The Dallas Cowboys are on their bye week, with a lot of work to do entering the bye off their first back-to-back losses in 2025. The 3-5-1 team will look quite a bit different on defense when they’re back in action off the bye for another Monday night game at the Las Vegas Raiders. The Cowboys made trade deadline deals for linebacker Logan Wilson from the Cincinnati Bengals and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams from the New York Jets.
One of the essential tasks of any NFL team’s bye week is the opportunity to self scout. The Cowboys will still be preparing for Pete Carroll and the Raiders as well, but this time off is an extended amount of time for Brian Schottenheimer’s team to look inward and focus on just what they’ve done through nine games.
Here at BTB, we are also going to do some of our own self-scouting during this bye. Before every Cowboys kickoff we have a breakdown of what needs to happen for Dallas to win, and what is most likely to cause a loss. It is time to see how we did on these evaluations, and better understand how Dallas can get back in the win column post-bye, by looking at what went right in their three wins so far.
Week 2 vs. New York Giants
Dallas Cowboys 40 New York Giants 37 (OT)
- Cowboys improve to 1-1
Here is the initial reasoning why we felt the Cowboys would come out on top against the Giants:
(Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
Dak Prescott’s 52 attempts compared to 28 rushes did not allow the Cowboys to stay balanced in their first home game of the season. The Giants were pushing the ball downfield with ease, forcing Prescott to keep up. This has remained a theme all season, and more times than not led to losses. The Cowboys scored on five straight possessions between the end of the third quarter and through the fourth, and still never led by more than four down the stretch of this insane early kickoff game.
Outside of rookie CB Shavon Revel Jr., the help the Cowboys are getting defensively after the bye is all in the front seven. They may continue to improve against the run, but giving up big pass plays is still a major concern. What the Cowboys offense did at times against the Giants could be their only chance to reverse fortune, and it is undoubtedly a narrow path to follow.
When the Cowboys have tried to be patient on offense, they often get too patient leaning on the run game and inevitably end up in an obvious third-down passing situation. With the offense at full strength now, the Cowboys need to get Jake Ferguson going again to play better ball control, and pick and choose their shot plays downfield while also opening up more short to intermediate throws to CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.
The Cowboys went a perfect 3-3 in the red zone against the Giants, compared to the opportunities they’ve squandered near the goal line early in their recent two losses with penalties and miscues.
The defense also rose up in overtime to stop a big play downfield, with Donovan Wilson making the interception that led to the game winning field goal. Positive plays like this from any Cowboys safety have been few and far between this season, but are another thing to look for more of in the defense’s effort to even get the ball back to their offense even in marginally better situations.
Week 5 at New York Jets
Dallas Cowboys 37 New York Jets 22
- Cowboys improve to 2-2-1
Here is why we thought the Cowboys would get back on track following the tie vs. the Packers at the Jets:
(Photo by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images)
This was a spot on prediction, even with the added wrinkle of the Cowboys not having all of their horses up front. Coach Schottenheimer scheming against his old team was a clinic. A protected Prescott was surgical at the line of scrimmage getting Dallas in the right plays all game, the ball came out decisively and on-time, and the run game was dominant.
The Cowboys flawless end of half execution stayed a consistent theme in this one, seeing them jump ahead by 20 with a quick strike score before halftime. Getting back to that would be a huge step in the right direction as well. Situational football that allows an offensive line the Cowboys have invested heavily in again to make the biggest impact on the game is what this team needs to get back to.
When the line plays like they did in this win, the Cowboys are a multi-dimensional offense with harmony between the run, pass, and play-action. Next Monday night against the Raiders is one of the few games the Cowboys have remaining against teams with losing records, and while style points won’t matter much to a team that’s lost two straight, this could be one of their last opportunities to fully play a game on their terms and “flex” just a little bit.
More important that doing that to beat the Raiders would be doing so to have another clean game on tape to study moving forward and help a team that needs an identity reset find what their mojo is. The Cowboys failed to do so after the Jets win, but will play the Eagles after the Raiders, making this of upmost importance.
Week 7 vs. Washington Commanders
Dallas Cowboys 44 Washington Commanders 22
- Cowboys improve to 3-3-1
Here is why we thought the Cowboys would beat the Commanders at home:
(Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Dallas’ hope against Washington rests in their ability to learn from these tendencies and finish drives with touchdowns against a Commanders defense that’s allowed the third-highest passing yards per attempt and second-most pass plays over 40 yards (only ahead of the Cowboys) this season.
Both of these teams on Sunday are coming off of a loss, and now share a common opponent in the loss column. Bears running back D’Andre Swift was the catalyst for their offense, going for a season high 108 yards at 7.7 YPC on 14 carries. For reference, Swift had 14 carries the week prior against the Raiders and only had 38 yards, and 13 carries for 33 yards against the Cowboys in week three. Ben Johnson’s offense was able to get the best of Quinn’s defense in a familiar way, attacking the edges with speed and forcing the Commanders to tackle in space.
With Prescott having a season high 8.8 yards per attempt in this win, and the Cowboys finding more success on the ground, this is another pretty accurate assessment in our self scouting. The Cowboys defense did put up resistance to the Commanders offense as well, although against backup QB Marcus Mariota after knocking Jayden Daniels out of the game. DaRon Bland’s pick-six punctuated a complementary win for the Cowboys.
That element of playing complementary football has been talked about consistently from Mike McCarthy straight through to Schottenheimer, but much like winning in the trenches, the chances to do so in 2025 have been too few and far between.
The Cowboys racked up 409 yards and had 21 first downs in this complementary win, which put them at 2-1 against the NFC East.
It has been said too often this season that the Cowboys can only win when Dak Prescott and the offense are perfect. When self scouting from their wins though, the more accurate thing is that the offense needs to be balanced and play clean games. Perfection is a standard the Cowboys can’t possibly uphold, and trying to do so will only mean more losing in 2025. Rising to the challenge of coming off the bye playing without penalties, turnovers, and drops is much more attenable, and will give the Cowboys their best chance to right the ship.
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