ARLINGTON, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys came into Sunday's game against the Denver Broncos at 6-1. They were the #3 seed in the NFC Playoffs, but after winning in Minnesota last week with their backup quarterback, some had begun talking about Dallas as the best team in the NFL.
They were 10-point favorites over a Denver team that had lost 4 of their last 5 games.
And evidently, they were feeling every bit of that. Because on Sunday, they paid for it.
"When you win a game like we did last week, on the road, in a tough environment, with everything going against us," quarterback Dak Prescott said, "I think sometimes you think you can just roll out there and get it done."
Dallas learned on Sunday that is not the case. Not in the NFL.
"Even when the adversity hits, I don't think there was really ever a point, maybe until the last few minutes in the game where we didn't think that we're going to be able to get something going to win this game," Prescott said. "And then when that sinks in, you just realize it's the NFL. This is a tough business."
That Dallas needed that reminder is, in part, a testament to how good they've looked over the first seven weeks of the season. And it's, in part, an indictment of head coach Mike McCarthy, that he hadn't properly drilled that message into his team before that feeling cost them a game.
But now the Cowboys know. A 30-0 deficit against a middling Broncos team is a blaring alarm that should wake the Cowboys up.
"I think one of you asked me, right, this week about learning from a loss," Prescott said. "And I said you don't have to lose to learn from it. But when you do lose and you have the negatives you've got to take positives from it. And we'll make sure that we take a lot from this."
It doesn't help matters that this loss could cost Dallas dearly in the chase for home field advantage in the NFC playoffs. Two of their primary contenders for that top spot in the conference, the Packers and Cardinals, are playing without their starting quarterback Sunday. This was an opportunity to move up in the playoff pecking order, possibly even to the very top, if Dallas could've won today.
Instead, they're hoping those teams lose, just so they can tread water.
But regardless of what happens elsewhere in the standings, Dallas must utilize this embarrassing loss.
Their quarterback is confident they will.
"Just the feeling in the locker room," Prescott said. "A lot of guys were hurt, a lot of guys were upset. I mean we got beat. And that's not something that we've become used to at this point. I mean, we're, we're a focused team, we're a brotherhood. Nobody liked it. And we'll learn from it in every aspect to make sure that we grow, we become better, we're accountable for it, and we move forward."
