Each Friday this NFL season, we’re taking a quick look at the league’s most interesting team in action that weekend. This week, we’re going with the Dallas Cowboys.
Why the Cowboys? Because rookie backfield duo Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott is doing something very special. In fact, it’s almost unprecedented. Prescott is the first quarterback in modern NFL history to win seven of his first eight starts, and Elliott is an offensive player of the year candidate. No rookie has ever won that award. Led by those two, the Cowboys are looking to win eight games in a row for the first time since 1977.
Why this week? That’s right, the Cowboys never went on an eight-game regular-season winning streak during their 1990s dynasty days. They opened the ’77 season 8-0 and went on to win the Super Bowl. Now, with a victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday, they’d be 9-1 and riding their first eight-game regular-season winning streak since then.
What should we expect? That’s the thing that makes this interesting. This is a very tough road game against a desperate and talented team, and Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has won six straight home starts. He’s also probably a lot healthier after returning last week from a knee injury. Pittsburgh is a small favorite here, so this could be a make-or-break moment for Dak, Zeke and the young and surprising Cowboys.
Put it all together and for at least one weekend, the Cowboys are America’s most interesting football team.
