Jonathan Mingo makes his return to Carolina on Sunday.
The good news is that only four games remain on the 2024 NFL regular-season schedule. The bad news is that watching the Dallas Cowboys for the remainder of the year could be anywhere from frustrating to boring. That’s especially true after one of the most exciting and entertaining players, DeMarvion Overshown, sustained a serious season-ending knee injury last week.
It’s pretty much been bad all around for the Cowboys all year and Overshown’s season-ending knee injury just made it worse. He was one of the few bright spots for the team this year and with his future now in jeopardy, the dark clouds surrounding the organization has turned into more of a black hole sucking down anything positive.
In the hope of trying to avoid slipping into a deep depression in regards to the Cowboys future, we attempt to provide some matchups to keep an eye on in this Week 15 matchup with the Carolina Panthers. These matchups likely won’t sway the game one way or the other, but they are something to at the very least make the game a little more interesting.
WR Jonathan Mingo vs. Panthers’ secondary
This will be the first time Jonathan Mingo plays his former team after the Cowboys acquired him via trade from the Panthers for a 2025 fourth-round draft pick. Seeing as how he has only been targeted a total of 11 times and has two catches for 10 yards in four games so far with the Cowboys, there will no doubt be plenty of discussion throughout this Week 15 matchup about this trade and what Dallas gave up to acquire him. It’s really going to be interesting to see if No. 81 will be more involved this week against his former teammates.
RB Rico Dowdle vs. Panthers’ run defense
In back-to-back weeks Rico Dowdle has rushed for over 100 yards – the first two 100-yard rushing games of his career- against both the Giants and Bengals. There’s a very good chance he could make that three weeks in a row against a Panthers run defense that just recently let Saquon Barkley rush for 124 yards on 24 carries and average 6.2 yards per carry. Dowdle’s recent production is currently on par with the best RBs in the league over the past few weeks and there’s every reason to believe that will carry over into a Week 15.
Dallas’ secondary vs. Panthers’ WR Adam Thielen
This Week 15 matchup with the Panthers will be just the second time all season the Dallas Cowboys secondary will be at full strength. They played admirably last week against the Bengals, but failed to contain WR Ja’Marr Chase, allowing him to catch 14 passes for 177 yards and score two touchdowns. While Adam Thielen isn’t in Chase’s league, he is averaging 100 receiving yards per game the last two weeks. It will be up to Trevon Diggs, DaRon Bland, and Jourdan Lewis to prevent that from happening for three weeks in a row.
