Blogging The Boys
The Preston Road Trophy is staying in Dallas, and so too are the great vibes around the Dallas Cowboys after their third straight win on Thanksgiving, 31-28 over the Kansas City Chiefs. The Cowboys had to come from behind in a home game yet again, but did so for the second time in five days to knock off the reigning AFC champions after beating the reigning NFC champion Eagles on Sunday.
There is no doubt the Cowboys are a changed team at this point in the season, and winning this stretch of three games has come at the perfect time to set up a December where Dallas will be at least in the conversation of being a playoff team. The Cowboys won this game with their “main course” players Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and George Pickens, but on Thanksgiving and throughout the winning streak, Schottenheimer’s team has been all about the right mix of “side dishes” working alongside the main course to create balance. We all know turkey isn’t as good without also having some mashed potatoes and maybe mac and cheese on the plate, and right now the Cowboys plate has the best of everything working in unison.
To beat Andy Reid and the Chiefs, it also takes a perfectly cooked-up game plan, and 60 minutes of execution. The Cowboys were the better team in this regard in impressive fashion in front of the national audience. The Chiefs hung in this game the same way they did last Sunday against the Colts before forcing overtime and winning, but had no such heroics on the road this time out, in the NFL’s first-ever meeting between two teams that won their prior game without ever having a lead with any time on the clock. The Chiefs winning on a walk-off field goal in overtime means there was technically never any game time where they led the Colts until the game was over, and Brandon Aubrey’s field goal to beat the Eagles came with zeros on the clock in regulation.
The Cowboys were the team that carried over momentum off a thrilling win, didn’t flinch at being down 7-0 early again, and stayed ready to capitalize on mistakes from the Chiefs the same way they did against the Eagles. The Cowboys having just seven penalties for 50 yards compared to 10 penalties for 119 yards for the Chiefs and converting on nine of 16 third-down attempts while holding the Chiefs to five of 13 on third down were two areas that went a long way in Dallas stacking back-to-back signature wins.
The long quest for Dallas to get above .500 under Schottenheimer in his debut season is finally over going into a Black Friday where the Chicago Bears got a clean sweep of the NFC East this season in Philadelphia. The Bears beat the Cowboys in week three, and also have wins against the Giants and Commanders, and now the Eagles. No matter what path the Cowboys try to take to the...
