FRISCO, TX — At one point this season, recently, the Dallas Cowboys went more than 40 calendar days between home games. They played four of their first six on the road and are returning from a narrow loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, their fifth road game in their first seven outings in 2023..
They'll return home to host the New York Giants on Sunday, and are only two weeks removed from their first actual homestand of the 2023 season.
It's something head coach Mike McCarthy is looking forward to after having already racked up so many frequent flier miles.
"Definitely," he said on Monday. "We love playing at home. We play very well at home."
That's saying the least.
Fact is, the Cowboys have outscored opponents to the tune of 111-33, by far the largest point differential in the entire NFL, and they're also less penalized at AT&T Stadium.
"I think it's important coming out of this game [against the Eagles], this was a heavyweight fight," McCarthy said. "We've got some guys we've gotta be smart with [health-wise this week]. We'll go into a lighter Wednesday, which was the plan before we played, in anticipation of it. And now we get another division game, so it's important for us to get back in the win column and keep that home-field advantage going."
It's currently an 11-game win streak at home for the Cowboys, one that extends back to November of the 2021 season. There was once a time when Dallas couldn't consistently demonstrate home-field advantage, but that has flipped wildly in their favor during the McCarthy era.
They'll have a chance to make it 12 straight wins when the downtrodden Giants walk into town, and they'll need to carry hard lessons learned from the loss to the Arizona Cardinals (albeit on the road) to ensure they don't overlook this opponent, especially considering they're now 2.5 games back of the Eagles in the NFC East and need to start stringing together wins before the all-important rematch on Nov. 5.
And, next time, it'll be the Eagles who are the road team.
