There’s been plenty of debate around here about how the Dallas Cowboys should approach the remainder of their 2025 season. That’s only normal when you go into a Week 10 bye with a losing record. But now back at .500 after two post-bye wins, and especially given Sunday’s shocker over the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas’ sudden surge is shifting the conversation.
When you’re sitting at 3-5-1, the idea of winning out in the second half of the year sounds ridiculous. It looks especially unreasonable when you see a stretch of potentially playoff-bound teams like the Eagles, Chiefs, Lions, and Chargers coming. Logic says that if you’re capable of running that gauntlet, you wouldn’t have a losing record.
The Cowboys have been an enigma all year; a league-leading offense handicapped by an all-time atrocious defense. While the offense has had a few no-shows itself, a solvent defense would’ve likely flipped the outcome on at least a few games. The tie with Green Bay, plus narrow losses to Carolina and Philly in Week 1, had a strong chance of being wins. Even if you only get two of those, the mood around a 6-3, 5-4, or even 4-4-1 record at the bye would’ve been different.
The x-factor here, which most teams don’t have in the middle of a season, was the sudden influx of talent at the break. The downtrodden defense suddenly got an elite addition in DT Quinnen Williams, plus LB Logan Wilson, and the returns from injury of DeMarvion Overshown and Shavon Revel. Coordinator Matt Eberflus got an extra week to work with his fresh faces during the bye, and a soft opponent out of the second-half gate in Las Vegas. The Raiders’ dilapidated offensive line was a good teething ring for a hopefully reborn Dallas defense.
But even after that win, many Cowboys fans held their ground in a sense of futility. Dallas still had a losing record in a tough NFC, the tenth team in a race for just seven playoff spots. That tough slate of opponents, with Philly leading the pack, felt like the unavoidable end to whatever hopes endured.
No team, not even the Patriots or Rams, has clinched a playoff spot yet. The Cowboys certainly aren’t in a position to do that soon, or perhaps even before Week 18. But what they can do, which they have for two games in a row since their bye, is win. 11-5-1 is still on the table. And suddenly, thanks to this victory over the Eagles, it sounds a little less crazy than it did two weeks ago.
Suddenly the Chiefs, only 6-5 and having to deal with the short Thanksgiving week as the road team, don’t seem quite so scary. The Lions, who just needed overtime and a Superman performance from Jahmyr Gibbs to put down the Giants’ backups, feel more manageable. We’re not predicting wins here, but just stating that the losses don’t seem quite so inevitable anymore.
Granted, there are plenty of reasons to keep doubting. Dallas has a way of accomplishing things against its NFC East rivals that they can’t often replicate outside of the division. This first-year head coach can still make big blunders, a couple of which the Cowboys had to overcome in the last game. Dak Prescott has a 10-year history of following up heroics with harrowing performances. And while this defense may have finally figured some things out, opponents now have more tape to see how to deal with Quinnen Williams and other new wrinkles.
At the very least, these Cowboys didn’t throw in the towel at the halfway point of the season. They didn’t give up when 21-0 felt like just another brutal 2025 letdown. If they can pair that determination with the ability to finally play some complementary football, then there’s a realistic shot at winning any game left on their schedule.
Yes, to actually make the NFC playoffs, Dallas must win nearly every remaining game. But the next six wouldn’t matter if they hadn’t handled their business in the last two. That’s all the Cowboys can do right now: beat the team in front of them each week. Keep doing that, and this hope train just might actually reach the station.
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