🏈 NFL 2021-22 First December TNF Preview: Cowboys Head to Big Easy to Face Saints 🏈

        

🏈🏈🏈🏈

            

Dallas Cowboys (7-4) at New Orleans Saints (5-6)

Had this meeting occurred a little over one month ago, it would be considered a huge meeting between two of the NFC elites.

Instead, both teams are trying to recover from recent bad turns of fortunes over the last four games. The Cowboys are 1-3 during their most recent four game stretch. That is pretty bad, considering that they started the season 6-1. But New Orleans is even worse: after a very promising 5-2 start that saw them beat two top NFC contenders in the Packers and defending champion Buccaneers, New Orleans has suddenly dropped their last four straight games, and fallen to the outside of the playoff picture. 

And so, both of these teams are trying to correct their current course before it's too late. For the Saints, it has already reached crisis point. Again, they would be out of the playoffs if the season ended tomorrow, so they have very little margin for error left. They need to get back on track, back to doing the things that got them to that impressive 5-2 start.

Dallas, meanwhile, has a little more cushion. They are still ahead in the NFC East by two games, and still among the six teams in the NFC with winning records. The thing is that they have given up some ground - a lot of ground, if we're being honest - to the point where what once seemed like a laughable idea now seems like a plausible one. Namely, it is that Dallas, who once owned something like a four game lead over their closest rivals in the division, might actually not win the division title. 

So both teams really need this game. Neither wants to give up more ground. The Saints already have put themselves in a very uncomfortable situation. Dallas is close to doing it, if they don't start to straighten themselves out, and soon. 

The Cowboys still feel like the better team, and despite their recent problems, they still feel like not only the better overall team between these two, but the team that has been playing better during their recent downturn. Therefore, despite the fact that neither of these two teams has played well enough to make picking them exactly comfortable, it feels like Dallas is still in relatively safe territory, and a solid win or two would put them right back among the ranks of the NFC elites. That is why they ate the team that I figure should win this one.

My pick: Dallas