National respect sometimes eludes Dallas, but this season the Cowboys have put together enough complete games on offense and defense to at least be in the conversation as the best team in the NFL.
FRISCO - We're mere weeks away from the start of the NFL Playoffs and teams are doing their best in this last month of the season to battle for positioning within the top four seeds of each conference.
Week 14 brought some scary moments for some of those teams, with the NFC's sliding Minnesota Vikings losing to the Detroit Lions and the AFC's Miami Dolphins looking lost out west against the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Dallas Cowboys also had their share of uncertainty on Sunday at home against the league's worst team, the Houston Texans.
A combination of inconsistent play by quarterback Dak Prescott and questionable decision-making by coach Mike McCarthy almost cost Dallas a much-needed win.
A win is a win, as they say, and they all count the same in the standings.
As the league gets ready for Week 15, let's check in on the NFL power rankings according to USA Today to see if that near-miss by the Cowboys cost them some national respect.
Dallas holds in the Top 5 at No. 5 this week, with just one NFC team ahead of it, as division rival Philadelphia takes the top spot.
We can pick at this a bit. One on each side of the ball.
On defense, Dallas' 48 sacks is the No. 2 total in the league (one behind Philly), so it's probably not really a "big problem.''
And on offense, only the Eagles and Chiefs have scored more points ... and as Cowboys fans know coach Mike McCarthy isn't the play-caller; offensive coordinator Kellen Moore is. Further, nobody really complained about poor play-calling when in recent weeks Dallas was scoring 54, 40 and 49 points.
Oh, one more thing: The Cowboys' two Tony Pollard TDs against the Texans truly do qualify as "creative,'' as does the precise work done by all on the 98-yard game-winning drive.
But having said all of that ...
If the Cowboys are going to have a long playoff run this season, we need to see more of the team that dominated the Vikings and the Colts, and less of the team that seemed unsure of itself against the Texans.
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