Dallas facing a trap game following Week 10 bye

Dallas Cowboys player catching a football while being defended by a Las Vegas Raiders player during a game.

The Dallas Cowboys will come off their Week 10 bye and stare a trap game right in the face. Dallas travels to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders in the 11th week of the season.

Six days later they host the Philadelphia Eagles.

The danger for the Cowboys will be looking ahead to their division rivals. Four days later they host the Kansas City Chiefs on Thanksgiving Day.

If Dallas is thinking about back-to-back games against the two teams that played in the last Super Bowl, they will be in big trouble.

Who: Las Vegas Raiders
Where: at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada
When: Nov. 17th, 7:15 p.m. (CST)
How (to watch): ABC/ESPN

There are two very big reasons for the Cowboys to be nervous coming into this game.

The first is Raiders Head Coach Pete Carroll. Carroll has a way of getting the most out of his team, no matter how young they are.

College superstar Ashton Jeanty would "love" to play for Cowboys

The second is rookie running back Ashton Jeanty.

If the Cowboys’ run defense continues to struggle, Jeanty is going to make life miserable on Dallas.

All-Time Marks

This will be the first time the Cowboys have played the Raiders at Las Vegas. It’s only the second meeting between the two teams since the Raiders moved from Oakland.

Las Vegas, by virtue of a 36-33 overtime win on Thanksgiving Day in 2021, hold a 7-6 series edge over Dallas.

However, the Cowboys are 4-3 against the Raiders when the teams meet outside of Texas.

The last meeting in Oakland went to Dallas, 20-17, in 2017.

Dec 17, 2017; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) fumbles the ball out of the end zone against the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth quarter at Oakland Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

When it comes to Week 11 contests, the Cowboys are 34-27-2 overall. They are 17-16-1 when those games are on the road.

This will be the eighth straight year that the Cowboys will be on the road in the 11^th week.

They are 5-2 in those games after losing to Houston last year.

The last home game for Dallas in Week 11 came in 2017. They lost to the Eagles that year.

This will also be the first time Dallas has faced off against the Raiders in the 1th week of the season.

Their most common opponents in Week 11 are the Cardinals (6-1) and Commanders (5-2).

The Prediction

This game just screams “IT’S A TRAP!” like Admiral Ackbar. And there’s your obligatory Star Wars reference for the 2025 season.

With that brutal six-game stretch that follows this one, the Cowboys are just begging to get caught looking ahead.

Prediction: Raiders 31, Cowboys 27 (Predicted record so far: 4-6)

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Richard Paolinelli

Richard Paolinelli is an award-winning sports journalist with 34 years of professional newsroom experience. His newspaper career (1991–2011) includes the Gallup Independent, Modesto Bee, Gustine Press-Standard, Turlock Journal, Merced Sun-Star, Tracy Press, Patch, and San Francisco Examiner. He received the 2001 California Newspaper Publishers Association Best Sports Story award. Richard has authored two non-fiction sports books and 11 novels. At InsideTheStar.com, he has published 874 articles reaching over 728,000 readers.