Blogging The Boys
In a very strange scheduling quirk, the Dallas Cowboys will make their third trip in three seasons to the Carolina Panthers this Sunday. They will do so looking to string together consecutive wins for the first time under head coach Brian Schottenheimer after coming off a road win of 37-22 at the New York Jets. If the Cowboys are able to begin this winning streak and reach a winning record for the first time in 2025, they will also extend their head-to-head streak against the Panthers to three games. The Cowboys have won the last two in Carolina, and also beat the Panthers 36-28 at home in 2021.
Carolina was the site of the Panthers’ first ever playoff game as a franchise in their second season of existence in 1996. They went 12-4 and beat the Cowboys for their first playoff win 26-17 in the Divisional Round. The Panthers came back to Arlington the following regular season and beat the Cowboys again 23-13.
That win put the Panthers at 7-7, but they would lose out to miss the playoffs at 7-9. For the Cowboys, this was their third of five straight losses to end Barry Switzer’s final season as head coach with a 6-10 records. From this point on, the Cowboys won nine of their next ten against the Panthers, and lead the all-time series 12-5 by tacking on the three most recent wins from 2021-24.
How the Cowboys came into last season’s week 15 game at the Panthers shares a lot of similarities to where they are currently, but is also a sign of progress in a lot of areas as well. Dallas was without starting QB Dak Prescott at this point, but won with Cooper Rush throwing three touchdowns to CeeDee Lamb, Jalen Brooks, and Jalen Tolbert. The Cowboys were also playing with a banged up offensive line, but were still very productive in the run game. Rico Dowdle, who will now face the Cowboys as a member of the Panthers, went for a new career high at the time with 149 yards on an equally career high 25 carries. As the lead back for the Panthers last week with Chubba Hubbard injured, Dowdle set a new career high with 206 yards versus the Dolphins.
The lack of a run game, quality play up front on the offensive line, and adequate depth at receiver were constant things that plagued the final season of Mike McCarthy’s tenure in 2024, but for one random December afternoon in Carolina all of these things were okay against a team coached by Dave Canales in his first season. Now, Schottenheimer’s immediate progress in these areas will be put to the test against Canales’ team, making this another meeting of relatively inexperienced head coaches. Schottenheimer’s team looked infinitely better than another first-year head coach’s in Aaron Glenn at the Jets last week.
The Cowboys did all of this on offense last time against the Panthers, building a 27-7 lead early in the fourth quarter,...
