Thinking about the future is not often a characteristic that describes those visiting the “Sin City” of Las Vegas, and it’s one the Dallas Cowboys will be looking to delay at least a week by renewing hope on the 2025 season and get in the win column for the first time since week seven. The Cowboys spent their bye week making trades to improve the defense with players that will remain under contract into 2026, but are hopeful the full scope of what they’re adding to that side of the ball can also help support an offense that needs to get back to scoring, and make the team a balanced one that can make a late season surge.
Off of losses to two teams they’ve historically struggled against, the Cowboys not being able to turn fortunes around against either team under first-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer has them unfortunately right back in a familiar position of being outside the playoff conversation looking in. Another thing the Cowboys had time to do leading into Monday Night Football at the Raiders is look inward at their own operation, as they were on a bye week. The Raiders currently have the worst record of all remaining opponents on the Cowboys schedule, and Dallas has a slew of new faces they plan on introducing to the defensive lineup against them, so how Schotty’s team looks against the Raiders off extra rest will be interesting.
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Coach Schottenheimer is still looking for his first primetime win as head coach, something he’ll still have chances to do against the Lions and Vikings later this season, but getting win number one against a former mentor of his in Pete Carroll would be a great start.
It was reported during the Cowboys’ offseason coaching search that ended with Schottenheimer’s hire that Jerry Jones reached out to Carroll at one point. It was unknown at the time if this was to vet Carroll’s interest in the Cowboys opening, but looking back now it feels far more likely this was a “reference check” on Schottenheimer, before Carroll ultimately took the Raiders job. Schottenheimer’s first opportunity to be a NFL offensive coordinator came in 2006 with the Jets, another team Carroll previously coached, but his more substantial stop was in Seattle from 2018-20 as Carroll’s offensive coordinator with the Seahawks. It was here that Schottenheimer’s own philosophies and foundations to being a future head coach were laid, aligning closely with Carroll’s when it comes to a desire to run the ball and win up front at the line of scrimmage.
After just one season in Jacksonville following his time in Seattle, Schottenheimer landed on Mike McCarthy’s staff in Dallas where he eventually got this head coaching opportunity. The reigns are fully his to build the Cowboys in this image, one they’ve tried many different versions of over the better part of the last two decades, but so too are loads of fresh faces and young talent on the offensive and defensive lines to hopefully find a core to build around. Too many early losses in a young team’s development can be detrimental, and while the Cowboys not being the better team at the Broncos came as no surprise, looking so lifeless against the Cardinals two Mondays ago was not good at all, and following that up with a loss to the Raiders would be a new low.
The bigger national storyline coming into Monday night’s game will be how the Cowboys can win up front on the defensive side with the addition of Quinnen Williams at defensive tackle, and Logan Wilson plus DeMarvion Overshown at linebacker. Schottenheimer’s offense was well below standard and struggled along the offensive line in both losses before the bye though, so how the Cowboys look here against a Carroll defense that has been uncharacteristically bad this season will be equally important. The Raiders defensive coordinator is Patrick Graham, who’s last stop was with the Giants for two seasons in 2020-21. The Cowboys went 3-1 against the Giants over this stretch.
When it comes to a win this season where the Cowboys showed the best version of the identity they want under Schottenheimer, beating his former team the Jets in week five was it. With that win being one of just three total through ten weeks, it doesn’t carry much value here in week 11 where the Cowboys are playing to keep even faint playoff hopes alive in a must-win game against the 2-7 Raiders. Another thing they would welcome to get back on track with a win is the type of clutch play they got from safety Jeff Heath the last time they played at the Raiders, also in primetime on a Sunday night in Oakland.
In a late night game defined by two bizarre moments, the final one saved the 20-17 Cowboys win in improbable fashion. After the Cowboys went 69 yards in 11 plays but were denied a touchdown from the one-yard line, they kicked a field goal to go ahead by three with 1:47 remaining. On the ensuing drive, the Raiders attempt to tie or win the game was kept alive by a Jourdan Lewis pass interference penalty that went for 55 yards on 4th-and-10. The Raiders got inside the Cowboys’ ten on the next play, but on third down two plays later, Carr had nowhere to throw and took off for the pylon. When reaching the ball for the goal line to score what would have been the winning touchdown, Jeff Heath made the hustle play of a lifetime and hit Carr as he was extending. Carr went out of bounds short of the end zone, but not before the ball flew out of his hands and also went out of bounds – before crossing the pylon, which made the fumble a turnover and touchback for the Cowboys. The play is one of the most realistic examples any Cowboys fan of a certain age can point to when professional football is called a “game of inches”.
The other viral moment in this game was also one of inches, or perhaps more accurately millimeters. It was one of those collective moments you live for as a fan, when your team is the only one on TV, and something insane happens that everyone experiences together. On the first set of downs on the Cowboys’ final drive that ended in the eventual winning field goal, Dak Prescott ran a QB sneak on 4th-and-1 from the Dallas 39. The Cowboys got some push on the play, the ball got lost in the pile, and was eventually spotted just on the edge of the 39-yard line. Head referee Gene Steratore pulled out an index card and held it against the end of the chains, seeing that it hit the ball and using that to determine Prescott had a first down. A lot has changed in the ways the league measures first downs since then, but the index card will live on in hilarity for Cowboys fans and infamy for Raiders fans in Oakland especially.
This was the Cowboys’ third straight win against the Raiders, but on Monday night they will be looking to even the all-time series at seven after the Raiders took the lead on Thanksgiving in 2021. The Raiders had 509 yards and put up 36 points despite going 2-5 in the red zone to win on Thanksgiving in Arlington 36-33. In their last two games combined, the current Raiders have barely eclipsed that one game total from 2021, with 331 yards in an overtime loss to the Jaguars and 188 yards at the Broncos. It is more than fair to call this Monday night a make-or-break, now-or-never game for the Cowboys defense under Matt Eberflus. It is their one roll of the roulette wheel to come up with a chance at doing anything noteworthy this season.
A defensive line playing with collective heavy hearts after the loss of Marshawn Kneeland will have a chance to get after Geno Smith, who was sacked six times against the Broncos and threw one interception. The Raiders had five drives that netted negative yardage, one of which resulted in a turnover on downs and another a blocked punt, and also missed a field goal in the fourth quarter of the three-point loss. Much like Schottenheimer’s team will have a laundry list of things to correct that haven’t been good enough during the bye, the Raiders went into a bit of extended rest off last Thursday’s brutal Thursday Night Football loss trying to get back to fundamentals under Carroll.
The Raiders may not be able to think about reaching the playoffs even if they snap their three-game losing streak this week against the Cowboys, but with only one home win against the Titans to show this season, the motivation will be there to play up to the challenge in front of a crowd that will likely feature plenty of Dallas faithful. The Cowboys can keep playoff hopes alive with a win, but more importantly can use a win to bring an overall good feeling back to a building that sorely needs it, and get back to winning ways before preparing for the all-important rematch at home with the Eagles.
Naturally, it is the Cowboys that will go on from this game with many more primetime and holiday game opportunities to be in the spotlight compared to the Raiders playing their final night game of the season against them. The pressure is much more on Dallas to be the team that re-finds themselves playing on MNF for the second game in a row.
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