The Dallas Cowboys currently have the highest point differential across the entire NFL

Dec 5, 2022 - 11:30 PM

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There is no perfect metric to evaluate NFL teams against one another, even wins do not tell an entire story all by themselves. There are certainly valuable ways of looking at one football team against another in the hopes of drawing as objective conclusions as we possibly can. Two personal favorite metrics are DVOA (shout out Football Outsiders) and point differential.

We discussed Sunday’s Dallas Cowboys win on the latest episode of 1st and 10 on the Blogging The Boys podcast network. Make sure to subscribe to our network so you don’t miss any of our shows! Apple devices can subscribe here and Spotify users can subscribe here.

We are one game away from tying a bow on Week 13 (at the time of publication), and at present time the Cowboys are the number two team in overall team DVOA, trailing only the Buffalo Bills (they are 11th offensively, first on defense, and fifth as far as special teams are concerned).

The Cowboys and Eagles have been flip-flopping between spots two and four in terms of DVOA over the last few weeks but that makes sense. DVOA is wonderful but there are generally not seismic movements from one week to another because of how it is calculated.

It is rare but there can be seismic shifts in point differential which is where we are at right now.

The Dallas Cowboys currently have the highest point differential across the entire NFL

All told the Cowboys scored 54 points against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night and an amazing 33 of them came in the fourth quarter.

This massive influx added to a statistic like point differential as did the team’s 37-point win over the Minnesota Vikings two weeks ago. Still, though, points are points and the Cowboys have been scoring a lot of them as of late. Consider that over their last three games they have more offensive touchdowns than the Denver Broncos do all season!

The Cowboys have been hovering near the top of point differential for a bit now (partly thanks to the Vikings win) and the team at the very top of it in the Buffalo Bills. While Dallas still trails Buffalo in overall team DVOA, they have now passed them in point differential and are currently at the very top of the NFL (barring the most ridiculous game of all time on Monday night).

NFL point differential leaders through Sunday of Week 13

• Dallas Cowboys...................................... +127
• Buffalo Bills............................................. +124
• Philadelphia Eagles................................ +112
• San Francisco 49ers.............................. +92
• Kansas City Chiefs................................. +80
• Cincinnati Bengals................................. +57
• Baltimore Ravens................................... +49
• New York Jets......................................... +29
• New England Patriots............................. +23
• Seattle Seahawks................................... +14
• Minnesota Vikings.................................. +10
• Miami Dolphins...................................... +10

You will recall that the Cowboys lost by 16 points in the season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers which was not a lot of fun. The five games following that were all quarterbacked by Cooper Rush. and they finished with a point differential of +28 which is highly impressive considering they were not at full strength.

But the Cowboys have completely exploded over the last few weeks which is why they are where they are. In the six games since Dak Prescott has returned, the Cowboys have a point differential of +115 which is absolutely bonkers.

Dallas is having success in every phases of the game as evidenced by their DVOA rankings. The Super Bowl is not won in the early days of December, but they are rounding into form as the most important part of the year approaches.