Brett's Cowboys Corner

The Cowboys did it…they finally did the impossible. A win at home.

Until Thursday, Dallas hadn’t won a home game since December 30th, 2023. I said a couple weeks ago that this game may have been the last chance to get a home win this season. It is nice that the losing streak will not carry over until 2025.

“It was definitely overdue,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “It was important to get the win on a lot of fronts, but it was really important to get a home win.”

Now with a 27-20 victory over the New York Giants, the Cowboys have their second 2 game win streak of the season.

A lot of players, including Micah Parsons who got the turkey leg, believe that the Cowboys season is far from over.

“To be honest, it’s really been, ‘Why not us?’ Everybody counted us out. It was just like, enough’s enough. We know what we got, we know what we can do here and I believe in everyone of these guys here. I believe we’re going to turn it around and make a run.”

Micah Parsons speaking for the team and putting the idea of tanking to bed. He makes it clear that the team is playing for something. At least for the defensive side of the ball, they are playing at a high level.

Defense

Parsons generated 4 of those pressures on 3rd down for a 50% pressure rate, tied for the 3rd-highest pressure rate on 3rd down his career. Parsons generated 3 pressures and 1 sack on 22 matchups (13.6%) against Evan Neal specifically; all 3 pressures came in under 2.5 seconds.

We also saw the likes of Mazi Smith and Osa getting into the backfield and making some plays.

Since week 5, Carl Lawson leads the NFC in QB hits with 13. Osa Odighizuwa is 2nd in the NFC during that time with 12.

Also having to mention the great performance by DeMarvion Overshown, who is breaking through as a constant force on this defense. He seems to making plays all over the field, and is always around the turnovers.

Above is Overshown returning an interception for a touchdown, he got the ball by running over the blocking RB and swatting Lock’s pass into the air to himself.

The only mistake the Giants had as an offense, they should of let Lock be more of a scrambler, there best plays were him running the ball. He rushed for a team-high 57 yards and a touchdown across 4 scrambles. To note on one of those scrambles he was ruled out of bounds at the one yard line, but was close to having a two TD game.

Offense

The Dallas offense remained effective and played well as a unit. Other than a 4th down failed attempt at midfield, the offense had no major turnovers and played efficient with the ball.

They asked Rush to throw a lot, but they kept the passes coming out quick. The Giants played a lot of man coverage, so routes were quick and comfortable for Rush.

Lamb has been the main weapon for Dallas, but not much of an impact this week, we had the other guys step up to the plate. Like a returning Brandin Cooks who caught a TD on his signature corner route.

KaVontae Turpin was a focal point of the Cowboys passing attack as he was targeted 5 times across 10 routes, catching 4 passes for a team-high 53 yards.

The real guy who stepped up this week, Rico Dowdle. He rushed for a career-high 112 yards on 22 carries and a touchdown. Interestingly, he was the only back used on Thursday besides Zeke’s one carry.

Finally, need to point out the great play by the offensive line. Even with missing Zack Martin and an injury mid-game to Tyler Guyton. They held up very well, and allowed very minimal pressures, and 0 allowed sacks.

Overall

The Cowboys are still playing with the mindset to win football games, and we will see where that takes them.

Not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, or technically from winning the division either.

The Cowboys will get 11 days off before they have to play the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football. Much needed time to get guys back to 100% and try to keep the winning streak alive.