2012 Dallas Cowboys season The Dallas Cowboys season was the franchise ' s 53rd season National Football League , the fourth playing their home games at Cowboys Stadium and the second full season under head coach Jason Garrett . The Cowboys matched their win total from 2011 , but missed the playoffs for a third consecutive season after losing their final game for the second straight season , this time to the Washington Redskins . Schedule . Preseason . The preseason schedule was announced on April 4 , 2012 . The Cowboys had their lowest preseason , regular or playoff scoring game in franchise history ( 3 – 0 vs . Oakland Raiders ) . Game summaries . Week 1 : at New York Giants . The Cowboys opened its 2012 campaign at MetLife Stadium in the Annual Kickoff Game against their NFC East foe , the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants . After a scoreless first quarter , the Giants picked up the season ' s first points as kicker Lawrence Tynes kicked a 22 - yard field goal in the second quarter . Dallas would close out the half with quarterback Tony Romo finding wide receiver Kevin Ogletree on a 10 - yard touchdown pass . In the third quarter , the Cowboys added onto its lead Romo hooked up with Ogletree again with a 40 - yard touchdown pass . New York answered with a 10 - yard run from running back Ahmad Bradshaw , yet Dallas responded in kind with a 33 - yard field goal from kicker Dan Bailey . The Cowboys pulled away for good in the fourth quarter with Romo connecting with wide receiver Miles Austin on a 34 - yard touchdown pass . The Giants closed out the game with quarterback Eli Manning completing a 9 - yard touchdown pass to former Dallas tight end Martellus Bennett . With the win , the Cowboys began the season at 1 - 0 . Week 2 : at Seattle Seahawks . With the huge loss , the Cowboys fell to 1 - 1 . Week 3 : vs . Tampa Bay Buccaneers . Hoping to rebound from their tough road loss to the Seattle Seahawks , the Cowboys returned to Arlington to host their home opener against the Tampa Bay Bucaneers , a team that they had blown out a year before . This game , however , was a close one throughout . In the first quarter , Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo tossed an interception to Aqib Talib , which set up for a 1 - yard touchdown pass from Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Freeman to tight end Luke Stocker for Tampa Bay to take the first lead . Dallas would immediately respond after a Sean Lee interception set up Cowboys running back Demarco Murray for an 11 - yard touchdown run to tie the game . Shortly before the half , kicker Dan Bailey booted a 32 - yard field goal for Dallas to take the lead , 10 - 7 . After a scoreless third quarter , Dallas pulled away with Dan Bailey knocking in a pair of field goals , one from 26 yards and another from 22 yards to make the game 16 - 7 . Tampa Bay attempted a furious rally to take the game back after a 28 - yard field goal by Connor Barth , but Dallas would recover the following onside kick and effectively took a knee to end the game . With the victory , Dallas improved their season to 2 - 1 . Week 4 : vs . Chicago Bears . With the loss , the Cowboys enter their bye week with 2 - 2 . Week 6 : at Baltimore Ravens . With the loss , the Cowboys fell into 2 - 3 and dropped to 0 - 4 all - time against the Ravens . Week 7 : at Carolina Panthers . With the win , the Cowboys go to 3 - 3 Week 8 : vs . New York Giants . With the loss , the Cowboys fell to 3 - 4 on the season and 0 - 4 at Cowboys Stadium against the Giants . Week 9 : at Atlanta Falcons . During this game , Jason Witten ' s 7 receptions brought him to a franchise record of 754 , surpassing Michael Irvin ' s previous record of 750 . With the loss , the Cowboys fell to 3 - 5 . Week 10 : at Philadelphia Eagles . With the win , the Cowboys improved to 4 - 5 . Week 11 : vs . Cleveland Browns . After being down 13 - 0 against the Browns in the first half , the Cowboys outscored the Browns 20 - 7 to send the game into overtime . The Cowboys kicked the game - winning field goal and improved to 5 - 5 on the season and 2nd place in the NFC East . Week 12 : vs . Washington Redskins . Thanksgiving Classic With the loss to their long - time rival the Washington Redskins during a Thanksgiving Classic showdown , the Cowboys dropped to 5 - 6 on the season and 6 - 1 against the Redskins on Thanksgiving . Along with the loss , the Cowboys also lost 2 key defensive players for an extended period of time . Cornerback Orlando Scandrick broke his left hand , but the team was still hopeful that he would be able to return before the end of the season . But of the three injuries suffered during the game , Bruce Carter ' s was probably the most devastating . Carter dislocated his left elbow during the game and was out for the rest of the season after having surgery . At that point , the Cowboys had lost 4 starters on defense due to injuries , and were on their 3rd and 4th string middle linebackers after losing both Carter and Sean Lee for the season . Also the Cowboys lost starting receiver Miles Austin to a hip strain caused by linebacker London Fletcher in the back of the end zone . Although he did not return to the game , he was cleared to play for the Cowboys ' week 13 game . Week 16 : vs . New Orleans Saints . The loss dropped Dallas to 8 - 7 and mathematically eliminated them from gaining a wild card spot . However , if they were to beat the Washington Redskins in week 17 , Dallas would win the NFC East . Week 17 : at Washington Redskins . With the loss , Dallas ended the season with an 8 - 8 record , and missed the playoffs for the third straight season . The Cowboys loss marks their third season finale loss in the last five seasons where they faced a win - or - go - home situation for the playoffs . All those season finale games came against NFC East opponents . In 2008 , they lost 44 - 6 to the Philadelphia Eagles failing to clinch a wild card spot . In 2011 , they lost 31 - 14 to the New York Giants failing to win the NFC East title . The loss also brought their record in Week 17 games to 2 - 11 since 2000 . Season recap . The Cowboys started the season on September 5 , playing a Wednesday game for the first time in franchise history . Against the Philadelphia Eagles on November 11 during the fourth quarter , the Cowboys became the second team in NFL history to score touchdown s via interception , fumble return and punt return in the same quarter . The first one was the San Francisco 49ers in 1966 .