The Dallas Cowboys had their way with the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night and as a result the spirits around America’s Team are high for the first time in a while. Winning is a wonderful feeling.
It remains to be seen as to whether or not the Cowboys can truly go on a magical run, make the playoffs, and all of that jazz. For now we are just taking things week by week. If things work out in the end we will celebrate accordingly.
As it relates to the Cowboys and where they are at following the Raiders win, we have to put the performance in its proper place historically. Thankfully things like Pro Football Reference and Stathead make this easy to do.
Let’s dive into this week’s historical notes.
The Cowboys entered this game with a three-game losing streak on Monday Night Football. Thankfully that is over.
It had been a long time since Dallas had been shut out from a win for three straight games on MNF specifically. The last streak of such kind was 2012-2014. Back then it was unheard of for a team to play on MNF twice in the same season, but the Cowboys have done so in two straight years.
You could actually say they have done this in three straight years as the team’s late December win over the Lions in 2023 was technically the MNF broadcast, although the game occurred on a Saturday.
George Pickens continues to be great
Monday night saw George Pickens eclipse 900 receiving yards on the season. He is just the 15th player to do this in the first 10 games of a stint with a franchise, and he is the only member in Cowboys franchise history (since 1970) to do this.
There are some pretty incredible names here and some players who did it as rookies on their teams. George is doing some very special things and it has been so fun to watch.
Pickens is one game behind Miles Austin in one respect
Monday night marked Pickens’ third game of the season with 130 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown. The record for most gams of such kind in a season for the Cowboys is four, something Miles Austin did in 2009.
As you can see CeeDee Lamb is on this list for having done it a hat trick’s worth of times as well back during the 2023 season. These are admittedly some arbitrary numbers in 130 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown, but you get the impressiveness nonetheless.
Monday night was impressive for quarterback Dak Prescott as he threw four touchdowns and not a single pass into the arms of the opposition. Any time you can do that it is certainly impressive. It should be noted that Dak did fumble, just for context’s sake.
The game was the ninth of Prescott’s career where he tossed four touchdowns and not a single interception. He has almost double the player with the next-most in franchise history in terms of games of such kind in Tony Romo.
If Prescott has just two more games of such kind across the rest of his career then he will have as many games of such kind by himself as everybody else in franchise history combined.
Javonte Williams is rushing for a ton of yards
While we are on the subject of thresholds reached and what not, Javonte Williams reached 800 rushing yards on the season on Monday night.
He is the first Cowboys running back to hit 800 yards through the first 10 games of a season since Ezekiel Elliott in 2019.
It isn’t hyperbolic to say that Williams is giving the Cowboys something that they have not had in quite some time. It is refreshing to see and clearly helping everything work around it from an offensive standpoint.
Jake Ferguson is flirting with history
Monday night was big for a lot of players as you can see, and Jake Ferguson was among them. He caught his seventh touchdown of the season and had a great mime celebration after.
Consider that the record for most receiving touchdowns in a season by a Cowboys tight end is nine. Jake is three away from holding the record all to himself with seven games to go.
Again, there are seven games to go. This is well within striking distance.
1978 Billy Joe DuPree and 2010 Jason Witten better watch out.
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