We all know the Cowboys' record at AT&T Stadium this season. Has it just been a matter of who they've played? Are there additional distractions when playing at home (with even more on Thanksgiving)? What do they need to do to reverse this trend? – Mitchell Reed/Phoenix, AZ
Patrik: It's been everything, my good man, and I do mean everything. You can just as easily point out the caliber of opponent as you can the injury report and injured reserve situation during the losses, as you can poor execution on both sides of the ball, backbreaking penalties and, hell, CeeDee Lamb even pointed at the sun a couple weeks ago. None of that matters in relation to what happens next at AT&T Stadium though, because the bottom line is no matter how wrecked the Cowboys have been by all manner of Murphy's Law this season, they are still, on paper, better than the shambles the Giants are bringing to town. So to stop the bleeding at home, they need to take advantage of finally having the edge in one of the aforementioned areas — caliber of opponent — and beat the holy brakes off of Tommy DeVito and Co., as they did almost exactly one year ago on the same field. Ask DeVito. I'm sure he'd be thrilled to tell you about that nightmare.
Tommy: Every team that Dallas has played at home this season except for New Orleans is on track to make the playoffs. That is a brutal stretch or any team regardless of how good they are, and the Cowboys just haven't been great consistently enough this season to have found a way to win some of those games, although they've had their chances to. Now looking ahead, every team they'll play at AT&T Stadium apart from Washington has a losing record. That's a drastic change that could bode well for the Cowboys, but at the same time I think Tampa Bay and Cincinnati are much better than their records reflect. That said, I think reversing the trend starts very simply: Just find a way to win at home and build off that. They've got a prime opportunity on Thanksgiving to start that process.
