In a very strange scheduling quirk, the Dallas Cowboys will make their third trip in three seasons to the Carolina Panthers this Sunday. They will do so looking to string together consecutive wins for the first time under head coach Brian Schottenheimer after coming off a road win of 37-22 at the New York Jets. If the Cowboys are able to begin this winning streak and reach a winning record for the first time in 2025, they will also extend their head-to-head streak against the Panthers to three games. The Cowboys have won the last two in Carolina, and also beat the Panthers 36-28 at home in 2021.
Carolina was the site of the Panthers’ first ever playoff game as a franchise in their second season of existence in 1996. They went 12-4 and beat the Cowboys for their first playoff win 26-17 in the Divisional Round. The Panthers came back to Arlington the following regular season and beat the Cowboys again 23-13.
That win put the Panthers at 7-7, but they would lose out to miss the playoffs at 7-9. For the Cowboys, this was their third of five straight losses to end Barry Switzer’s final season as head coach with a 6-10 records. From this point on, the Cowboys won nine of their next ten against the Panthers, and lead the all-time series 12-5 by tacking on the three most recent wins from 2021-24.
How the Cowboys came into last season’s week 15 game at the Panthers shares a lot of similarities to where they are currently, but is also a sign of progress in a lot of areas as well. Dallas was without starting QB Dak Prescott at this point, but won with Cooper Rush throwing three touchdowns to CeeDee Lamb, Jalen Brooks, and Jalen Tolbert. The Cowboys were also playing with a banged up offensive line, but were still very productive in the run game. Rico Dowdle, who will now face the Cowboys as a member of the Panthers, went for a new career high at the time with 149 yards on an equally career high 25 carries. As the lead back for the Panthers last week with Chubba Hubbard injured, Dowdle set a new career high with 206 yards versus the Dolphins.
The lack of a run game, quality play up front on the offensive line, and adequate depth at receiver were constant things that plagued the final season of Mike McCarthy’s tenure in 2024, but for one random December afternoon in Carolina all of these things were okay against a team coached by Dave Canales in his first season. Now, Schottenheimer’s immediate progress in these areas will be put to the test against Canales’ team, making this another meeting of relatively inexperienced head coaches. Schottenheimer’s team looked infinitely better than another first-year head coach’s in Aaron Glenn at the Jets last week.
The Cowboys did all of this on offense last time against the Panthers, building a 27-7 lead early in the fourth quarter, with Chuma Edoga starting at left tackle, Brock Hoffman at center, and T.J. Bass at right guard. It was games like this where the Cowboys found confidence in both Hoffman and Bass to be a part of fixing the offensive line depth issue that led to many more losses than wins like this one. Both players started last week at the Jets, along with two other backups in Nate Thomas and Hakeem Adeniji. The Cowboys didn’t miss a beat up front with all this shuffling, and will be hoping for more of the same against the Panthers.
Last year’s win at the Panthers was also an example of how Lamb could carry the passing offense, something the Cowboys have been asking George Pickens to do in Lamb’s absence the last two games. Pickens made his splash play in the second half to put the Jets away a week ago, but up until that point the Cowboys already took control of the game with Javonte Williams on the ground and Jake Ferguson and Ryan Flournoy through the air. The Panthers have allowed the most average yards per game to tight ends so far this season, so another big Ferguson game could be in store.
The Panthers will not carry the same winless status the Jets did into last week’s matchup versus the Cowboys, and they are coming off a win against the Dolphins behind Dowdle’s big day. The Cowboys defense will be tested in a physical way by the familiar, tough running of Dowdle, but also by an offense more adept at pushing the ball downfield with Bryce Young at QB and three different receivers averaging over 10 yards per catch – the leader being rookie first-round pick and Dallas draft target Tet McMillan.
The Panthers defense also has a lockdown cornerback Jaycee Horn that can force the Cowboys into a similar offensive game plan to the Jets game, where getting the ball to Pickens regularly won’t be as easy as it was against the Packers. For a team the Cowboys aren’t necessarily “supposed” to have a deep history with, they weirdly continue to find themselves playing on the road at the Panthers under similar sets of circumstances. This time around, they proved with flying colors they can handle these things at the Jets, and carrying that momentum over is of upmost importance for Schottenheimer’s team to remain in playoff contention.
This will also be the Cowboys’ last early kickoff game until week 16 against the Chargers at home. The risers and fallers of this 2025 NFL season are being established at rapid pace, and along that path the Cowboys are close to being back in the spotlight of late window kicks or primetime soon one way or another. Getting there with another win against the Panthers that shows they can handle business well in games they’re supposed to win, while looking forward to a long list of injured players still working to come back soon, is something the Cowboys will be expecting for an equally long list of reasons.
Going from this being a game started by Rush a season ago to the MVP candidate Prescott is at the top of the list, but the defense getting more and more stout in support of this high-scoring offense is a positive. Last year at the Panthers, the Cowboys sacked Bryce Young six times. Micah Parsons led the way with two of them, and Osa Odighizuwa is the only player still on the roster that added to the total. Odighizuwa along with Kenny Clark from the DT position had sacks against the Jets, as well as Sam Williams, James Houston, and Dante Fowler.
If the Cowboys beat the Panthers on Sunday, it may come and go without much fanfare and notoriety around the league, but it stands to be the second straight culture and coaching type of win for Schotty’s team by way of doing exactly what he said his aim was between the lines – having a team that wins in the trenches.
Both Panthers wins have come at home this season, a 30-0 shutout against the Falcons and last week’s win versus the Dolphins, compared to a 26-10 road loss at the Jaguars, 27-22 at the Cardinals, and 42-13 at the Patriots. The Cowboys will be looking to hand the first home loss to a team that’s clearly played better at home so far in 2025, before returning home themselves for division play against the Commanders.
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