defense has been elite over the past two weeks, so Dallas' high-octane offense will be put to the ultimate test on Sunday.
So too the improved Cowboys' defense with Quinnen Williams, Shavon Revel Jr., and DeMarvion Overshown all making an impact last week.
Prescott calls the next three weeks defining, but for us, this Eagles game is for all the marbles in this sense ...
Win and the season is alive. But lose, and it's curtains for 2025.