ClutchPoints
At the end of Week 11, the Dallas Cowboys had their fans thinking playoffs.
Now granted, even after taking care of business against the lowly Las Vegas Raiders on their home turf, the Cowboys are still 4-5-1, with the NFC East basically out of reach and the final wildcard spot currently held by the 7-4 San Francisco 49ers.
With just seven weeks left in the 2025 NFL season, the margin of error is rapidly closing for Brian Schottenheimer’s squad, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the Cowboys are down and out, as if they play like they did in Las Vegas – admittedly against a Raiders team that has made plenty of teams look incredible – they have a chance to hang against some of the very best teams in the NFL.
Why? Well, because the Cowboys’ 2025 trade additions are playing like certified All-Pros.
That’s right, for a team that arguably moved off of the best player traded in 2025, Micah Parsons, the players they acquired in deals with the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets, George Pickens, and Quinnen Williams, have been balling out to an incredible degree.
Through 11 weeks, Pickens ranks second in receiving yards league-wide at 908, eight more yards than his 2024 total despite appearing in four fewer games. The former Steelers wideout has shown he can be a complete offensive threat with or without CeeDee Lamb and has become arguably Dak Prescott’s go-to target due to his career-best catch percentage of 69.9
And as for Williams? Well, in one game in a Cowboys uniform, Williams more than doubled his sack total on the season, recording 1.5 to go with four tackles, a tackle for loss, and five QB hits on Geno Smith. Whether rushing from the 3-tech, pulling him on stunts, or even lining him up over the center, the former Alabama product made the most of his 33 snaps and has fans thinking their defense has found a new interior focal point.
Can the Cowboys ride Pickens and Williams to a late wildcard push? Only time will tell, but if they do, the Cowboys will need to secure an upset win over the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 12, as it could go a long way in recovering ground in the NFC East and NFC as a whole. Is beating the Eagles an easy task? Nope, the team’s defense has allowed just 16 points since their bye week and has looked borderline unstoppable, but they do have a weak link the Cowboys can exploit to really give their offense a chance against a team that has, at times, struggled to get much going through the air or on the ground.
Heading into the 2025 NFL season, the Eagles had two major question marks on their defense: their exterior pass rush and their third cornerback spot alongside certified stars Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.
After signing Za’Darius Smith before he retired and coaxing Brandon...
