2024 NFL Week 18 Power Rankings: Dallas Cowboys loss drops them ahead of finale

It is officially New Year’s Eve, which means that the holidays, as we generally sort them, have just about wrapped all the way up.

Interestingly, the Dallas Cowboys have lost only two games since festivities began and leftovers percolated refrigerators across the country. The Cowboys lost to the Cincinnati Bengals a few weeks back and recently to the Philadelphia Eagles. Two losses around this time of year is generally associated with successful football, but Dallas dug too deep of a hole early on which has made it all feel a bit hollow.

Nevertheless the Cowboys are indeed coming off of a loss and a big one at that as Philadelphia took care of them by a final score of 41-7. it should come as no surprise to learn that as a result Dallas has dropped in power rankings, both ours and ones from across the internet

You can view last week’s rankings right here.

---

1 – Buffalo Bills (LW: 1)

I’m standing strong in my thought that they are going to win the Super Bowl.

But there is one team (outside of the Chiefs because duh) who gives me pause.

2 – Baltimore Ravens (LW: 2)

Hello! This is the team! The Ravens look unstoppable!

3 – Detroit Lions (LW: 3)

I’ve got them here for now, but it does feel like Minnesota is coming.

4 – Philadelphia Eagles (LW: 4)

It is a very frustrating thing that the Eagles were able to party at the Cowboys’ expense on Sunday afternoon.

Ideally someone within the Cowboys front office would be bothered by that. Ideally.

5 – Minnesota Vikings (LW: 5)

I hope everyone feels silly for discounting the success that they had in 2022.

Kevin O’Connell is a great coach and they have a great team. Skol.

6 – Kansas City Chiefs (LW: 6)

As noted… I am in no way going to count out Kansas City.

I am highly interested in how they Of Course their way through all of this.

7 – Washington Commanders (LW: 8)

Dan Quinn has really turned them into something respectable.

In a very weird way it is nice that they are good enough to properly loathe once more.

8 – Los Angeles Rams (LW: 10)

Sean McVay had sort of fallen off of the radar of young head coaches in recent years. Obviously he has been around for a while now, but wow what he has done with his team this season is impressive.

9 – Green Bay Packers (LW: 7)

Please let them go to Philly as a #7 see and take out the #2 seed Eagles so that we can have some semblance of joy.

10 – Los Angeles Chargers (LW: 11)

They are the anti-Chiefs as far as I am concerned.

I do not mean to be a pure hater, but I am giving them no real benefit of the doubt until they earn it in the playoffs.

11 – Cincinnati Bengals (LW: 13)

Obviously they are playing great and everyone wants to see them in the playoffs. I do, too.

But that they are in the predicament that they are in is their fault and their fault alone.

12 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers (LW: 16)

There are not exactly a ton of reasons to feel confident in the Cowboys at the moment but seeing how Tampa played just one week after Dallas handled them was interesting to say the least.

13 – Pittsburgh Steelers (LW: 9)

Many people said all season long that the wheels would eventually fall off.

Here we are.

14 – Denver Broncos (LW: 12)

I’d imagine that they will take care of business this week and punch their playoff ticket.

But can you imagine if they don’t?

15 – Houston Texans (LW: 14)

Of all 14 teams who will be in the playoffs (understanding the field is not fully official yet) I think it is very fair to say that the Texans are the 14th-best.

16 – Seattle Seahawks (LW: 15)

The Geno Smith storyline has been a lot of fun for a few years, but the offseason feels like one where Seattle has to make a legitimate move at the most important position in the game.

17 – Atlanta Falcons (LW: 17)

They may wind up missing out on the playoffs, but the offseason here will be exciting because there certainly seems enough reason to believe Michael Penix is the guy.

18 – Miami Dolphins (LW: 22)

Please do not make us watch this team lose 30-9 in the playoffs.

19 – Dallas Cowboys (LW: 18)

At least this thing is finally almost over.

20 – San Francisco 49ers (LW: 19)

The Cowboys missing the playoffs the year that San Francisco fell out of them is so frustrating.

21 – Arizona Cardinals (LW: 20)

It was so silly of me to believe. Like with Seattle, this feels like the offseason where Arizona makes a quarterback change. It would be so interesting to see who would have interest in Kyler Murray if so.

22 – Carolina Panthers (LW: 23)

They have finished this season on a generally high note all things considered.

I wonder what kind of offseason we will see from them.

23 – Jacksonville Jaguars (LW: 28)

I’d imagine they will be conducting head coaching interviews this time next week.

24 – Indianapolis Colts (LW: 21)

What an all-time embarrassing loss.

25 – Cleveland Browns (LW: 24)

Boring.

26 – Tennessee Titans (LW: 25)

Dreadful.

27 – Las Vegas Raiders (LW: 30)

They have now ruined their draft position two weeks in a row!

28 – New York Giants (LW: 32)

My goodness… speaking of… wow.

I truly cannot imagine going through all of the sludge of their season only for it to blow up at the end and create a controversy that will last for months into the offseason.

You hate to see it!

29 – New England Patriots (LW: 26)

Travis Hunter or trade back?

30 – New York Jets (LW: 29)

Legitimately cannot wait to see who they hire at head coach.

31 – New Orleans Saints (LW: 31)

It feels like they will have to settle for their third or fourth option.

32 – Chicago Bears (LW: 27)

Does anybody seriously want this job?

---

NFL.com: 21 (LW: 20)

So it begins.

Sunday’s 41-7 loss in Philadelphia was a disappointing downturn for a Dallas team that had routinely shown up and played hard the past month-plus. Even as banged up as the Cowboys were — they shut down CeeDee Lamb for the season last week — they ran out of gas quickly after a couple promising early drives. The fate of Mike McCarthy hangs in the balance — assuming he wants to be back — heading into the final game of the season. It seemingly could go either way, even after Dak Prescott and others have gone to bat for their coach. Prescott’s nearly $90 million cap hit (that hurt to write) will once again limit what the ‘Boys can do this offseason, big-swing-wise, even if they can clear up some space by shedding veteran salaries. Both lines of scrimmage and the secondary need depth, and the offense could use another playmaker or two, no matter who the coach is.

ESPN: 21 (LW: 19)

They also included the biggest offseason contract situation to watch and this one is rather obvious. If only Dallas had been able to take care of it last season to avoid this!

Biggest offseason contract situation to watch: Defensive end Micah Parsons

The Cowboys have Parsons under contract through 2025 with his fifth-year option worth $21.4 million, but they would like to get him signed long term. He has said he does not need to be the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL and wants to help the Cowboys “attack” free agency. They have not been overly proactive in getting these deals done lately (i.e. Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb), but they need to improve every aspect of their roster. A new deal for Parsons before free agency starts in March would give them the opportunity to be more active when the market opens. — Todd Archer

USA Today: 21 (LW: 18)

Drops are common this week.

They’ve been generally average rushing the ball during HC Mike McCarthy’s tenure, yet Rico Dowdle is their third different 1,000-yard back in the past four seasons.

Yahoo: 19 (LW: 18)

Only a slight bump down.

One horrible game doesn’t erase five weeks of promising play, but a 41-7 loss to an Eagles team that didn’t even have Jalen Hurts can’t reflect that well on Mike McCarthy. In Week 18, they face a Commanders team that presumably wants to win and get the No. 6 seed to avoid the Eagles in Round 1.

CBS Sports: 20 (LW: 19)

Same general story.

The momentum from the past month came to a halt in the blowout loss to the Eagles. They’ve had way too many injuries this season.

The Athletic: 17 (LW: 16)

They included a “what’s next” question of sorts for each team as well.

What’s next?: Extend Mike McCarthy (or not)

The Cowboys’ fifth-year head coach seemed to have saved his job down the stretch. They had won four of five coming into Sunday but then got embarrassed by the Eagles. McCarthy’s supporters can point out that Dak Prescott played only eight games this season. His detractors can counter with the fact that the Cowboys are 27th in the league in point differential (minus-114). That’s on pace to be their worst since at least 1989, according to TruMedia.

Sports Illustrated: 22 (LW: 22)

SI dropped Dallas after the Tampa Bay win and kept them where they were this week. Perhaps this is a sign that last week they were too harsh on the Cowboys following a victory.

Not a surprise, but since Micah Parsons has returned from injury he’s been the best pass rusher in the NFL. Like Myles Garrett suggesting he’d want to know the plan before deciding on his future in Cleveland, I’d make a similar request if I were Parsons. A truly generational talent gets that kind of treatment. Why sign up to be willingly ignored and strung along contractually?

---

Dallas Cowboys Movement Week To Week

Every week (per suggestions from you wonderful BTBers) we will update this graph to note how the Cowboys moved in power rankings according to each of the outlets that we curate.

---