Blogging The Boys
After two weeks, it’s hard to say just who the 2025 Dallas Cowboys are. Are they the team that nearly beat the Eagles on the road, or that barely got by the Giants at home? Sitting at 1-1 ahead of a Week 3 matchup against the Bears, it’s hard to say right now whether or not these Cowboys are winners or losers.
Thankfully, they’re winners for the next few days. And what a way to win, having to eat several Russell Wilson haymakers and stay sure-footed. Not just Brandon Aubrey, who deserves a new contract before he gets on the plane to Chicago, but the entire team. Even as Wilson, Malik Nabers, and other receivers kept exploiting DaRon Bland’s absence and Trevon Diggs’ rust, the Cowboys stayed up and answered enough times to get their first win of the season.
Now it’s fans and analysts who are fighting to figure out which game is more indicative of this team going forward. Was it the one that went the distance with Philly? And for that matter, how much did Jalen Carter’s absence make that an unfair gauge? Similarly, how much did losing Bland this week in practice make this last game closer than it should’ve been? And if future opponents, even weaker ones, don’t have the preponderance of penalties that the Giants did, will that even the field?
That’s one of the really scary factors of these last two weeks. For the first time in what feels like forever, the Cowboys have been heavy beneficiaries of officiating. Carter’s ejection, multiple DPIs for big yardage, critical calls in clutch moments: it’s been going Dallas’ way far more than we’re used to. If this is the anomaly we expect it to be, given decades of Dallas being one of the most penalized teams in the league, then that should mean tougher sledding in most upcoming games.
The composite result of all of this is not really knowing how to feel going forward, even against a 0-2 opponent like the Bears. They’ve lost two division games, one narrowly at home and another on the road. A week after Ben Johnson’s failed return to Detroit, we now have another big storyline game with Matt Eberflus’ attempted revenge in Chicago, going against a very familiar opponent in Johnson’s offense from their shared time in the NFC North.
Thankfully, it’s not all question marks with the Cowboys. At least a few things, and important ones, feel reliable after two weeks. We already mentioned Aubrey, who is simply incredible. Here are a few more:
It took the offense a little bit to get going on Sunday, but boy, did it finish strong! Prescott was on point in every way, even setting up the winning field goal with a 14-yard run. He showed all of the same poise and confidence from a week ago and delivered in the clutch. Prescott looks more comfortable in two weeks of this offense than...
