Cowboys 6-game win streak against Lions on the line while searching for first home win

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Sunday should be intense.

The Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions are both coming off confidence-boosting wins that have both playoff teams from a year ago sitting at three wins and second in their divisions to a surprise team at the top. The Lions will be coming off their bye week to return to the site of just their fifth loss of the season in Week 17 last year, one mired in controversy as ESPN’s Monday Night Football became a lesson in the always fun to discuss tackle eligibility rules.

The Cowboys escaped with a 20-19 win after the Lions appeared to take the lead with 23 seconds left on a two-point conversion pass to Taylor Decker. After discussion by the officials, it was ruled that the Lions did not properly report both Decker and former Cowboy Dan Skipper as eligible, and the try was moved back to the seven. Dan Campbell still opted to play for the win and try for two again, which ended up being the right decision at the moment because of a Micah Parsons offsides penalty that brought the ball back to the two. Finally, the Cowboys would emerge from one of the wildest sequences of the season clinging onto the lead when a third attempt by the Lions was incomplete in the front corner of the end zone for TE James Mitchell with Jayron Kearse in coverage for Dallas.

In some ways, the Lions got the last laugh as this was their last loss all the way until the NFC Championship Game, while the Cowboys bowed out of the playoffs in the Wild Card round at home. Meeting again much earlier in a new season this Sunday, both teams now have a clean slate to prove themselves as conference contenders, with a win for either side going a long way in doing so. The Cowboys earned some legitimacy as a potential playoff team with their thrilling Sunday night win at the Steelers last week, while the Lions offense finally broke out in a Monday night shootout win over the Seahawks 42-29 two weeks ago. Detroit also opened the season with a primetime win in overtime versus the Rams.

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The Cowboys have yet to win at home since last year’s playoff loss, a knockout punch that snapped a 16-game AT&T Stadium win streak dating back to 2022. They’ve gotten off to very slow starts in two home losses through the first three weeks of this season against the Saints and Ravens.

Reestablishing something of a home field advantage and winning their third game in a row would be an immense step for a young team that knows help is on the way with multi-week injuries to Marshawn Kneeland, Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Brandin Cooks still to work through. The Cowboys may have cornerback DaRon Bland back for the first time this season against the Lions.

For the Lions, this will be just their second road test of the season, and passing it to reach 4-1 going into a divisional game against the first place Vikings would be equally important for their confidence. It isn’t too often a Sunday afternoon week six game feels like a pivotal point in both team’s seasons with possible playoff intensity, but that is exactly what we might see from these two teams in Arlington.

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Dallas has never lost to the Lions in the Dak Prescott era, with a six-game win streak that dates back to another controversial home win in the 2014 Wild Card round. In Tony Romo’s last career playoff win, a Lions drive to go up at least six with eight minutes left appeared to be extended into Dallas territory on a pass interference call against linebacker Anthony Hitchens. Lions tight end Andrew Pettigrew grabbed Hitchens’ facemask during the route, Hitchens never turned around to play the ball, and in the end the refs picked up the flag. The Cowboys got the ball back after just a ten-yard Lions punt, converted a 4th-and-6 to Jason Witten to keep the drive alive, and later scored on third and goal with a touchdown to Terrance Williams. An eight-play Lions drive to try and take the lead back down by four would end in the final minute of the game on a DeMarcus Lawrence strip sack, and the Cowboys were onto Green Bay for the Divisional Round - a game that saw controversy come back to bite them on Dez Bryant’s overturned fourth-down reception near the goal line.

As far as Prescott led games against the Lions, the Cowboys have had the advantage of four of these five meetings since 2016 being at home. Prescott has a career 68% completion percentage for 1,463 yards and 11 touchdowns to one interception in these games. These 11 touchdown passes against the Lions are the most for Prescott against any non-NFC East opponent, tied with another NFC North opponent in the Packers.

Three of these wins have been decided by one score, the closest being last year’s one point decision. This was the second win for Mike McCarthy as the Cowboys head coach against the Lions, but the former Packers HC has an extensive history against them in NFC North competition. In McCarthy’s first four seasons from 2006-09, the Packers swept the Lions each year. He went 18-7 against Detroit in his career with Green Bay, with his first loss to the Lions coming the same season he went on to win the Super Bowl in 2010.

McCarthy was fired after 12 games in the 2018 season, losing seven of them including a 31-23 road loss at the Lions. Joe Philbin took over as the interim head coach for the final four games of the season and concluded the season with a 31-0 home loss to the Lions.

Also of note, current Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer has eight previous years of head coaching experience in the NFC North and posted a 10-6 record against the Lions from 2014-21.

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McCarthy is currently in his second season calling the plays on offense for the Cowboys. His first season saw skill players like CeeDee Lamb, Jake Ferguson, Brandin Cooks, and Tony Pollard all work together to be one of the best in the league led by Prescott at QB. The Lions operate under offensive coordinator Ben Johnson who was one of the hottest HC candidates this offseason. Johnson opted to “run it back” in Detroit for a team that returns all the core players that got them a win away from the Super Bowl, most notably passing on the Commanders opening that went to Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.

The Cowboys offense took a giant step forward against the Steelers, establishing Jalen Tolbert as a legitimate weapon alongside Lamb, finding easy completions for Ferguson in the middle of the field, and seeing Rico Dowdle further assert himself as the best option out of the backfield.

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The Cowboys will need to build on this positive momentum in a big way against the Lions. The Cowboys have only scored 22 first half points combined in two homes games this season, and trailed by at least 22 points in each loss. The Lions may have a lot of weapons in the pass game, but are more than happy leaning on a dominant offensive line to keep the ball on the ground between David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs at running back. If the Cowboys allow the Lions to control this game with their offense on the field, patiently set up shot plays off of the run game, and play defense with the lead like visiting teams have done so far to Dallas, it could be a major setback for the Cowboys going into their bye.

Both teams have seemed to start this season with an understanding that it is a long journey and what you do in September and October isn’t always indicative of how they’ll play when the games matter the most down the road. They both have a lot riding on potential postseason success to determine the futures of these franchises. Even with the Lions being in the NFC Championship a year ago, they are both also searching for more legitimacy as contenders, being overshadowed by the 5-0 Minnesota Vikings and 4-1 Washington Commanders leading the divisions.

Once again it will be the familiar crew of Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady for FOX who have called every Cowboys home game (and even their Week 1 road win at the Browns) this season. They have become something of America’s Team’s hometown announcers, but have seen early season losses for the Cowboys be much more about crowning the Saints and Ravens as contending teams than anything nearly as impressive for Dallas. The Cowboys have their sights set on much more than just avoiding another blowout loss now that they’ve won consecutive games for the first time this season, but will need another complementary effort in all three phases to add another win to their recent history against the Lions.

The Cowboys lead the all-time series, one that began with the inaugural 1960 Cowboys concluding their winless season with a 23-14 loss in Detroit, by two games at 19 wins with 17 losses. A win on Sunday would mark the longest winning streak by either team in the series, with the Cowboys also winning six straight from 1963-77.