FRISCO, Texas -- "The stars at night, are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas" are the opening lyrics to a classic country song that was released in 1982, but these lines can also describe the dominant play of the Texas team with the star on its helmet, the Dallas Cowboys, when playing at home in 2023.
The Cowboys pummeled the New York Giants, 49-17, in Week 10 to extend the NFL's longest active home winning streak to 12, which is also the second-longest in franchise history, and Dallas has won its four home games this season by a combined score of 160-50.
On Thanksgiving Day, Dallas (7-3) will host a familiar NFC East rival in the Washington Commanders (4-7) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, an environment that has not been kind to visiting squads. The Cowboys lead the NFL in home scoring offense (40.0 points per game), home point differential (+110) and home time of possession (37:33). Following the team's season-opening 19-3 home defeat in Week 1 of the 2022 season, head coach Mike McCarthy made a couple critical changes to their home game preparation schedule: granting players the option to decide if they want to sleep at their own homes the night before a game, not an incredibly common practice around the league, or use the hotel and wrap all final game preparation meetings so that everyone is done by Saturday afternoon.
"Yes, it's pretty clear what's gone on since we did switch," McCarthy said Monday. "It's really my experience in my first job with [late head coach] Marty Schottenheimer [and the Kansas City Chiefs] from 1993-1998 when we slept at home. Every place that I've been actually you have the option to sleep at home or sleep at the hotel. In Green Bay, I met with the [player] leadership council, and they didn't want to sleep at home because when everything is five minutes away, it's a different deal. They just liked the routine of it. I think there's a tremendous benefit of it. We've adjusted our schedule on Saturday. [Backup quarterback] Cooper Rush and I were just talking about this downstairs. It's not only the ability to sleep at home, but it's also the ability to get home and get a nap. Guys are getting to nap in their own bed and get to bed early."
Sleep is something McCarthy has come to value at a significantly higher level now that he is 17 seasons in as an NFL head coach after 13 years with the Green Bay Packers (2006-2018) and the last four with the Cowboys (2020-present). An improvement in the Cowboys' sleep schedule at home has clearly translated to the on-field results.
"I used to think sleep was for the weak," McCarthy said Tuesday. "What a dumbass statement that is... I hope my children don't follow the path that I took [in college] and my approach to [staying up late and cramming before] finals."
Cowboys by location this season
| HOME | ROAD | |
|---|---|---|
W-L | 4-0* | 2-3 |
PPG | 40.0* (best in NFL) | 21.8 |
PPG Allowed | 12.5* (second-best) | 23.0 |
Point Differential | +110* (best in NFL) | -6 |
Total YPG | 446.5 (second-best) | 356.2 |
Total YPG Allowed | 230.0* (second-best in NFL) | 311.2 |
Turnover Margin | +6* (tied for second-best in NFL) | -2 |
Third-Down Percentage | 50.9%* (second in NFL) | 44.1%* |
| Penalties/Game | 6.0 | 9.0** |
| Penalty Yards/Game | 43.5 | 74.0 |
Time of Possession | 37:33* (best in NFL) | 28:42 |
- *Top two in NFL
- ** Worst in NFL
Another element of the Cowboys' home-field advantage is AT&T Stadium itself. Most famous for its massive jumbotron, it can hold up to 105,000 people, including standing room-only tickets, and has had a little more than 93,000 fans in attendance at the Cowboys' four home games this season. Dallas is averaging 93,548 fans per home game this season, the most in the NFL. First-year Cowboy and 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore, the team's 12-year NFL veteran cornerback, realized Dallas' fanbase is different when he saw how they took over Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina last weekend.
"It's crazy because even at the game yesterday [on Sunday at the Carolina Panthers], it felt like a home game," Gilmore said Monday. "I've never seen that before. I know there are a lot of Cowboys fans, but to see it in-person and how they travel, it's crazy. I'm just looking forward to playing in a big game [on Thanksgiving this Thursday], playing for this team and hopefully coming out with a win."
Should the Cowboys come out with another home win on Thursday by 20 or more points, they would create NFL history as the first team to win its first five home contests of a season by that margin. They are currently one of only six teams in league history to win each of their first four games of a season by 20 or more. Just four of the previous five did so in a season in which a championship game existed, but of those four, three reached the league's championship finale in the same year.
Teams that won each of first four home games by 20+ points in NFL history
| Season | Team | Season Result |
|---|---|---|
2023 | Cowboys | ??? |
2007 | Lost in AFC Wild Card Round | |
2006 | Lost Super Bowl XLI | |
1991 | Washington | Won Super Bowl XXVI |
1949 | Won NFL title | |
1920 | Buffalo All-Americans | 3rd in APFA (9-1-1) |
Taking care of business against the teams they're supposed to beat
Not only do the Cowboys defend home field differently, they defend their honor at an NFL-best level when it comes to playing teams that they should defeat.
Their minus-4 turnover differential against teams with winning records is tied for the fourth-worst in the NFL this season with the Commanders, their Week 12 opponent, and the Raiders, the first team to fire their head coach this season. To be fair to Dallas, two games is an incredibly small sample size. On the flip side, no team embarrasses inferior opponents to the degree the Cowboys do. They are 7-1 against teams without a losing record this season -- the one loss coming in Week 3 at the Cardinals days after losing Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs for the rest of 2023 with a torn ACL -- and have a league-best +164 point differential against foes with a losing record. Some of those scores include the largest shutout win in franchise history (40-0 at the Giants in Week 1 on "Sunday Night Football") and the worst loss of Bill Belichick's all-time tenure as the Patriots head coach (38-3 at AT&T Stadium in Week 4).
Their formula, which has come to life, against those teams with a losing record is head coach Mike McCarthy's football Garden of Eden: complimentary football. Dallas has the best turnover margin (+10) against teams below .500, and their 34:03 time of possession against such teams is the second best in the league by 30 seconds behind the also 7-3 Browns.
Cowboys vs. teams with and without a winning record this season
| VS. TEAMS WITHOUT WINNING RECORD | VS. TEAMS WITH WINNING RECORD* | |
|---|---|---|
W-L | 7-1* | 0-2 |
PPG | 33.6* | 16.5 |
PPG Allowed | 13.1 | 35.0 |
Point Differential | +164*** | -37 |
Total YPG | 390.0 | 301.5 |
Total YPG Allowed | 243.8 | 356.5 |
Turnover Margin | +10** | -4 |
Third-Down Percentage | 48.7% | 38.5% |
Time of Possession | 34:03* | 26:18 |
- * At 49ers in Week 5 (42-10 loss), at Eagles in Week 9 (28-23 loss)
- **Best or tied for the best in NFL
The Cowboys' game against the Commanders is both a Dallas home game as well as a game against a team with a losing record, two green flags for the Thanksgiving hosts. Another trend in their favor is the play of quarterback Dak Prescott, currently in the midst of perhaps the best football of his eight-year NFL career, when it comes to playing the Commanders at AT&T Stadium. He has won all five of those starts and thrown 13 touchdowns and no interceptions in those meetings. Eight of those touchdowns have come in the last two such games, matchups the Cowboys won by a combined score of 103-30. Prescott has won 14 consecutive divisional home games overall, tied for the fourth-longest streak by a starting quarterback since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger.
Dak Prescott at home in career vs. Washington
| Statistic | Production |
|---|---|
W-L | 5-0 |
Team PPG | 40.6 |
Team 30-Point Games | 5 |
Comp Pct | 67.8% |
Pass Yards/Att | 8.2 |
TD-INT | 13-0 |
Passer Rating | 121.7 |
"Nah, that's last year's stuff. This is a really good team," Micah Parsons said Tuesday when asked about the Cowboys' 2022 play against Washington. Dallas won their meeting at AT&T Stadium 25-10 in Week 4 and lost the Week 18 regular season finale on the road in Week 18. Parsons made it clear that even though Thursday may appear to be a game they should rather easily, that's not how the team is approaching the matchup.
"You turn on the tape and they've been close to beating the Eagles, fell short just a little bit [lost 34-31 in overtime]. It could've went either way," he said. "The Giants game [a 31-19 loss in Week 11] I don't really count that between the amount of turnovers by the running backs and quarterback [six team turnovers, three interceptions by quarterback Sam Howell and three different players lost a fumble]. The Seahawks [game, a 29-26 road loss in Week 10] was down to the wire. This is a team that can be in a positive [way] any given way. They remind me a lot of the Chargers: a really good team that is barely splitting [.500], not due to coaching, but the ball just don't roll to your side sometimes. This is a team that could and should be on a positive track with the amount of talent that they have. It's a team we need to take very, very seriously. That should be enough motivation as it is."
