National Football League

The Dallas Cowboys are talented, but can they stay healthy enough to be title contenders?

Updated Dec. 11, 2021 4:18 p.m. ET

The Dallas Cowboys are in the midst of a promising playoff run and enter the weekend with the fourth-best record in the NFC.

Their matchup Sunday against the Washington Football Team (1 p.m. ET on FOX) gives the Cowboys an excellent opportunity to strengthen their hold on the NFC East.

But Dallas has had to deal with a number of injuries throughout this season and has also had several high-profile players working their way back from injuries suffered last year. Those health issues have led to plenty of ups and downs this season.

How "Banged Up" a team is — even a team as talented as the Cowboys — can have a direct influence on the outcome of the game. That's where the BUS™ comes in. The BUS — or Banged Up Score — is a score from 0-to-100 that delineates the health of the team. The score is built on a lot of proprietary data analysis that we have tested for years to help understand how injuries can impact your team.

Here is a brief explainer:

Dr. Matt discusses the Dallas Cowboys' health situation

Are thing trending in the right direction for the Dallas Cowboys when it comes to team health? Dr. Matt Provencher analyzes the situation by using his "Banged Up Score."

For more analysis of the NFL from Dr. Matt, follow him on Twitter or go to FantasyPredictors.com.

As for the Cowboys, we all know that Dak Prescott underwent season-ending ankle surgery last year and certainly needed a few games under his belt to get the ankle conditioned for NFL play.

Other Cowboys who had surgery in the offseason include Leighton Vander Esch (clavicle fracture), La’el Collins (hip surgery), Blake Jarwin (ACL surgery), Trysten Hill (ACL) and Tyron Smith (neck), among others.

In addition, the Cowboys lost multiple key players in the first couple weeks of the season, including DeMarcus Lawrence with a foot fracture. Unfortunately, this trend took the Cowboys' team BUS from a 72 in Week 1, down to a 69 in Week 2. This continued in the early part of the season.

However, by Weeks 7-9 — the Cowboys' BUS drastically improved into the low 90s, as many of these players were able to come back. As the Cowboys moved into Weeks 9 and 10, though, CeeDee Lamb sustained an ankle injury, Jarwin had a hip injury and went on IR, and Amari Cooper was dealing with various injuries. And you can see how this impacted health, with Dallas' BUS dropping significantly into the 70s heading into Weeks 12 and 13.

The good news is that the Cowboys are now getting healthier, with a BUS score approaching 80.

We all know that health matters. The Cowboys, now ranked as the ninth-healthiest team in the league, are positioning themselves well heading into the playoffs.

To be successful going forward, the Cowboys are going to have to manage their assets and maintain the health of the team.

Renowned orthopedist Dr. Matt Provencher and his company, Proven Performance Technology (PPT), deliver data-driven injury insights to football fans. In this first-of-a-kind role as Athlete Injury and Performance Analyst for FOX Sports’ digital platforms, Provencher provides important predictive player health and recovery information about post-injury performance, the impact of weather, field conditions and more.