Even with the best record in the NFL (11-1), the Dallas Cowboys are not the favorites to win the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. The betting favorites continue to be the New England Patriots, but barely.
New England: 16/5
Dallas: 7/2
That's the same New England Patriots team that won't have Rob Gronkowski for the rest of the season.
That injury brings me to a series of points for the Dallas Cowboys. They're relatively healthy, minus Morris Claiborne. It's possible the corner back could come back the playoffs, but that's a iffy.
More importantly, every other Super Bowl contender has serious injury problems to key players. Gronk is out for the Patriots, Giants star DE Jason Pierre-Paul could be out for the rest of the season and All-Pro Seattle safety Earl Thomas broke his leg and won't play again until fall 2017.
Those teams have lost extremely significant pieces needed to potentially beat the Cowboys in the playoffs. Dallas has been lucky to this point with injuries.
Sports Connection
Connecting you to your favorite North Texas sports teams as well as sports news around the globe.
But the greatest thing the Cowboys have working for them, aside from the injuries across the NFL, is the state of Texas. If the Cowboys earn home field advantage, which they could do as early as this Sunday, they won't leave Texas for a single playoff game.
They would have a wild card weekend bye, then play at AT&T Stadium for the divisional round, then play at AT&T Stadium for the NFC Championship and then Houston's NRG Stadium for Super Bowl Ll if they're lucky enough to advance.
If that happens, somebody better check on Jerry Jones. He might explode with happiness.
