IRVING, Texas -- A stats-eyed view of Sunday's game between the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans from the folks at ESPN Stats & Information:
What would a win mean? Since the playoffs expanded to 12 teams in 1990, teams that start a season 4-1 make the playoffs 77.1 percent of the time (101 of 131 teams). Of course, the last time the Cowboys started a season with a 4-1 mark came in 2008 and they missed the playoffs.
Teams with a 3-2 record after five games make the playoffs 49.7% of the time (98 of 197).
This is the first time in the short history of this series that both teams will be entering the game with better than .500 records.
By the numbers: DeMarco Murray leads the NFL in rushing this season with 534 yards, 156 more than the next highest back. Murray's 133.5 rushing yards per game average is 39 more than the next highest back.
If he runs for 100 yards Sunday and scored a rushing touchdown, he would be the first back since O.J. Simpson to open the season with five straight games with 100 yards on the ground and a rushing touchdown.
Keeping up with Emmitt: Every Cowboys running back is compared to Hall of Famers and Smith. Smith set the franchise's single-season mark for rushing yards with 1,773 in 1995.
Here's how Smith's first four games stacked up that year against Murray's first four games this year:
Setting up the pass: With the Cowboys running it effectively, Tony Romo is throwing it efficiently.
His 936 yards on 118 pass attempts so far this season are career lows through the Cowboys' first four games. But he is excelling in play-action. After throwing three interceptions on play-action passes in the season opener, Romo doesn't even have three incompletions on play-action passes in the last three games.