The Dallas Cowboys are well-rested and revamped after the bye week as they look to make a good showing for the second half of the 2025 season. This week, they head to Allegiant Stadium for the first time officially (they did play a preseason game there last year) to take on the 2-7 Las Vegas Raiders. This might be the easiest game left on the schedule; however, that might not mean much, considering their last game was also against a two-win team on Monday night, and we know how that ended up.
While the playoff race is a distant thought right now, the Cowboys are just looking to play some good football. There are reasons to be excited about the future as they have taken measures to improve the team, but will we see any of those improvements on Monday night? Here are five things to watch when the Cowboys test their luck in Vegas.
1. The new guys
This game will feature the debut of a few new players the Cowboys have acquired via the trade deadline or who have been on the shelf all season due to injury. Former Jets defensive tackle Quinnen Williams will garner most of our attention as he is the most talented interior lineman this team has had in a long time. Former Bengal, Logan Wilson, was also acquired at the trade deadline and should help improve the linebacker position.
Speaking of linebackers, we should also be treated to the long-awaited return of DeMarvion Overshown, who went down late last year with a knee injury. Before he got hurt, he was flashing star potential, and inquiring minds want to know if this young talent can return to form. And finally, we could also see the pro debut of rookie cornerback Shavon Revel Jr., who has spent all season recovering from a knee injury he suffered last year. That’s a lot of new players to keep our interest on Monday night!
2. Containing Ashton
During the draft, many fans were hoping that Boise State star running back Ashton Jeanty would fall to pick 12 and that the Cowboys would select him. We will never know if that would have been their pick if he were available because the Raiders snatched him up with the sixth overall pick. Jeanty entered the league with the expectations of being the next best thing at running back, as he was sensational during his final year in college, but oddly, things haven’t gone all that well at the pro level. He only has 547 rushing yards this season (61 yards per game), which ranks him 17th in the league. He’s not even the highest rushing rookie, as that honor goes to former Ohio State RB Quinshon Judkins, who is ahead of him by 14 rushing yards despite playing in one fewer game.
Jeanty only has one game this year where he exceeded 75 yards on the ground, and that came against the Bears, where he had his best performance of the year, finishing with 138 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Every other team has been able to keep the star rookie in check.
But the Cowboys aren’t like other teams. They have shown that they struggle to stop the run this season, currently ranked in the bottom five, allowing 143 yards per game, and they tend to let things get out of hand. They allowed 216 rushing yards to the Panthers in Week 6 and then 179 yards to the Broncos in Week 8. Hopefully, with the new additions arriving, specifically Williams, the Cowboys’ defense will produce a better showing against the run.
3. Getting the O back on track
The Cowboys’ defense is always the center of our concern, but things haven’t gone all that great on the other side of the ball in recent games. After a four-game stretch with at least 27 points, including two 40+ performances, the offense has scored 24 or fewer points in each of the last two games. In their last game against the Cardinals, the offense only found the end zone once. That type of performance just won’t cut it, and makes things especially difficult when the defense isn’t performing.
Monday night needs to be a get-right game for the Cowboys’ offense. Their offensive line is back to full strength, and they have both their star receivers back in the lineup. The Raiders’ defense is solid, but they’re exploitable. They are middle of the road in both rushing yards (107, ranked 14th) and passing yards (214, ranked 16th) allowed per game. The Cowboys’ offense must get back on track, put points on the board, and create a positive game script to help their defense.
4. Double dose of tight ends
The Raiders don’t have many offensive weapons, which is why they are the second-worst team in the league in points scored. They just traded away their top wide receiver, Jakobi Meyers, to the Jaguars, leaving Tre Tucker and the recently added Tyler Lockett to handle the wide receiving responsibilities. Tucker had a big game in Week 3 vs. the Commanders, where he caught eight passes for 145 yards and scored three touchdowns, but outside of that, he’s been rather quiet. The veteran Lockett has been quiet all year, which ultimately led to his release in Tennessee.
What Vegas lacks in wide receivers, they make up for at the tight end position, employing a two-tight-end set with Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer. Everyone knows about Bowers, who was the 13th overall pick last year and had almost 1,200 receiving yards his rookie season. Inevitably, he’s going to be a challenge for the Cowboys’ defense. But they need to be careful and not lose sight of Mayer. He was taken 35th overall a few years ago, and while he hasn’t lived up to his draft price, he’s still a solid receiving target for Geno Smith. For a Raiders’ offense that isn’t known for airing it out, the Cowboys will want to make sure they don’t nickel and dime them with little stuff as they feed their tight ends.
5. Monday night madness
Crazy things seem to happen whenever the Cowboys play on Monday night, and we’ve seen no shortage of weirdness when they have played the Raiders in recent years. Everyone remembers the “index card” game where Jeff Heath played the hero after Derek Carr lost control of the ball and it rolled out of the end zone for a touchback. And then there was the Thanksgiving shootout a couple of years ago that ended unfavorably after cornerback Anthony Brown was called for his fourth pass interference penalty of the game. Whether it’s index cards or refs tripping over a pylon, weird things tend to happen.
The game has one of those feels about it, and don’t be surprised if the madness shows up on special teams. The last three times these teams have squared off, there has been a big special teams play. In 2013, their Thanksgiving match started horribly as Terrance Williams fumbled the opening kickoff that the Raiders scooped up and returned for a touchdown. In that crazy index card/Jeff Heath game in 2017, Chris Jones helped steal a possession with a 24-yard run on a fake punt. And then their last matchup in 2021, Tony Pollard helped put the Cowboys back into the game with a 100-yard kickoff return midway through the third quarter. What big special teams play should we expect this time around?
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