Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images The Cowboys are officially underdogs this week. The Dallas Cowboys have had such a poor season that they are now underdogs to the Carolina Panthers in Week 15. Fanduel has Dallas as 1.5-point dogs. It wasn’t long ago that the Panthers were labeled as the worst team in the league, but lately they have been making strides. The New York Giants and Las Vegas Raiders are now battling for the crown of worst franchise… for now. It would have been interesting to see what these odds would have been had the Cowboys resisted touching that blocked punt and blowing the game. If Dallas just left that punt alone, they would have gotten the ball already within Brandon Aubrey’s range. Would a win in that game meant totally different odds for this week? We’ll never know. Another interesting thing to take into account now is that the Bengals’ game effectively ended any playoff hopes for Dallas. Just how much will that loss, and the way they lost it, affect the team going forward? Will effort still be there? Will players be less likely to push through injuries and will assistant coaches start working on their résumés? Anyway, it all adds up to the Cowboys being underdogs on the road to the Panthers. It’s that kind of season.

Tim Heitman-Imagn Images The Dallas Cowboys lost on Monday night and we have some thoughts on what happened The winning streak of the Dallas Cowboys came to an end after losing to the Cincinnati Bengals 27-20 on Monday night. It was a competitive game going back and forth and being tied three times before the Bengals delivered the dagger late. There were some good things from this Cowboys football team, but it wasn’t enough and they dropped to 5-8 on the year, 1-6 at AT&T Stadium, and putting their hopes for a playoff berth on life support. Here are 10 thoughts on this Monday night 1. A GREAT START This game couldn’t have started any better for the Cowboys. The Bengals’ offense went three-and-out on their first possession and the Cowboys’ offense marched down the field and orchestrated a nine-play, 60-yard drive, capped off by an 11-yard CeeDee Lamb touchdown in the corner of the end zone. Just like that, the Cowboys jumped ahead with a 7-0 lead. 2. COSTLY TURNOVER The Bengals answered with an 11-play drive that went 70 yards to tie the game at 7-7. The Cowboys’ offense looked poised to answer right back with another score of their own, but those plans changed real quickly. Cooper Rush tried to hit CeeDee Lamb on a slant, but the ball got deflected and ended up in the arms of Bengals defender Geno Stone at the four-yard line. Just like that, the Cowboys came away with nada. This was the seventh time the Cowboys have turned the ball over in the red zone this season, the most in the NFL. 3. A CAREER BEST FOR RICO One bright spot for the Cowboys was the continued resurgence of running back Rico Dowdle. On the night, Rico rushed the ball 18 times for 131 yards for an average of 7.4 yards per carry. It was a new career high for Dowdle. The 26-year-old running back looked great as he was weaving through creases and showed good burst. It’s taken a while but the Cowboys running game is starting to show life and could mean more Dowdle in the future. 4. THE OLINE SHUFFLE What made the Cowboys’ rushing performance even more impressive was how they did it with a depleted offensive line. The team learned this week that they would be without Zack Martin for the rest of the year. They are also rolling with veteran Chuma Edoga at left tackle over rookie Tyler Guyton. On Monday night, they lost rookie center Cooper Beebe when he left the game with a concussion. This forced Brock Hoffman to slide over to center and T.J. Bass to play right guard. With all the shuffling the Cowboys have had on the offensive line, it’s crazy that the run game can stay afloat let alone get better. 5. MORE INJURIES The offense was without Beebe, but the defense suffered a huge blow when linebacker DeMarvion Overshown went down in the second half with a knee injury. It’s unclear the extent of his injury, but it doesn’t look good. Beebe and Overshown have been two of the better young players on this roster and it’s unpleasant to see them go down. The Cowboys have endured injuries to all of the All-Pros not named CeeDee Lamb, so now it appears the injury bug is coming after their future All-Pros. 6. GOING BACKWARD When Jourdan Lewis got flagged for pass interference it put the Bengals at their 46-yard line with 4:10 left to play in the game. They didn’t have much farther to go to get into a game-winning field goal position. It wasn’t looking good, but then two offensive holding penalties pushed the Bengals back. The tide had turned and the Bengals were forced to punt at their own 27-yard line, setting the table for the Cowboys to have a shot a game-winning drive themselves. 7. SPECIAL TEAM CRAZINESS When linebacker Nick Vigil flew up the middle and got his hands on the Bengals’ punt attempt, the crowd erupted. For a split second, we realized the Cowboys would get the ball already in Brandon Aubrey field goal range. But then we watched the ball bounce a little further and could see disaster before it happened. Backup corner Amani Oruwariye just couldn’t resist trying to catch the ball on a bounce in hopes of returning it. Unfortunately, he mishandled it and the Bengals recovered. You might remember a similar Now, it was Cincy sitting with a great field position with a chance to take the lead. 8. A TERRIBLE FINISH After the punt block snafu, things went south in a hurry. It only took the Bengals three plays to jump ahead, largely thanks to a pass to JaMarr Chase where he scampered to the end zone for a 40-yard touchdown. Cincinnati went up 27-20 with just over a minute to play. The Cowboys just didn’t have it in them to answer. Cooper Rush stumbled trying to escape for a three-yard gain, got sacked for an eight-yard loss, and then threw a floating duck on fourth down that went incomplete. The Cowboys quickly turned the ball over on downs and the game was over. 9. NO ANSWER FOR CHASE The Bengals got their star receiver involved early in often. Chase finished the game with 14 catches for 177 yards and two touchdowns. While the Cowboys’ defense did a good job on his teammate Tee Higgins (two catches for 23 yards), they had no answer for Chase. He did a great job getting open and when he had the ball in his hands he churned out extra yards. On his game-winning touchdown catch, he caught DaRon Bland taking a bad angle and Chase was off to the races. 10. NO CHANCE WITH RUSH It’s unfortunate that the Cowboys can play well for a large part of the game, but ultimately be held back by the limitations of backup quarterback Cooper Rush. There were times he delivered some good balls

Tim Heitman-Imagn Images All the latest Dallas Cowboys news following a Monday night loss. Bengals-Cowboys: Ja’Marr Chase, Cincinnati take advantage of Leon Lett-like blunder in stunning win vs. Dallas – Frank Schwab, Yahoo Sports Having Leon Lett comparisons to make after this Cowboys and Bengals game was not on anybody’s bingo card. A close 4th quarter The Bengals got lucky on what looked like a key turnover. Andrei Iosivas looked like he was stripped of the ball, but a replay review showed he never secured the catch as he was juggling it, so it was ruled incomplete. Burrow was sacked after that — officials missed a clear facemask penalty on Dallas — and punted on the next play. The Bengals got a stop and that gave Burrow a chance to win the game. He was banged up on the previous drive, possibly on the sack, and ESPN showed him getting a brace on his knee before the drive that started with 5:31 left. The drive started well, but two offensive penalties put the Bengals into a second-and-26. After a short completion and a sack, Cincinnati punted at the two-minute warning. That’s when the punt was blocked, leading to the comedy of errors of the Bengals getting the ball right back. Chase is having a monster season, and shortly after the gaffe by Dallas he took a short pass, slipped by one tackle attempt and took it in for the go-ahead touchdown. Micah Parsons stormed off the field after the heartbreaking loss. That image is a good representation of the Cowboys’ entire season. D’oh! Cowboys lose to Bengals on special teams blunder – Richard Paolinelli, Inside The Star The Cowboys can’t get out of their own way this season. Stat Line Rush finished the game 16-of-31 for 183 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Dowdle added 131 yards on 18 carries with Lamb getting six catches for 93 yards and a touchdown. By The Numbers The Bengals snapped a five-game losing streak, both overall and when playing at Dallas, with the victory. Cincinnati’s last win anywhere over Dallas was back in 2004 in Ohio. The Cowboys are now 10-5 overall against the Bengals and 7-2 when playing at home. Cincinnati’s only win in Dallas prior to Monday had been a 38-24 win at Texas Stadium in 1988. Dallas is now 34-29 all-time in Week 14 games. The Cowboys had won five straight in this week of the schedule. Bengals-Cowboys on ‘Monday Night Football’: What We Learned from Cincinnati’s 27-20 win – Nick Shook, NFL.com The Cowboys and Bengals proved it doesn’t take teams with winning records to put on a compelling game. The Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys went down to the wire on Monday night. In the end, it was Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and the Bengals who kept their slim playoff hopes alive, edging Cooper Rush, Rico Dowdle and the Cowboys, 27-20. Chase hauled in the game-winning touchdown — his second of the game — thanks to a blocked punt by the Cowboys that ended up being touched by Dallas beyond the line of scrimmage and returned possession to the Bengals. Cincinnati snapped its three-game losing skid, while Dallas had its two-game winning streak concluded. The Dallas Cowboys punt block turned disaster… explained – RJ Ochoa, Blogging The Boys As a rule of thumb, when obscure special teams rules have to be explained in detail following a game, your team probably did something terribly wrong. After seeing the ball bounce around for a bit it was Amani Oruwariye who decided to try and field the ball for Dallas. He did not do so cleanly, but because he touched it the ball became live again and eligible for Cincinnati to recover. They did, took over once more, scored and ultimately won the game. This is a tricky rule that doesn’t show up a lot due to the infrequency of blocked punts in the NFL. But after a block the ball must be left alone by the team who was responsible for the block or else they risk this happening. Cowboys fans will of course remember a similar thing happening on a field goal attempt where Leon Lett did the exact same thing. The stakes were a bit different then, but the mistake is just as flabbergasting. Unbelievable. Don’t forget these plays: Missing back-to-back fumbles – Nick Eatman, DallasCowboys.com The Cowboys had the lead at three different times in this game before losing in the final minutes. Two fumbles, no recoveries – On back-to-back plays, both involving Donovan Wilson, the Cowboys nearly had a turnover and never got the ball. Wilson recovered what was ruled initially as a fumble by Iosivas and returned the ball to the Bengals’ 28-yard line. But the replay officials came back and said the pass was incomplete. On the next play from the Cincinnati 46, Wilson and Marist Liufau combined on a sack and forced a Burrow fumble, but the Bengals still recovered. And although they had to punt, the Cowboys got the ball back and couldn’t put a drive together. The chances of two turnovers that came up empty seemed to be the opportunity needed for a win, and the Cowboys came up short. Vigil’s block by another inch? – It’s always a game of inches. Nick Vigil, who is on the roster for his ability to play special teams, cut through for a punt block that could’ve won the game. But had Vigil been there maybe a half-second sooner, he gets a little more hand on the ball and knocks it backward for either a touchdown or safety. Instead, we all saw what happened with the ball going forward and Amani Oruwariye opting to recover it. His muffed attempt led to the Bengals recovering it, which put their offense back on the field for the eventual game-winning touchdown. Troy Aikman expects Mike McCarthy to return as Cowboys coach in 2025 – Charean Williams, Pro Football Talk This would be quite the development

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images The Dallas Cowboys lost in heartbreaking fashion on Monday night On a night where The Simpsons took over an alternative broadcast of the game, the Cowboys lost to the Bengals in a manner that can only be summed up by Homer’s signature catchphrase: D’oh! Things started out great for the Cowboys. Their defense forced a swift three-and-out from the Bengals and a high-powered offense that’s scored 34 or more points in four of their last five games. The Cowboys responded by moving down the field with ease against a Bengals defense that’s struggled all year long. Cooper Rush found CeeDee Lamb in the corner of the endzone to go up 7-0 early. Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense woke up on the next drive, and before long he found Ja’Marr Chase in the endzone to tie things up. But Rush and the Cowboys had the defense’s number, and they moved into scoring position quickly after a highlight play from Lamb. CeeDee Lamb is unreal (via @dallascowboys) pic.twitter.com/o1BJOL6CEi — RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) December 10, 2024 The drive would end soon afterwards, though. Rush tried to hit Lamb on a quick slant, but the receiver was blown up by a defender and never got to his spot, allowing for the pass to be picked off. As Troy Aikman explained, the hit was legal because it occurred within the first five yards from the line of scrimmage. Cincinnati didn’t do anything with the takeaway, though, as they turned it over on downs near midfield. A big run from Rico Dowdle – who had his second 100 yard rushing performance in as many games – moved things into field goal range, but the drive stalled out and Brandon Aubrey gave Dallas a 10-7 lead. The Bengals came out on the next drive airing it out, with Burrow completing four of his five passes on the six play drive. The final pass was a screen to Chase Brown, who tiptoed the sideline and scored a touchdown to put Cincinnati up 14-10. The Cowboys would go three-and-out on their final two drives of the first half, with a Bengals field goal sandwiched in between, and they trailed 17-10 at the break. Still, the Cowboys got the ball to start the second half and felt good about where they were. They had done better against Burrow and that offense than most defenses this year, and the running game was working well. That continued on their first drive of the third quarter, as Dowdle led the way with 30 yards on three carries before Rush hit Brandin Cooks for a game-tying touchdown. The defense managed to tighten up on the next drive, too, picking off Burrow after giving up some yardage. It was just the third interception Burrow had thrown in his last seven games. The Cowboys responded with a long, methodical drive that featured plenty of Dowdle. The running back put together 28 yards on four carries, and KaVontae Turpin got a carry in an exciting wildcat formation that picked up 10 yards. An unnecessary roughness penalty killed the drive, but Aubrey drilled a field goal to put Dallas up 20-17 on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Bengals responded with a field goal of their own to tie things back up, and the two teams proceeded to string together three straight punts. When the Bengals got the ball back with five and a half minutes left, time was slowly ticking away. Consecutive holding penalties backed the Bengals up to second and 26, and then Burrow was sacked on third down. That’s when this game got crazy: Bro. pic.twitter.com/guErISs6BL — Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 10, 2024 Nick Vigil broke through the line and blocked the punt, making a massive play just after the two-minute warning. But as the ball rolled forward, Amani Oruwariye tried to catch it on the bounce and make a return. The ball slipped right out of his grasp and was subsequently recovered by Maema Njongmeta. Since the Cowboys touched the ball beyond the line of scrimmage but did not recover it, the play was treated as a muffed punt, thus giving Cincinnati a fresh set of downs. It was a classic Leon Lett moment, as Peyton Manning remarked on the Manningcast. Welcome to the history books, Mr. Oruwariye! Three plays later, Burrow hit Chase for a 40-yard touchdown, which sent the ball back to Rush and the offense with 61 seconds and all three timeouts. However, Rush took a sack on second down and then missed Jake Ferguson on fourth down, staring down the tight end right as Lamb came wide open for what would’ve been an easy first down. Man, CeeDee Lamb looks to be wide open on the final play of the game. If Cooper Rush just looks to his left, it’s first down and then some.#DallasCowboys pic.twitter.com/I0NlSW9s4h — Brandon Loree (@Brandoniswrite) December 10, 2024 The Bengals took one knee and closed out the game with a wild conclusion to a 27-20 nail-biter. The Cowboys did everything right in this game, especially a defense that held Cincinnati to just 27 points, but in the end they found a whole new way to lose the game. Only the Cowboys can turn a blocked punt into a negative. In many ways, this ending was a microcosm of the way this season has gone, and a harsh return to the reality of things after a nice distraction the past two weeks. Now, the Cowboys fall to 5-8, and they’ll need to run the table if they want to avoid their first losing season since Mike McCarthy’s first year in Dallas back in 2020.

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images The Dallas Cowboys are reportedly devastated in the aftermath of DeMarvion Overshown’s injury. The Dallas Cowboys lost to the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night, but the 27-20 final score may be the least of their problems. As the fourth quarter began in earnest linebacker DeMarvion Overshown suffered a right knee injury and needed help to leave the field and game. He was just about immediately ruled out from the rest of the contest. While the team’s loss to Cincinnati stung, attention quickly turned to Overshown and what the significance of the injury was/is. At the time of this writing it is still not fully known, but some details have begun to trickle out. For starters, Overshown took to social media and expressed confidence from a faith-based perspective. He did ask for prayers from his followers/fans. Wouldn’t want this for anyone else! One of God’s Toughest Soldiers Keep me in your prayers… — DeMarvion Overshown (@AGENT0__) December 10, 2024 That could be read to meaning different things and is a bit open to interpretation, but Mike McCarthy also spoke on the situation. McCarthy noted that the team is devastated and that the injury did not look good. For what it is worth, Jerry Jones left it at saying that the team was “very concerned.” Mike McCarthy describes the DeMarvion Overshown knee injury as being “of a serious nature” and said the initial reports were not encouraging. pic.twitter.com/Q3wbY6H5KK — Ed Werder (@WerderEdNFL) December 10, 2024 Jerry Jones said they were “very concerned” about DeMarvion Overshown’s injury. https://t.co/g19khEFidl — Joseph Hoyt (@JoeJHoyt) December 10, 2024 The Cowboys likely want to get official tests and what not done before making any final and official determinations on Overshown, but clearly there is cause for some true concern. Overshown has been having a remarkable season for the Cowboys in 2024, his first year playing. You will recall that Overshown tore his ACL (in his left knee, not the one he injured on Monday night) prior to his rookie season. We will update things around here when more is known.

Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images The Cowboys trail Cincinnati after the first half on Monday night. 2nd Quarter Unfortunately disaster struck right as the second quarter began for the Dallas Cowboys. Cooper Rush was looking for CeeDee Lamb on a slant route and the wideout got caught in traffic. A tipped ball is never a good thing for the offense and in this case it was the worst possible one as Geno Stone came away with an interception for Cincinnati. Tip drill INT! @Bengals ball. : #CINvsDAL on ESPN/ABC : Stream on #NFLPlus & ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/7rPLTs0a9R — NFL (@NFL) December 10, 2024 It was looking as if the Bengals were going to be able to fully capitalize on the turnover as their offense got to midfield with no real issue. To this point in the game the Cowboys defense was generating consistent pressure, but the Bengals offense was thriving as they have in recent games. As noted Cincinnati got to midfield and was short on a third down attempt. Instead of letting them decide on fourth down the Cowboys accepted a penalty against Cincinnati, only for the Bengals to pick up enough yardage to basically get back to where they were going to go from on fourth down had Dallas declined. However it happened the Bengals went for it on fourth and short and were ultimately denied! Micah Parsons had the pressure, but DeMarvion Overshown was the one who made the full on stop. DeMarvion Overshown is relentless (via @dallascowboys) pic.twitter.com/VKnNCssQyS — Blogging The Boys (@BloggingTheBoys) December 10, 2024 A turnover on downs is not quite the same thing as an actual turnover, but capitalizing on them and turning them into points is essential if you want to win football games. The challenge was set for Dallas. Rico Dowdle carried the ball 3 times on the drive in question for 34 yards. Ezekiel Elliott got his first touch of the game for a yard. Ultimately things stalled a bit as the Cowboys got close and they had to settle for a Brandon Aubrey 35-yard field goal. Points are points. The Bengals offense took over once more and showed absolutely zero signs of slowing down. Despite the Cowboys generating a pretty consistent pass rush, Joe Burrow was continuing to find ways to evade it long enough to connect with his players for big gains, even on third downs. At long last the dam broke and the Bengals took their first lead of the game after a Chase Brown touchdown that took a bit to be fully confirmed. This was reviewed and it’s now a @Bengals TD for Chase Brown! : #CINvsDAL on ESPN/ABC : Stream on #NFLPlus & ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/RsIIJ9EumD — NFL (@NFL) December 10, 2024 The next Cowboys drive went nowhere fast. After an incompletion to Jonathan Mingo on first down the Cowboys picked up a little bit of yardage on second. Unfortunately Jake Ferguson false started before third down and Cooper Rush was ultimately sacked before Dallas punted it away. It marked their first 3 and out of the game offensively. The Bengals continued to live up to their reputation on offense and move the ball with relative ease. Thankfully the Cowboys were able to generate enough pressure on a 3rd and 7 on their side of the field and forced Cincy to settle for 3. The Cowboys took over at their own 30-yard line with 30 seconds on the block and all 3 timeouts in their pocket. Given that they deferred to start the game the opportunity for the double dip was right in front of them. Unfortunately that did not happen as the Cowboys went 3 and out for a second time in a row. They punted and the Bengals sent the game to intermission. 1st Quarter The Dallas Cowboys won the toss on this particular night and what do you know, they deferred! To be clear this is the ideal way to approach football, but it worked out in the best possible way as the Cowboys defense forced a three and out. What’s more is that things got even better for the Cowboys after that. All told the good guys traveled 60 yards in 9 plays on their first possession of the game and cashed in on a CeeDee Lamb touchdown pass from Cooper Rush. It even came on 4th and 1 to make it all the more incredible. CEEDEE TD (via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/SqZJ1gCOAJ — Blogging The Boys (@BloggingTheBoys) December 10, 2024 As we discussed all week though… the Bengals are a good football team despite their record. Cincinnati buckled down and traveled 75 yards across 11 total plays for their own score. It was Joe Burrow finding Ja’Marr Chase for the game-tying touchdown on a play that you simply can’t defend. Burrow to Chase for SIX. : #CINvsDAL on ESPN/ABC : Stream on #NFLPlus & ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/R32IM7eQzY — NFL (@NFL) December 10, 2024 It seemed like the quarter was going to end with all square and it ultimately did, but with Dallas in position to take the lead once more thanks to this huge gain from CeeDee Lamb. (via @dallascowboys) pic.twitter.com/UY7Xh3JQCB — Blogging The Boys (@BloggingTheBoys) December 10, 2024 Through the first quarter… a lot of fun was had! Follow Blogging The Boys Everywhere Follow Blogging The Boys on X (formerly Twitter) Follow Blogging The Boys on Instagram Follow Blogging The Boys on Facebook Subscribe to the Blogging The Boys YouTube Channel Notable Recent News Prior to the Thursday night game this past week between the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, it was reported that the former’s offensive coordinator in Ben Johnson has a list of demands (so to speak) with regards to teams who might want him as their head coach. Namely, Johnson would like alignment between himself (as the presumptive head coach) and the team’s general manager on matters pertaining to the football team. You can see how this would effectively remove the Cowboys from consideration. Injury Updates Last week brought with it

Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images Trevon Diggs is officially ACTIVE for the Dallas Cowboys! The Dallas Cowboys are all ready to go against the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football. As they look to make it three straight wins for the first time all year, Dallas now has a better idea of who they’ll be doing battle with tonight. The headline, of course, is the absence of Trevon Diggs from the inactives list. The star cornerback has missed the last two games and was listed as questionable coming into tonight, but it looks like he’ll play. That means the Cowboys will finally see Diggs, DaRon Bland, and Jourdan Lewis on the field together for the first time all year. Among the players on the inactives list, the only that’s on there for injury-related reasons is Juanyeh Thomas, who was ruled out with a knee injury earlier this week. The healthy scratches are Deuce Vaughn, Damone Clark, Jalen Brooks, Tyrus Wheat, and Andrew Booth Jr. That means Tyler Guyton, who was questionable coming into tonight with ankle and knee injuries, is active and available. The rookie left tackle had been rotating in recent weeks with Asim Richards, who is now on the injured reserve, but veteran tackle Chuma Edoga is now back after being activated from the injured reserve. It’s unclear if Guyton will start or potentially rotate with Edoga tonight. As for the Bengals, they’ll be without starting left tackle Orlando Brown, who was ruled out earlier this week. That’s bad news for the Bengals, as the Dallas pass rush has come alive in recent weeks since Micah Parsons returned.