FRISCO, Texas — There weren't many more opportunities for the Dallas Cowboys to lose their matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers, a new one seemingly cropping up time and again over the course of the game and even before it (hello, Mother Nature). They overcame all manner of adversity, including of the self-inflicted variety, to climb to 3-2 on the season and establish the first win streak of their 2024 season.
But it's also true that, as alluded to, there is much to clean up heading into the Week 6 battle with the visiting Detroit Lions — namely the penalties and turnovers that plagued them in the Steel City — swimming against the current of 11 penalties and three turnovers to escape with a narrow three-point win.
It was in large part thanks to an excelsior performance by a wildly undermanned defense that kept Justin Fields at bay, a carousel offensive line and rushing attack that punched far above their weight class, a third-year receiver delivering a legacy game and an All-Pro quarterback who simply refused to accept failure in helping him do so.
"I think yesterday was our best game as a football team, our best game of complementary football," said head coach Mike McCarthy on Monday. "When the offense has the ball longer than the defense, that's a good thing. We were up above 70-plus plays [offensively]."
The Cowboys indeed won time of possession, which is key in and of itself, but that also saw them produce an offensive split McCarthy found very pleasing. While Prescott did throw the ball 42 times, the Cowboys rushing attack got going behind a career day for Rico Dowdle.
The offense finished with 31 rushing attempts, McCarthy noting previously that his weekly goal is "around 30" for the ground attack.
And, thus, all things in perfect balance, or at least near it.
Thanos knew. He always knew.
"We got a number of trips to the plate where the ball was distributed properly," said McCarthy. "Those were the things that are very important every week, let alone play in Pittsburgh. Accomplishing that and running the football is a big part of that. … And talking about complementary football — how many times do you lose the turnover ratio like we did, down three like that, and win the game? That's a huge, huge credit to the fight and the resiliency of our football team."
Sometimes the biggest compliment is to complement.
Two things can be true at the same time, as is the case with the Cowboys' victory over the Steelers in primetime.
The first is that they have plenty of work to do to avoid incessantly shooting themselves in both feet as they get closer to and inside of the red zone. The second is that it's hard to win in the NFL, so nobody should be expecting an apology for the victory in Week 5 failing to be nominated for prom queen by media pundits.
Take the win, get better, and saddle up for next week.
