FRISCO, Texas – The 2025 offseason is upon us, with plenty of looming decisions ahead for the Dallas Cowboys following a 7-10 finish in the regular season.
They've already made one with yesterday's decision to move on from head coach Mike McCarthy and will now look for the 10th head coach in franchise history.
Let's take a look back at the month of October in what is now the last season of the McCarthy era:
October:
- Oct. 6 - Cowboys 20, Steelers 17
- Oct. 13 - Lions 47, Cowboys 9
- Oct. 27 - 49ers 30, Cowboys 24
Biggest takeaway: Life without your two top pass rusher is not very fun. The Cowboys struggled to consistently get pressure on opposing backfields without Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence, leading to Jared Goff throwing the ball all over the place in a blowout win and the 49ers rushing for 223 yards and two touchdowns. Mix in the fact that the Cowboys offense was doing themselves no favors and often playing catchup in both the losses in October, and it set out a bleak future for the rest of the season with Dallas sitting at 3-4.
Something to remember: The huge, gutsy win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. That game had disaster written all over it with a nearly 90-minute delay before kickoff and a heart attack from Rico Dowdle after fumbling at the one-yard line with a chance to get a go-ahead touchdown. Two downs after Prescott recovered the fumble, it set up fourth down and goal from the four for the win and Prescott threw a perfect pass to Jalen Tolbert, who as Tyler Smith lovingly put it: "sprained his nuts" on the previous play, and Dallas left Pittsburgh well into Monday morning with a massive victory to get to 3-2 after a rocky start.
Something to forget: Truly, the entirety of the Lions game. It was the worst home loss for the Cowboys since 1988 and Dallas became the first team since at least 2000 to trail by 14 or more points at halftime in four consecutive games on their home field. The Cowboys turned the ball over five times and gave up 492 yards of offense to a Detroit team that would end up being the #1 seed in the NFC by the end of the season. That game highlighted the vast difference that stood between the Cowboys and the top contenders in the NFL for the 2024 season.
Employee of the month:
Nick Eatman: Not a lot of standouts in this month, which included a pair of tough losses. But CeeDee Lamb actually had some nice numbers in these three games. Highlighted by a 13-catch, 146-yard game with 2 TDs at San Francisco, Lamb averaged 8.3 catches, 99 yards in that stretch with the two scores.
Patrik Walker: Trying to decide on who deserves the month of October is a rough one, but I'm going with CeeDee Lamb on this one. He got progressively better as the month went along, adding two rushing touchdowns to the mix, ultimately exploding for 146 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in a narrow loss to the 49ers on the road. There weren't many bright spots in October, but CeeDee Lamb was the brightest of any, in my opinion.
Tommy Yarrish: It was a rough month to find an employee of the month for, but I think Jalen Tolbert gets my nod here. The toughness he showed to overcome visible pain after getting hit down low by a pass that bounced off the ground and make the game-winning play on the next snap was impressive to me. He also went on to be the Cowboys second-leading receiver in the next two games, albeit for just 87 yards – the same amount he had in the whole game against the Steelers.
