Don't look now, but the once-ice cold Cowboys are on a heater.
With Thursday's 27-20 victory over the rival Giants, Dallas won its first home game of the season and its second in a row over a divisional opponent. Once left for dead after Dak Prescott underwent season-ending hamstring surgery, the Cowboys suddenly have confidence that they can play meaningful games in December and beyond.
"To be honest, it's really been why not us?" pass rusher Micah Parsons mused to Fox Sports' Erin Andrews after the Thanksgiving Day victory. "Everybody counted us out, and it was just like, enough's enough. We know what we got, we know what we can do here, and I believe in every one of these guys, and I believe we're gonna turn it around and make a run."
Dallas wasn't at its best against the subpar opponent Thursday evening but got the job done to secure its first home win since Week 17 of the 2023 season. The Cowboys had been blown out in recent games at AT&T Stadium -- they were bottom-two in winning percentage, PPG, PPG allowed and total YPG allowed at home in Weeks 1-12 -- but their recent success against the Giants, and big outings from their lead players, translated to an eighth straight victory over their NFC East rivals.
The Cowboys saw a solid if unremarkable performance from backup QB Cooper Rush (21-of-36 passing for 195 yards, TD), who improved to 7-3 as Dallas' starter, and a special one from the embattled Rico Dowdle. The recently minted starting tailback ran for a career-high 112 yards and a score, becoming the first Cowboys RB to earn over 100 yards and TD since Tony Pollard in Week 10 of 2022. It was his second straight game with at least 85 rushing yards after recording just one in 2023, signaling that Dallas had finally found a winning balance right in time.
With their best players heating up and some others on the mend, the Cowboys are feeling good about the immediate future.
"It's been a lot of trash talk out there talking about what difference can we make," Parsons said, "and we've still got some players coming back from the chamber. Trevon (Diggs)'s not back. (Demarcus Lawrence)'s not back. So I'm telling you right now: ."
Joining the party on Thursday was veteran wideout Brandin Cooks, who returned to the starting lineup after missing nearly two months with a knee injury. Cooks played a vital role, hauling in a third-quarter TD and the game-sealing third-down conversion. Though late to the proceedings in a season that looked like it was getting away from Dallas, Cooks saw Thursday night's victory as a turning point.
"It's huge," Cooks told NFL Network's Jane Slater. "At the end of the day, it's the NFL, it's any given Sunday. The Giants are a great team, don't get it wrong. Drew Lock came out, played his game. We're down some guys. But to be able to get a win at home and to be able to keep that momentum going from last week, I think it's extremely important, especially going into this mini-bye."
At 5-7, Dallas enters Sunday's slate two games behind the 7-5 Commanders, whom the Cowboys defeated in Week 12, for the final wild-card spot in the competitive NFC. Dallas doesn't play its next game until Monday, Dec. 9, a home clash against the Bengals. After that, the Cowboys have two games against NFC South opponents (at Panthers, vs. Buccaneers) and then close out with two unpredictable bouts against division rivals (at Eagles, vs. Commanders).
The likelihood of the Cowboys turning this heretofore lost season around is low; Next Gen Stats says Dallas has merely a 4% chance to make it back to the postseason.
But don't tell these Cowboys -- or their optimistic owner -- the odds.
"Well, where we are, I haven't really had time to think past even the quarter, as far as can we get us a win," owner Jerry Jones told reporters. "This is the NFL. Any team can give you the loss. But bottom line is I'm glad to get this one. We've got Cincinnati coming up. We'll be better.
"The bottom line is I see improvement, and with improvement, then we got teams ahead of us that we can [beat]."
