The Dallas Cowboys clinched a playoff spot before their game started on Sunday.
Following the Panthers' win over the Falcons on Sunday afternoon and a Packers loss to the Buccaneers, Dallas wrapped up its third straight postseason appearance.
Unfortunately for the Cowboys, any celebration was dampened after a lopsided 31-10 loss to the Bills.
"Nah, didn't know that at all. Didn't pay attention to that. Don't care to be honest," Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said when asked if he knew about the team clinching prior to kickoff. "Obviously, coming into this thing, I mean beginning of the year, that's one of the goals. But as we've gotten to the latter part of the year with the way that we've been handling the season, we knew that was just a matter of time. So, can check it off, but we've got other things to focus on and I've continued to tell you all at different times that this is about us putting our best performance out each and every week, and today we simply didn't do that. So that's where the concern and that's where the focus is much more than us getting the playoffs."
Nonetheless, head coach Mike McCarthy has now piloted the Cowboys to the playoffs in three of his four seasons in Dallas.
The next boxes to check for the Cowboys before the playoffs would be winning the NFC East and possibly wresting away the NFC’s top seed from the San Francisco 49ers.
Four games still remain in the 2023 season, but the Cowboys have clinched a shot at their ultimate goal, which is winning their first Super Bowl since the 1995 season.
