Post by Matt Meyer | @Bluto51 on X
The Dallas Cowboys are back over .500 for the first time since week 1 after beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 20-17 on Sunday night at Acrisure Stadium. Cowboys are 3-2 with all 3 wins coming on the road and both losses happening at home. Dallas enters week 6 a game behind division leading Washington in the NFC East.
I was somewhat proud of the Cowboys on Sunday. There’s a phrase that I use, and I’m sure I stole it from someone, called “winning in the mud.” In other words, winning a game when things aren’t easy; when adversity and challenges present themselves, finding a way to persevere and win anyway. In recent years, the Cowboys have had a lot of success in the regular season, going 12-5 in each of the last three campaigns. In many of those wins, Dallas was in full control of the game from the kick. On days when the Cowboys have been healthy and had more frontline talent than their opposition, they’ve won a lot of games and looked pretty good, getting everyone’s expectations up that Dallas could make a Super Bowl run. When the Cowboys have had a few injuries, or played in challenging weather conditions, or the game hasn’t gone smoothly and each yard has been hard to come by, Dallas has had their struggles. Yes, that’s true of a lot of teams, but that’s the separator in the NFL; can you win while dealing with adversity? That’s one of the things that’s kept the Cowboys from becoming an elite team over the years: finding a way to win, even if it isn’t pretty. Over the last few seasons, Dallas has won a lot of games pretty, but they haven’t won a lot of games ugly.
On Sunday night, the Cowboys won ugly. They won without their best two pass rushers, who are arguably their best two defensive players, Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence. They won without their second best WR, Brandin Cooks. They won sustaining more injuries on the defensive and offensive lines. They won despite being minus 2 in the turnover ratio, and essentially it was minus 3 as the Steelers’ lone turnover came on the final desperate play filled with laterals. The Cowboys committed 11 penalties for 87 yards. They had a FG blocked that didn’t look like it was going to be good anyway. These aren’t the 1978 Steelers by a long shot, but despite all that adversity, some of it self inflicted, Dallas found a way to win. Dak Prescott led a masterful final drive to take the lead, finding Jalen Tolbert for a 4 yard TD pass with :20 left. The TD came on fourth down, two plays after Rico Dowdle fumbled the ball and Prescott recovered it, avoiding disaster. Watching the last drive, it looked to me that this game was going to be the classic example of a game where the team that outplays their opposition loses because of turnovers and penalties. Prescott and the Cowboys made the plays when they had to make them, and Dallas escaped with a 3 point win over a playoff caliber team.
Some other positives coming out of this game:
Dowdle carrying 20 times for 87 yards. He nearly fumbled the game away two plays before the winning TD, but if not for his hard running and some good work by a decent but not overpowering offensive line, the Cowboys might not have been in position to win. Dallas has to find a way to run the football consistently in order to take pressure off of the passing game. It’ll open up play action, which should allow more space for CeeDee Lamb and others to work downfield.
Tolbert was terrific, catching 7 passes for 87 yards and the game winning TD. After Lamb and Cooks, the third option at WR has been up for grabs. Looked to me that Tolbert grabbed it for himself.
Despite the injuries on the defensive line, the Cowboys held the 10th best rushing offense in the league to 92 yards on 26 carries. This is after a stellar performance against the Giants, who ran 34 times for 175 yards against the Seahawks a week later. Dallas isn’t as bad on defense as they showed against the Saints and Ravens, and they’re probably not quite as good as they’ve looked the last two weeks. Consistency is what the Cowboys are searching for as the schedule is challenging over the next six games.
Next up, Dallas returns home to face the Detroit Lions at 3:25 Sunday on FOX. The Lions were my preseason pick to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl and I’m sure they remember losing the heartbreaker in Arlington late last season after a winning 2 point conversion was negated by an ineligible receiver penalty. Detroit is 3-1 coming off of their bye week and they rank 3rd in total offense, 7th in pass offense, 6th in rush offense, and 7th in scoring offense. They also have the 4th best rush defense and 10th best scoring defense, plus Aidan Hutchinson leads the league with 6 ½ sacks and Kerby Joseph is second in the NFL with 3 interceptions. Detroit is 27th in the league against the pass, so hopefully Prescott and Lamb can get on the same page as that connection hasn’t quite exploded yet this season. Lions are the better team and with the week off, combined with the Cowboys playing a tough, physical game Sunday night, Detroit ought to be fresher in this one.
Lions 31 Cowboys 24