The Dallas Cowboys were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday evening and had to play a game the next day against the Los Angeles Chargers knowing that. All primary/important members of the Cowboys played against the Chargers, but an argument could be made that Dallas prepared all week to play things down to the wire in the event that they were still mathematically alive in the playoff hunt.
A new week means a change to reassess and think about things with a different perspective. Perhaps the Cowboys would look at their remaining games and decide to close up shop on the season by sitting important players to the franchise and not risk injury.
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This will not be the case. Stephen Jones said Monday on 105.3 The Fan that quarterback Dak Prescott will play and that seems to represent the idea in an overall sense.
It is easy for fans to punt on a season when a team is eliminated and move the focus to next year. Arguments are made for tanking in the name of improving draft position as much as possible. Obviously it is a different sort of disposition for the teams. We will see how the Cowboys feel after this week’s game.