Cowboys-Raiders on 'Monday Night Football': What We Learned from Dallas' 33-16 win

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1. Dak is back. Although the Cowboys have struggled as a team, Dak Prescott was compiling a legitimate case for NFL MVP by mid-October. That's precisely when the wheels fell off, leading to two ugly showings that not only torpedoed his hopes of winning the award but also directly contributed to the Cowboys' two most recent losses. Prescott got back on the right side of the ledger in a big way Monday night, dicing up Las Vegas' beleaguered defense with a healthy dose of targets for George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb, powering a Cowboys aerial attack that appeared unstoppable for most of Monday night. Such a performance only counts for one win but was desperately needed for a Cowboys team that has relied heavily on its offense to remain competitive.
2. Same trench issues plague Raiders. Las Vegas lost Jackson Powers-Johnson to injury during the Raiders' Thursday night loss in Denver during Week 10, prompting the Raiders to slide starting center Jordan Meredith out to guard and replacing Meredith with undrafted Clemson product Will Putnam on Monday night. The changes came from a place of necessity and predictably didn't produce encouraging results from a team that already had problems up front. Dallas' defense -- a unit that has endured plenty of its own struggles in 2025 -- harassed Geno Smith often Monday night, sacking him three times in the first half. Rookie first-rounder Ashton Jeanty had absolutely nowhere to run, wiping out any ambition of establishing the ground game and forcing Smith to lean on checkdowns to Jeanty just to get him the ball. Their struggles hit rock bottom in the fourth quarter when Jeanty was hit behind the line of scrimmage (again) in the end zone for a safety, perfectly capturing how the Raiders' deficiencies up front have kneecapped this entire offense.
3. Lamb, Pickens prove their value. The Cowboys' star receiving duo of CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens spent the first series of Monday night on the sideline due to what was reported to be a coach's decision. With both sidelined, Dallas went three-and-out on its first series and Prescott fumbled away possession to end the Cowboys' second drive. From that point on, Lamb and Pickens reclaimed their essential roles and the Cowboys' offense took flight, scoring on each of their next five possessions, including four straight touchdown drives. Pickens shredded the Raiders' defense before and after the catch, finishing with nine catches for 144 yards and a touchdown, including 77 yards after the catch. Lamb accounted for Dallas' first touchdown, a walk-in-the-park reception in the end zone and chipped in four catches for 61 yards on the night. When the Cowboys' offense is at its best, it looks like it did on Monday night, with Prescott lighting up opposing defenses with his arm and doing so by relying heavily on Pickens and Lamb.
4. Raiders' defense bottoms out. Yes, Las Vegas has lost by larger margins this season but the Raiders' lack of effort and fundamental consistency was a glaring issue in Monday night's defeat. The Raiders had no answer for the Cowboys' offense for most of the night and even when they appeared to be in position to limit Dallas' gains, poor tackling technique and the absence of a desire to finish plays were far too prevalent for an NFL defense. The combination was most apparent on Pickens' 37-yard catch and sprint through Las Vegas' coverage unit for a touchdown, in which two Raiders' feeble reaches toward Pickens looked exponentially worse in a slow-motion replay, but typified much of this ugly season, one that seems increasingly directionless with each passing week.
5. Bland delivers much-needed bounce-back performance. Mere months after signing a four-year, $90 million extension, DaRon Bland got torched by Marvin Harrison Jr. in front of a prime-time audience in Week 9. Nobody on that side of the ball needed to have a good night more than Bland, who delivered emphatically Monday night. Bland led Dallas in tackles (10), broke up two passes and looked much more like the cornerback the Cowboys were happy to reward than the bogged down version the nation witnessed in Arlington two weeks ago. The Cowboys' 16 points surrendered Monday night shouldn't definitively suggest they've solved their defensive issues because they were facing a team with one of the lowest offensive ceilings in the NFL. However, it's still a positive sign that Bland played well after such a rough outing.

Next Gen Stats Insight for Cowboys-Raiders (via NFL Pro): Playing his first game with the Cowboys, Quinnen Williams had a season-high five QB pressures on 28 pass rushes (17.9%) and earned 1.5 sacks.

NFL Research: With four passing touchdowns Monday night, Dak Prescott now has 41 career games with three or more passing touchdowns, breaking Tony Romo's franchise record for the most such games in Cowboys history.