Cowboys vs. Washington 2017: Time, TV schedule for ‘Thursday Night Football’

The Cowboys are spinning out of control. If they can’t turn into the skid and leave Washington with a win in Week 13, they’ll cede the NFC East to the Eagles — and effectively crush their own playoff hopes.

Washington is in a similar must-win situation. At 5-6, the only way to qualify for the 2017 postseason in a dangerous NFC may be to win out. These two disappointing teams will meet in prime time on Thursday Night Football. The broadcast begins at 8:30 p.m. ET and broadcast live on NFL Network/NBC (live stream).

Barring a late-season miracle, Philadelphia will ensure no team repeats as East champion for the 13th straight season. Both Dallas and Washington are facing a steep climb to the postseason; the final wild card spot is held by a 7-4 Falcons team with a two-game lead over either team. Whoever loses Thursday night will effectively be out of the playoff race.

Cousins has started 52 games over six seasons with the Washington NFL team. But the team reportedly needs to see him start a few more before they’ll decide whether to franchise tag him yet again for 2018, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Cousins’ response to that?

“If you still need five more games, or five-plus, to make a decision, so be it, but I’d like to think that I’ve played a lot of football here,” Cousins said on his weekly appearance on 106.7 The Fan.

Our generation has a certain appreciation for Taylor — for better and for worse —because we know people similar to him. We have friends who remind us of him. Or we are that friend. While he was standoffish with the media, we felt we knew him. And because we’re part of the same generation, we aren’t so far removed from our youth that we’ve forgotten what it’s like to make poor decisions that aren’t representative of our character. What it’s like to learn from those moments. What it’s like to be young.

The answers to those questions is crucial for the future of the Cowboys. When they made the decision to retain Prescott in the starting job over Tony Romo once the latter was healthy, they committed to Prescott as the quarterback for the next decade or more. Stumbling into a franchise QB at the end of the fourth round of the 2016 draft was seen as a major coup for Dallas. But now the concern is that it may have been fool’s gold, and the star of the future may be flaming out after less than two seasons.

Prescott is still the unquestioned leader of the Dallas offense, but the electric rookie has given way to a mediocre sophomore in 2017. He’s been less accurate this fall, his interception rate nearly tripling to 2.6 percent as his Cowboys have faltered. There are several potential reasons for his decline — defenses adjusting to his breakout 2016, the loss (and occasional inconsistent play) of Ezekiel Elliott, lackluster receiving performances. The bigger question is whether or not he can rebound in time to salvage what looks like a lost year.

In their Week 13 picks, six of our eight experts think Washington will win, while OddsShark’s computer went with Dallas.