The Dallas Cowboys, and Other Regular Season Road Warriors, in the Playoffs

The Dallas Cowboys became only the sixth team to go 8-0 on the road in the regular season. Meaningless trivia or meaningful?

ESPN ran this tweet about the company that they are keeping (note: Miami in 1972 went 7-0; Washington in 1982 went 5-0 in the strike-shortened season).

Of course, the counter to that implied causation of the above tweet is this: the Cowboys are 12-4. Every other team that went undefeated on the road was a #1 seed, and no team on that above list finished worse than 14-2 in the regular season.

But I thought I would take it further and look at “road warrior” teams entering the playoffs. We can tend to ascribe greater meaning than necessary to randomness. Is it meaningful that Dallas appears to be better on the road than at home? How have teams that have performed better on the road in the regular season, as measured by wins and losses done, once the postseason began?

This year’s Cowboys are tied for the greatest differential among playoff teams since 1978 (when the league went to 16 games), at 4 more road wins. They are joined there by the 2000 New Orleans Saints (3 home wins, 7 road wins), the 2001 New York Jets (3 home wins, 7 road wins), and 2007 New York Giants (3 home wins, 7 road wins).

If you want to cite an example to support a “road warrior” theory, then you would point to the 2007 Giants, who won three road games before upsetting the undefeated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

However, if we look at every team that won at least two more road games than home games during the regular season, we don’t see any such pattern. In fact, the “road warriors” were very good bets at home.

Thirty-three playoff teams (since 1978) won at least two more games on the road than at home. Here’s a quick summary:

"Playoff Games at Home: 22-5 (18-9 against the spread) Playoff Games on the Road: 7-17 (12-12 against the spread) Playoff Games at Neutral Site: 4-2 (3-3 against the spread)"

The 2007 Giants accounted for nearly half the road wins of the regular season “road warriors” once the playoffs hit.

Of course, when it comes to Dallas, the inverse is true. Don’t think them a lesser team just because they have to play a playoff game at home. History is full of teams that played better on the road in the regular season, but came out roaring at home in the playoffs.

[feature image by @mshamburger1]