You usually don’t see teams with must-win games before the NFL can start flexing games, but the Cowboys put themselves in that position thanks to two brutal losses at home to the Saints & the Ravens. The alarms were sounding in the Cowboys building after they committed nearly $400 million in Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, but Dak Prescott was not concerned. After their loss last week to Baltimore, he could be heard telling fans as he was leaving the tunnel, “Jump off if you want. Please. Please.” This added a little bit of extra pressure going into a game you absolutely had to win if you were the Cowboys.
Why was this a must-win? Whether Cowboy’s fans are willing to admit it or not, the expectation for their team is Super Bowl. There are no excuses anymore, no lack of talent, you have your guys and the time is now. It seemed like after the two losses to New Orleans & Baltimore, more and more Cowboys fans argued that they were rebuilding. Rebuilding what, exactly? This is Prescott’s ninth year with Dallas, they have put a top 3 receiver outside of him with Lamb, for years they have boasted the most physical offensive lines and have premiere pieces on defense with Trevon Diggs and Micah Parsons among others. Is it all Mike McCarthy’s fault? The Cowboys should be running the NFC East, instead, they had to battle to the last drive with one of the worst offenses in the NFL last night. You can lose to the Saints and Ravens and chalk it up to having an off week or just getting outplayed, but a loss to the Giants would be indefensible.
This game went differently than I expected. I did leave a little easter egg in a previous article about CeeDee Lamb’s comments last week, at the end I mentioned that Lamb’s betting line for receiving yards in this game was 79.5 and that he would likely hit the over, he did. I expected the Cowboys to come out and have a get-right game against the inferior Giants, feeding Lamb the ball and Micah Parsons having a field day in the Giants backfield. They did get the ball to lamb for nearly 100 yards on 7 catches, but they were nowhere close to looking like a better team than New York, and that should scare Cowboy’s fans.
If you are a true Super Bowl contender you have to win these games and win them convincingly. Look at what the Bills did to the Jaguars on Monday Night Football. Buffalo was the better team and they made sure to prove that with a 47-10 trouncing. If you want to be in the elite tier of teams you have to dominate the teams you are better than. The Vikings did it in weeks 1 & 3 against the Giants and Texans. But watching this game I could not get a feel for who is actually better, I just think both teams are not very good. Dak looked fine, and Daniel Jones looked fine. Daniel Jones can’t throw a catchable deep ball, but he was able to exploit the middle of the Dallas defense with some precision. The Giants offense moving forward will basically be, “Where is Malik Nabers and how can I get him the ball?” But Dak was efficient and got his team the win going 22/27 with two TDs. But the Cowboy’s still just looked a bit clunky. Maybe you can attribute it to coaching, or even ownership. But if the Cowboys are who they say they are, this game should have been out of reach in the 3rd quarter.
The good news for Cowboy’s fans? A win is a win! Chalk it up in the win column, you got it done. You never have to explain a win and now have a long week ahead to celebrate.
Comments