NFL Week 5 rooting guide for Cowboys fans

As rough as the first four weeks of the 2024 season have been for the Dallas Cowboys, they still find themselves at 2-2 and in the middle of the pack for playoff consideration. They’ve been helped by some surprising flops by other NFC teams, and they’ll probably need more of those if they want to extend this season. How could the Week 5 schedule help?

Two key NFC teams are on a bye this week; the Philadelphia Eagles and the Detroit Lions. The early break comes at a good time for the 2-2 Eagles, who are struggling on the field and dealing with a lot of negative media attention. Detroit might have preferred a later bye, not wanting to lose momentum after two good wins. They’ll be well-rested for a Week 6 showdown in Dallas.

The Cowboys have another tall task in Week 5, on the road against the 3-1 Pittsburgh Steelers. While Pittsburgh may not be as good as that record indicates, we could easily say the same about Dallas. They don’t feel like a .500 team right now, and they’ll be trying to beat the Steelers without Micah Parsons or DeMarcus Lawrence. Clearly, we’re not exaggerating when we say the Cowboys need all the help they can get.

Let’s get to the other NFC teams who are playing this week with the latest Cowboys fans rooting guide:

Browns over Commanders
Washington is looking more and more believable as a contending team. A loss to Cleveland would not only help in the NFC East standings but also to bring down the positive vibes swirling around the Commanders. The more confidence QB Jayden Daniels gets, the more dangerous he’ll be. The rookie sensation feels like Washington’s reward for finally fixing their organization at the highest level.

Giants over Seahawks
Returning home after a tough loss to the Lions, Seattle is probably going to take out their frustrations on the hapless Giants. But if New York can figure out how to finish drives with touchdowns instead of field goals, they have the firepower in the passing game to pull off some upsets. If New York can hang some losses on other NFC teams throughout the year, it will potentially help Dallas down the road and worsen the Giants’ position in the 2025 Draft.

Buccaneers over Falcons
If you think Dallas is going to win the NFC East, you’d root against the other likely division winners so they have worse records. But if you think the Cowboys are more likely to be a Wild Card team, as we do, then you want their competition for those three spots to take losses. The Bucs look like the favorites in the NFC South right now, so we’ll root for them to keep on winning.

Rams over Packers
Jordan Love’s back ahead of schedule and makes 2-2 Green Bay dangerous with so much season left to go. The 1-3 Rams feel like a non-factor this year, so hurting the Packers here is a good thing for Dallas.

Cardinals over 49ers
Similar logic here; Arizona’s 1-3 and Frisco is 2-2. A Cardinals win makes both teams 2-3, which is good for the standings and for throwing gas on the 49ers’ fire.

Panthers over Bears
While we do want Carolina to have a better draft pick than New York, we also don’t want Chicago taking a wild card spot away from the Cowboys. The 2-2 Bears are a potential problem as QB Caleb Williams figures things out throughout the season, so a loss here would help.

Jets over Vikings
Chiefs over Saints
Two interconference matchups in which we can root for the AFC teams. While Minnesota is 4-0 and leading the NFC North, there’s still a lot of time for 3-1 Detroit to get back into their projected spot as the division winner. If the Vikings are fated to fall into the wild card race, we need their record to be reachable for the Cowboys.