Blogging The Boys
The 2025 Dallas Cowboys continue to be incapable of getting out of their own way, and looking anything close to the team they are at home in tough road games. Now at 3-4-1 and a full three games behind the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles, the Cowboys still having their home game against the Eagles coming up in four weeks is not enough to look forward to when it comes to reaching the playoffs by winning the NFC East. Dallas will need help elsewhere, as well as much better road performances in Las Vegas, Detroit, Washington, and New Jersey to keep any of these hopes alive. Their 44-24 week eight loss at the Denver Broncos did not provide much reason for this hope, as the Broncos completely dictated the pace of play and never allowed the Cowboys to get into their rhythm.
Matt Eberflus’ defense, down multiple key starters in the secondary again, was no match at all for the Broncos short passing game. That led to the deep passing game getting going, and also opened up the running lanes for Denver to look like the much better and more balanced offense compared to the Cowboys own top-scoring offense. This will surely be a point of frustration for Brian Schottenheimer, who becomes the third different Cowboys head coach to lose to the Broncos since 2017. All three losses have been decisive and featured a Dak Prescott-led offense looking way out of character.
The Cowboys have now lost eight in a row to the Broncos, seeing a window of opportunity slammed shut this Sunday on proving they’re anything more than a carbon copy of the McCarthy era teams that reached the playoffs almost solely by winning against lesser teams, and mostly at home. It can’t be forgotten in this context that just reaching the playoffs at all under Schottenheimer would be a success given how he was received at the time of his hiring, but with what the Cowboys have invested on offense and especially at quarterback, not having any visions of being a truly viable playoff team for the first time in decades is rightfully frustrating. The Broncos in their amazing throwback uniforms delivered a serious blow in this way.
The Cowboys only have their ownership of the New York Giants to thank for being out of the top spot on this dubious list against the Broncos, as they’ve beaten the Giants nine times in a row. The fact their full body of work on this 2025 season only includes wins against the Giants in overtime with Russell Wilson at QB, at the Jets, and versus a Commanders team without their top two starting wide receivers, and Jayden Daniels for much of the game, paints a clear picture that this team is not truly close to being a contender yet. Schottenheimer’s team has continued a lot of concerning trends from the McCarthy era so far, particularly in how they perform on the road, making this loss in Denver equally as...
