There is a playoff atmosphere around Detroit as the Lions prepare to play the Dallas Cowboys at Ford Field on Thursday night.
It’s a mixture of excitement and doom surrounding the second consecutive weekday game for teams on the periphery of the NFL playoff picture when kickoff time arrives.
“You can’t worry about the other teams that are out there, the other teams that are in front of you or what it looks like in the NFC. Just can’t,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “And it doesn’t matter. And shoot you win out, you might not get in. You don’t know. Maybe it only takes 11 (wins) to get in. I don’t know. But I know this: we’ve got to win this one.”
Must-win is the scenario for Dallas, too, even after three straight wins to get to 6-5-1. The Cowboys beat the Chiefs on Thanksgiving Day, following up wins over the Philadelphia Eagles and Las Vegas Raiders.
“It’s a lot of good momentum, but it don’t mean nothing if we don’t go out and handle business,” said defensive lineman Kenny Clark of the Cowboys’ second-half push. “We gotta wash all that away, what we did. It’s week-to-week, and we got to just keep on proving ourselves, and getting ourselves out of the hole.”
Detroit (7-5) is in this predicament after losing three of its last five, including a key 31-24 home defeat to NFC North rival Green Bay on Thanksgiving Day. One factor working in the Lions’ favor is that they haven’t suffered back-to-back defeats since October 2022.
That status of top wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown may not be determined until game day. Brown suffered an ankle sprain during the first quarter against the Packers when an offensive lineman rolled up on his leg. Brown has a team-leading 75 receptions, 884 yards and nine touchdowns this season.
“I know this, if he can play, he’ll play,” Campbell said.
Considering the Cowboys’ explosive passing attack, Brown’s availability could be crucial. Pacers quarterback Jordan Love threw four touchdown passes against Detroit’s banged-up secondary. Making things worse for the Lions is that cornerback Terrion Arnold was placed on injured reserve and ballhawking safety Kerby Joseph (knee) remains sidelined.
“We need all three units to step up for us and play big,” Campbell said. “They’re hot right now, they’re playing really good football, they’ve got a lot of confidence.”
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is on a proverbial heater, throwing eight touchdown passes and averaging 314 passing yards during the team’s current three-game winning streak. The pick your poison combination of receivers CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens is presenting major headaches for defensive coordinators.
They combined for 13 receptions, 200 yards and a touchdown in Dallas’ 31-28 Thanksgiving Day win over Kansas City. And no team is giving quarterbacks more time to throw than the Lions (2.99 seconds), according to Next Gen Stats.
Defensive end Aidan Hutchinson has been double- and triple-teamed of late, leaving Detroit defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard to mix up his pass-rush plans.
“When your name is called, if you draw a one-on-one, you have to win in this league if you want to be around,” Sheppard said. “And it’s just simple as that.”
In the past two games, opposing quarterbacks have seven touchdown passes and 600 total passing yards.
“I don’t think we’ve affected the quarterback to play any style,” Sheppard said.
The Lions embarrassed the Cowboys, 47-9, on Dallas’ home field last season, adding another element to Thursday’s contest. Lamb had 13 receptions for 227 yards and a touchdown against the Lions in 2023.
“We got the better of them and they got the best end of us last year, and that was not a pretty game,” Prescott said of the recent rivalry. “I’m definitely looking forward to just getting back out there, going to Detroit, having the group that we have and having to communicate in such a tough environment. But understanding we got to play physical. It’s going to be a four-quarter fight.”
With some upgrades at the trade deadline, the Cowboys defense has also shown improvement during the streak. Dallas still has plenty of work to do to stay in the postseason race, but sees only one team — the Los Angeles Chargers (8-4) — with a winning record the rest of the regular season.
“It’s going to be physical, it’s going to be long, it’s going to be hard,” Lamb said. “It’s a playoff game essentially. You’ve got the atmosphere, we’re playing away, I don’t think it gets any better especially with everyone in the whole world understanding the situation as far as us all wanting to be in the playoffs. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a good one.”
Starting offensive tackles Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell, who are dealing with shoulder injuries, were among the Lions who didn’t practice on Tuesday. Offensive tackle Tyler Guyton (ankle) and defensive end Jadeveon Clowney (hamstring) missed the Cowboys’ practice on Tuesday. Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Clowney’s gameday status will come down to whether he can fully stretch out without discomfort in pregame Thursday. He had two sacks against Kansas City.
Dallas is 3-4-1 in conference games and the Lions are 4-4, making Thursday even more important because of the tiebreaker rules. A head-to-head tiebreaker could become a factor in determining wild-card entries in the NFC. Dallas already lost to the Panthers (7-6) and Bears (9-3), while Detroit beat the Buccaneers (7-5) and lost to the Eagles and split two games against Green Bay.
The Lions have alternated wins and losses since Week 5. Detroit still has regular-season games against Chicago and the Los Angeles Rams (9-3), the teams currently vying for the top seed in the NFC.
