Cowboys at Steelers stock report: Jalen Tolbert, Rico Dowdle, KaVontae Turpin rise

The Cowboys saw role players step up and deliver on Sunday night in Pittsburgh.

We have all watched a lot of football in our days. It feels like what happened on Sunday night was unique in and of itself. Maybe it was because of the massive weather delay. Perhaps it was due to the Dallas Cowboys deciding the fourth quarter was a proper time to start scoring touchdowns. Maybe the reason why is because the collective terror we all felt in this moment was DEFCON 1 level in terms of what hung in the balance.

The Cowboys awoke as winners on Monday morning with various points of job security seemingly still intact. High-fives will happen at The Star and they get to sit above .500 with a chance to shock the world yet again before going on a much-needed bye.

But the margins are this thing. It is crazy. We choose to follow this team!

In absolutely no way was the super-delayed mess in Pittsburgh pretty, but it goes in the win column so all of its warts are way more tolerable.

Here is our stock report following all of the action.

Stock Up: Rico Dowdle

A proper running back finally stood up and stood tall. Welcome aboard, Rico Dowdle.

On Sunday night, Dowdle reached 87 yards rushing which is a mark that no Cowboys runner had reached in a game since Week 3 of last season. That seems impossible, but it is true. Dowdle became what the team needed and broke the touchdown seal in the process.

Now so that we are kept fully calm, it should be noted that Dowdle finished with zero rushing yards over expected according to NFL Pro. But as whatever-you-want-to-call-it as it sounds, that is immense progress for this team.

Consider that every other running back finished in the negative on Sunday night. Dowdle is the only semblance of a true running game that the team has and he has to be perfect for it to be viable and in Pittsburgh he finally was.

Stock Up: Jalen Tolbert

It was becoming obvious that the true WR2 team is Jalen Tolbert. This was the case even before the last game that Brandin Cooks played before being placed on injured reserve.

Watching Tolbert succeed is certainly validating for everyone involved, namely the wide receiver himself who has not let the trials of adjusting to life in the NFL get to him. It was wonderful to see his breakout game and for him to have the game-winning moment.

According to Next Gen Stats, Tolbert had only a single yard of separation on this play and the play itself had a 43.6% completion probability. Credit can go to several people for its success, but a lot has to go to Tolbert.

We said all week long that someone would have to step up in the absence of Cooks and Tolbert saw the bat signal and showed up.

Stock Up: KaVontae Turpin

This is a similar point to the Tolbert one, but wow the KaVontae Turpin thing has really come along, hasn’t it? Turpin was a point of serious consistency in this game. Has he become a more consistent offensive weapon than special teams one?

Perhaps that is going a bit too far. But Turpin caught four of his five targets for 50 yards, and the team needed every single one of them.

Stock Up: Jake Ferguson

It feels a bit over-the-top to be handing out stock ups for players and to keep noting how desperate the team was for a non-CeeDee Lamb (more on him in a bit) playmaker to arise. But the situation was that dire. The Cowboys were in that sort of situation.

Ferguson was nothing if not consistent on Sunday night, reliable in the clutch moments. Consider that on the game-winning drive he picked up a critical 10 yards on a 3rd-and-9. We must not become numb to those kinds of performances.

Stock Up: Osa Odighizuwa

Sometimes the best contributions are unseen and unheard. Osa Odighizuwa had a few moments of flash on Sunday night, but most of what he did was hidden in the mess of everything.

According to Next Gen Stats, Odighizuwa was double-teamed on 12 of the 24 pass rush attempts that he had on Steelers quarterback Justin Fields. On those pass rushes specifically, the Cowboys defense had a pressure rate of 58.3%

This is notable information because on the plays in which Odighizuwa was one-on-one the Cowboys defense only had a pressure rate of 25%. He was quite literally was the first domino to fall that helped the defense thrive. Not quite a sacrificial lamb, but important work that deserves praise.

Stock Up: Jourdan Lewis

Recently my wife and I finished season two of the Lord of the Rings-related (I word it that way because as I have found out people are passionate about this) show Rings of Power. It is definitely worth some time, but that is a conversation for another day.

You won’t find me spoiling anything, but there are a lot of battles that take place in the show. Some of these feature characters winning against all odds. In some instances there are friends and allies who show up at the very end who serve as the primary reason why.

If I am ever in a foxhole like that then I want Jourdan Lewis as my ally. He is one of one.

Steelers wide receiver George Pickens embarrassed himself after his team officially lost the game on Sunday night and Lewis living in his head rent free all night is potentially the reason why. At least that makes sense.

We are all well-aware of how frustrating things have been around the Cowboys for a while now, but there are rare players who are able to fight through that and accomplish the goal at hand regardless of the circumstances. Jourdan Lewis is one of those players. Nothing phases him. Baller.

Stock Up: Tyrus Wheat

Overall the defensive effort from the Cowboys was present, which in and of itself was a massive step forward.

Seriously, though. Sure Pittsburgh is far from intimidating on offense, but the Cowboys stood strong amid a firestorm of injuries to their best and most potent pass rushers. And then Tyrus Wheat showed up.

Cris Collinsworth literally said these words on the broadcast:

“There is pressure flying off the edge with Tyrus Wheat.”

What! How! What again! Tyrus Wheat! I REPEAT… TYRUS WHEAT.

Credit to Mike Zimmer as well for making the most delicious lemonade under the circumstances.

Static Stock: Dak Prescott

We created the static stock category for situations exactly like this. Dak Prescott had two of the worst throws we have ever seen from him that led to interceptions. We can invoke a slightly lower level of criticism on the fumble because T.J. Watt is a monster, but the interceptions were gross and unbelievable.

That being said, he led the game-winning drive and did not blink in the face of adversity at the end. Quarterbacks are paid the way he is to come up biggest when the moments are the brightest and he did that. Ironically, the moment was born out of his own mistakes earlier on.

Static!

Static Stock: CeeDee Lamb

Similarly, what to make of the CeeDee Lamb situation? If you even want to call it that.

Lamb was on fire early in this game and then everything along those lines dissipated. Consider that his first target of the second half came in the final four minutes of the game as the Cowboys were mounting their comeback.

Much was made by the broadcast of what he mouthed to Dak Prescott after the first interception, but you need to be a lip reader. This situation remains weird.

Stock Down: Terence Steele

As noted earlier, T.J. Watt is a tough assignment. There is no question about that.

But my goodness. Terence Steele seemed to be the primary culprit at every bad moment of pressure that Dak Prescott was facing. With so much green across the offensive line it would be nice if Dallas was able to depend on their second-most tenured veteran in Steele, but right now they simply cannot trust him.