TJ Jefferson’s Latest Cowboys Prediction Is MUCH Different from His 1st 14-3

T.J. had the Cowboys at 14 and 3 the first time he played the win-loss game. He was not alone out there, which is the only thing that saved him. A caller in Texas landed on the same number, and there were three separate 14 and 3 predictions in the pile.

His defense was chemical rather than football.

"I picked that day I was riding high off the LeBron news," T.J. said.

Rich offered him a do-over on the spot, with one caveat. LeBron is still a Sixer. So nothing had actually changed.

The redo started identically. Beat the Giants to open, naturally. Beat the Commanders the following week, you know it. Then the losses arrive on schedule, to the Ravens and the Texans, before a win over the Buccaneers.

Then the first real divergence. Green Bay, which T.J. had won the first time, became a loss.

Philadelphia went the other way, and for a reason that is not strictly analytical. Asked whether Dallas wins on a Monday night in Philadelphia, T.J. reasoned that LeBron might be in the building, so yes.

From there the pessimism took over. He gave away the Cardinals at home, calling them one of those teams that has Dallas's number, then the Colts on the road, then the 49ers, which he refuses to pick until Dallas actually clears that bar.

"That's a hurdle we've yet to get over," T.J. said. "And until we are able to get over that hurdle, I ain't going to take the L."

The Titans came back as a win, with a nod to the coaching fraternity involved. Thanksgiving against the Eagles did not, on the honest theory that the two teams split.

Seattle is where the redo turned into something close to a spiral, and T.J. blamed television.

"At first I said dub, but I've been watching Hard Knocks," he said. "I like the way the Seahawks go about their business." Rich diagnosed it immediately as propaganda taking hold. T.J. took the loss anyway, which put Dallas at three straight defeats.

The Rams stopped the slide, though the reasoning again had nothing to do with the roster. T.J. and Del Tufo are going to be at that game.

Home wins over the Jaguars and Giants followed, then Washington, and the whole thing landed at 10 and 7.

He did not care for it.

"I like my first one better than this," T.J. said.

Nobody at the table believed either version. Rich put the real answer somewhere in the middle, T.J. agreed, and the room settled on the idea that Dallas is neither a 14-win team nor a 10-win team.

The interesting part was Rich's reasoning for why the middle is right. His read is that the usual Cowboys outcome, the one where they shoot themselves in the foot, may finally be off the table this year.

He also thinks they beat the Ravens.