NFL Power Rankings 2012: Cowboys come in at No. 22

The silver lining for the silver and blue: They're the third best 3-5 team in football, which includes a group of eight NFL teams. The bad news is that's still only good for being the No. 22-ranked team in football. The Dallas Cowboys come in at No. 22 this week in the SB Nation Power Rankings.

The Cowboys look to supplant NFL Editor Joel Thorman's top-ranked 3-5 team, the Philadelphia Eagles (No. 18 overall) this weekend. There could be a lot more than NFC East positioning on the line, Thorman writes:

"22. Dallas Cowboys (LW: 20, 3-5): Cowboys vs. Eagles next week. Loser fires their head coach?"

NFL.com likes the Cowboys more, and by a pretty significant margin. In their latest Power Poll, the league's website puts Dallas at No. 17, three spots ahead of the Eagles.

CBS Sports' Pete Prisco put the Cowboys at No. 19 in his weekly Power Rankings. He also sees this weekend's game against the Eagles as a pivotal one:

"They are essentially playing for their season at Philadelphia this week. Win that, followed by two homes games, and they can turn things around."