Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) and New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (6) greeted one another following their game at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, September 13, 2026.
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News
The Rangers are one game out of first place with 12 to play. The Cowboys are one game out of first with 16 to play.
Who has the better playoff chances now?
It’s bizarre how things can get flipped in, say, 48 hours in the world of sports. On Friday night, The News’ forever beat writer Evan Grant, who has witnessed more Rangers games than most physicians consider to be safe, finally and understandably wrote a 72-76 team off following a 9-1 loss in Arizona. Naturally Texas won the next two games while Houston was getting whipped at Tampa Bay, and now the deficit is a single game.
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Who has a better chance to make the playoffs now: Cowboys or Rangers?
The playoff outlook for the Cowboys and Rangers shifted after a wild sports weekend. Let us know what you think.
The Rangers get nine home games, and the moribund Mets are included in the package. Houston plays six at home and six on the road although the final four are against the mostly minor league A’s in their decidedly minor league park in Sacramento. The Astros’ MVP candidate, Yordan Alvarez, has cooled considerably in the last two months — just 12 RBIs since Aug. 2 — so consider this race a dead heat.
It’s the race the Cowboys are facing that is so daunting, and I’m not talking solely about the NFC East. As we saw Sunday night in MetLife Stadium, the Cowboys are going to be chasing quarterbacks this season, and that’s a scary proposition.
After one week, the Giants’ Jaxson Dart ranks second behind the Bears’ Caleb Williams in rushing yards with 51. He play-faked the Cowboys defense all night long and, in fairness, he fooled me a few times although I believe technically my press box seat had a Weehawken address.
“You got young players and young players close and Jaxson Dart boots and gets outside,’’ Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said.
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He has now lined up against the Giants three times and is yet to secure a regulation win. It really shouldn’t be that hard.
But if running quarterbacks are going to be a problem for Christian Parker and his aggressive, young defense (which isn’t necessarily that young at every position), it’s going to be a long, hard ride to get back to the playoffs. Washington’s Jayden Daniels, who ran for 891 yards as a rookie in leading the Commanders to the NFC Championship Game, is up next, then the Cowboys get to chase Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson all over Brazil.
How do you think that might go?
I’m not saying everything that happened in Week 1 is a lock to still be in play in Week 14. But if the Giants’ play-caller, Matt Nagy, can expose the Dallas defense like this, there’s a real problem here. On a weekend in which New York and the country memorialized the 25-year anniversary of 9/11, the Giants managed to go precisely 9 for 11 on third downs and one of the two failures was a Dart kneel-down at the end of the game.
Remove that final clock-eating drive from the script, and the Giants had six possessions that produced four touchdowns. Mr. Parker has his hands full.
There were nine quarterbacks that rushed for at least 30 yards on the opening weekend. The Cowboys have seven games remaining with this group (two with Daniels, two with Jalen Hurts, Dart, Jackson, Baker Mayfield) if we assume those quarterbacks remain healthy.
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And the shift toward being strong in the middle (which is essentially how the Micah Parsons trade is justified internally) did not show itself Sunday night. Cam Skattebo (81 yards) was a handful and the Giants outgained Dallas on the ground by 96 yards. Speaking of people seeing too many of one particular team’s games, how familiar does the can’t stop the run refrain sound to Cowboys viewers?
So for this particular Monday, anyway, the odds have shifted into the Rangers’ favor. I’m not forecasting any lengthy October run here. I’m not even promising a .500 finish. This team isn’t going to win 11 road games and a World Series in loving tribute to the ‘23 club. But the team sort of got the band back together, lineup-wise, and it’s almost enough to make one forget Skip Schumaker’s yanking of a nearly perfect Jacob deGrom the other night in a costly bullpen blowup. Yes, I know deGrom said all the right things about a tight groin afterward. He is a good soldier. But he’s a better pitcher, and the Rangers have to keep him on the mound beyond the first twinge of tightness next time if they want to benefit from playing in the most mediocre division in Major League history.
One back. Doesn’t sound like much for the Rangers. Meanwhile, the Cowboys need a win Sunday to avoid a lonesome cellar, and the return of Daniels had Washington trying for a 2-point conversion tie in Philadelphia late Sunday afternoon. Nothing mediocre about the NFC East except, perhaps, one particular defense that is only starting the ‘work in progress’ routine.