A loss to the Eagles would put Cowboys in historically bad company
There are two teams who have yet to win a game at home this season. As we reach the double-digit week portion of the NFL season only the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys have lost every home game that they have played so far. It goes without saying that this is not a list that you want to be on.
Focusing on the Cowboys here, they have only lost three games at home this season specifically. If we date things back to last year and include the playoffs though, then that number grows to four thanks to the Green Bay Packers.
This is the necessary context for the rest of our conversation. Shout out to Stathead and Pro Football Reference for the assists on these searches.
Another home loss breaks a franchise tie that the current Cowboys are currently a part of
As noted, the Cowboys have an active home game losing streak of four games. This is tied for the fourth-longest streak of such kind in franchise history with a few different other groups.
If Dallas loses another home game they will sit in fourth place (if we want to call it that) all alone and trail the 1960 group by just a single game. Consider that the 1960 team you see here did lose six consecutive games at home, and that they were literally the first six home games in franchise history. That is the company the current team is approaching.
There are six home games remaining on the season and if Dallas were to lose them all then they would surpass the mostly 2015 group that was dreadful without Tony Romo under center. As things currently stand eight consecutive games lost is the longest streak ever at AT&T Stadium which as mentioned is technically in some level of jeopardy at the moment.
A home loss would tie the longest active streak in the NFL for the Cowboys
At the moment there are three teams across the league with active home game loss streaks of at least four contests. You know the Cowboys are one, likely assumed that the Giants were, and the other is the Seattle Seahawks.
New York and Seattle are technically safe this week in that the former is visiting the Carolina Panthers (without Jonathan Mingo!) and the latter is on bye. This means that if the Cowboys do lose that they will end Week 10 tied for the longest active home game loss streak in the NFL.
If you are curious, these are the remaining home games for each of the three beginning with Week 11:
Interestingly, New York is on bye in Week 11 while Seattle is on the road (a reversal of the roles as they are this week) which means that if Dallas loses to both the Eagles and Texans that they will end that week with the longest streak in the NFL.
The number to avoid is 415
We talked about this a few weeks ago in our historical notes after the loss to the Detroit Lions, but given that this is the first home game since then it is worth bringing back up.
At the moment the Cowboys are riding a different sort of streak at home. For five consecutive games in their building now, this dates all the way back to the Lions win late last season, the Cowboys have allowed 415 total yards against them. That is a lot!
You can see that only one other team in NFL history has had a streak of such kind in the 2012 New Orleans Saints. Those Saints literally did not have their head coach at the time as Sean Payton was serving his season-long suspension for the team’s Bountygate scandal.
If the Eagles are able to produce at least 415 total yards in this game then the Cowboys will have the longest streak of this kind of any team ever in NFL history. For what it’s worth, Philadelphia has only broken the 415 total yards seal twice this season, although the most recent instance of it was last week in their win against the Jacksonville Jaguars.