Cowboys roundtable: Discussions on last week’s win, penalties, and the upcoming game
Every week, we gather the latest news about the Dallas Cowboys and seek our writer’s perspective on each headline. Welcome back to the Roundtable. This week we have Tom Ryle, Brian Martin, Sean Martin, RJ Ochoa and Jess Haynie.
The Cowboys managed to get the win in a scrappy competition against the New York Giants. What is the key positive to take from the game that gives you hope this team could be heading in the right direction.
The Dallas Cowboys got the victory last week on Thursday Night Football. The game was riddled with penalties from both sides as well as injuries. The win places the Cowboys second in the NFC East after the Philadelphia Eagles hit their struggles against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Meanwhile, the Washington Commanders continue to hold the top spot and is now 3-1.
Tom: Um, beware finding too much optimism in this win. The numbers are hardly good. The Giants outgained the Cowboys. Dallas only converted 30% of their third downs. They only had one sack and a total of three QB hits. Daniel Jones passed for more yards than Dak Prescott. Yes, their were some positives, like the run defense and how they stiffened in the red zone. But outside Prescott’s day, there is not a lot to point to as a sign that things are turning around. It may have been a win, but it just did not feel like a success.
Brian: The Dallas Cowboys did what they’re expected to do in the Thursday night matchup with the New York Giants with the 20-15 victory. There really aren’t a lot of positives to take away though that this team is heading in the right direction. The Dak Prescott/CeeDee Lamb connection finally clicked against a banged up Giants secondary and Dallas’ defense finally held their own, but lost Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence for several weeks in the process. A win is a win, but I’m not feeling much optimism in the Cowboys moving forward.
Sean: If you squint hard enough at this win, there was some resemblance of the Cowboys starting to establish an identity and dictate a game on their terms. The defense got back to playing within themselves again and making life hard on Daniel Jones, the offense made some timely plays in the passing game, and the team just found a way to continue coming out on top in NFC East games. These are all good things, but on a penalty-filled night that also had missed tackles, questionable play calling on offense for long stretches, and a run game that’s still lackluster, there shouldn’t be an abundance of optimism coming off this win. The Cowboys showed they may be able to build off of this, but whether or not they do remains to be seen against tougher competition coming before the bye.
Jess: I don’t take much positive from this one as the Giants are just that bad. Mazi Smith finally looking like he remembers how to play football was nice to see, but it’s hard to feel too inspired by that after losing Parsons and Lawrence. The Cowboys are still not good; New York is just worse.
RJ: Ultimately if I have to take away something positive it’s that they showed an ability to stop the proverbial bleeding. It is not a secret that this season has felt particularly intense relative to others. I’m not calling for a parade because the Cowboys beat the Giants, but stopping all of the drama for a week and a half was not an easy thing and they did it.
Against the Giants the Cowboys committed 11 penalties for near 90 yards. That amount of flags would usually cost a game and the Cowboys got lucky. Under Mike McCarthy the Cowboys have struggled with discipline, but what’s the answer to correct this?
The Cowboys hit a wall of flags and committed 11 penalties last week. The amount of flags is both concerning and unnerving. The Cowboys currently rank fourth in most penalties, last year they ranked the second-highest with 115 total infractions, then in 2021 the Cowboys led the league with a whopping 127 penalties.
Tom: Is it possible for a lot of penalties to just be ingrained in the culture? Because this has been an issue since early in the Jason Garrett era. I certainly have no ideas for something to try, and I suspect the coaching staff is beating their heads against a wall over this. You do find yourself wondering if the players just do not feel accountable to their coaches.
Brian: The Dallas Cowboys continuously shooting themselves in the foot with stupid, boneheaded penalties is nothing new. This is something that has been going on for years now and there’s no reason to believe anything is going to change anytime soon. Outside a culture change or maybe bringing in a more disciplinary head coach who holds his players more accountable, penalties will unfortunately continue to pile up.
Sean: Like the rest of my fellow writers, I wish I had a better answer here. We can say the overall sloppy play around the league so far is due to players sitting out the preseason, coaches not having as much time to work hands-on with the players in the offseason, and less physical practices that also don’t commit a lot of time to fundamentals, but it is an equal playing field across the league. The fact the Cowboys find a way to regularly be near the top of the league in penalties under these conditions is head-scratching.
Jess: The answer is beyond any coach or player, because the Cowboys have been the most penalized team in the NFL for decades. I’m not a conspiracy theorist generally but it’s hard to ignore the imbalances in how the league deals with Dallas at times over other teams. If nothing else, even people who don’t follow football will claim to hate the Cowboys. You don’t think that bias affects these officials in some way?
RJ: I’m going to stick with the party line and say that I do not have a solid answer. It remains frustrating that the Cowboys cannot get this part of their game together. The margins in the NFL are so thin so flirting with them is never wise. Yet somehow, some way, here we are.
What grade do you give Dak Prescott on last week’s performance against the New York Giants?
Dak Prescott did quite a bit of heavy lifting to keep the offense on schedule. He connected with running back Rico Dowdle for the initial of his two touchdown passes, allowing the Cowboys to take the lead at MetLife Stadium. Subsequently, Prescott found CeeDee Lamb for a 55-yard touchdown, after which the wide receiver received a penalty for taunting. It’s clear the chemistry between Lamb and Dak is back and that makes for an optimistic future. Since joining Dallas in 2016, Dak is now 13-2 against the Giants.
Tom: I was not able to watch much of the game because, well, I was kinda partying on Bourbon Street. But I think the efficient way Prescott handled himself, with no turnovers and a couple of TDs while the running game was still rather lackluster, was the difference in the game. I would give him at least an A-.
Brian: I will admit Dak Prescott probably had his best game of the season against the New York Giants last week. It’s no surprise considering the Giants secondary was down a couple of their cornerbacks, but even still No. 4 was on point with his accuracy and protected the ball the entire game as well. I still think he needs to do a better job of incorporating of his weapons in the passing game outside of CeeDee Lamb and Jake Ferguson, but overall I would give him a B+ for his Week 4 performance against the Giants.
Sean: This was a very efficient game from Dak Prescott. I would give it four stars out of five because he is playing in an offense that simply doesn’t give him a lot of layup throws or easy answers right now. How much of that is scheme and how much is the lack of talent and depth at the skill positions will be parsed out as guys like Jalen Tolbert, Jalen Brooks, and Rico Dowdle continue to get reps, but for Prescott to find a way to make big plays to CeeDee Lamb and come out on top against a Giants team with the most confidence they could beat the Cowboys for the first time in a long time is impressive.
Jess: While the bar is awfully low right now, Dak is doing his job about as well as any offensive or defensive player. He’s what lifted the Cowboys over New York, finishing plays better than Daniel Jones did. I’d still like to see him reduce the number of missed opportunities, either from his reads or an inaccurate throw, but he’s doing far more to carry the team right now than sabotage it.
RJ: This was far and away the best game that we saw Dak play so far this season. The low-hanging fruit numbers weren’t gaudy, but he almost single-handedly powered them to victory. That is the job of the franchise quarterback 10/10 for me.
The Cowboys will face the Pittsburgh Steelers this weekend. With the injuries Dallas from the New York Giants game, what are the chances the Cowboys go 2-3?
This Sunday the Cowboys will square off against the Pittsburgh Steelers for the late kickoff. The game will commence at 8:20 p.m. ET at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Cowboys currently are underdogs in this game at +2.5. The two teams have played each other 33 times and Dallas leads the series with 17 wins. In the last ten meetings against each other, Dallas has won six. Pittsburgh is 3-1 and narrowly lost to Indianapolis last week and will be looking to get their winning form back on track.
Tom: Very good, based on how the Steelers have just found ways to win games. They came down to earth a bit against the Colts, but they are still one of the real surprise teams in the league. Until the Cowboys show an ability to play a complete and consistent game all the way through, it is reasonable to expect them to do the opposite of Pittsburgh, making the mistakes that cost them games. I hope they come to life. The Giants game was a great opportunity to flex some muscle, but they didn’t do much. Maybe that muscle just isn’t there.
Brian: I think it’s very realistic to think the Dallas Cowboys fall to 2-3 after the Week 5 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Dallas’ defense took a huge hit due to the injuries of both Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence. That alone will be really difficult to overcome, but the head-to-head matchup between Tyler Guyton and T.J. Watt could be of the game-changing type as well. This is still a winnable game for the Cowboys though, but it’s probably a tossup to see if they can pull it off or not.
Sean: The Steelers did not look great against the Colts, but this league has been so unpredictable all year long. Teams that look terrible one week are bouncing back in big ways the next, and the Steelers have many reasons to think they can do the same as they draw a Cowboys team so banged up with injuries at home. I do think there’s a decent chance the Cowboys can get another heroic-ish performance from Prescott and come out on top in a thriller, but just like fans wouldn’t have been surprised much by a 1-3 record coming out of last Thursday night, a 2-3 record after five weeks is just as likely.
Jess: I didn’t have the Cowboys beating the Steelers before losing Parsons and Lawrence, so now it’s looking ugly. Pittsburgh may not be great right now but they’re tough-minded and will have a ravenous home crowd. QB Justin Fields is going to be a problem for our defense with his athleticism, especially with the losses to our edge players. The pressure is all on Dallas’ offense to pile on points and dominate the ball, and that’s probably asking too much right now.
RJ: I’m leaning towards the Cowboys right now, but have to admit that it is barely so. The Steelers defense is treacherous and the Cowboys are having trouble scoring points. Without DeMarcus Lawrence and probably Micah Parsons this will be tough.