CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Go figure these Dallas Cowboys.
They come here to face the somewhat-resurgent Carolina Panthers on a short week, having to play two games in a seven-day period.
They had their hearts broken this past Monday when they turned a deflected punt into a muffed ball in the final two minutes, leading directly to a 27-20 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
They came here without DeMarion Overshown, lost for the season and possibly next season too with a crushing knee injury, soon to undergo a serious surgery.
They surprisingly came here without starting cornerback Trevon Diggs, having chosen to undergo season-ending knee surgery to repair damaged cartilage, meaning now they would be playing without four players who have been to a Pro Bowl and 10 players overall at some point this season.
The offensive line was a mess, no starting guard, no starting center, no starting left tackle nor the immediate backup there too. No starting quarterback, Dak Prescott making the trip this time with the use of his crutches, although hard to watch him struggle up the stairs to the charter flight coming home.
Then during this game, played before thousands missing from the 70,570 distributed tickets announced, allowing for Cowboys fan to proliferate the stadium, Dallas lost three more starters during the game, two of those backups replacing injured starters in the first place.
Because of all this, some guy who is supposed to set betting lines, trying his best to make his company money on these NFL games, had the 3-10 Panthers 2½ point favorites over the 5-8 Cowboys, the first time Carolina has been a betting favorite in the past 34 games.
And what do we get from these injured and a bit emotionally decimated Cowboys?
Cowboys 30, Panthers a distant 14.
Keeping, oh, so slim mathematical playoff hopes alive when common sense says otherwise.
Talk about a resilient bunch.
And head coach Mike McCarthy, who keeps this team plowing ahead against expanding odds, agrees, saying, "We've always been a resilient bunch."
Exhibit C already this season when once again counted out.
This seemingly improbable win nudges the Cowboys record to 6-8 with three games to play, knowing above all else they would need to win out to even remotely have a chance at that third NFC wild-card berth. And those chances grew fingernail thin on Sunday when the Saints, down 20-19 to Washington after scoring a touchdown with no time left on the clock, decided to go for the two-point conversion and the win, only to fail.
That pushed the Commanders' record to 9-5, remaining three games ahead of the Cowboys for that final available playoff spot. But then there are the 8-6 Rams and Seahawks in a virtual tie for first in the NFC West just one game behind the Commanders, the Cardinals at 7-7 just one game behind both in the West, with the 6-7 Falcons playing Monday night a half-game behind them and already with a win over the Cowboys. And if that were not enough of a mountain to climb, the Niners also are 6-8 but hold the head-to-head advantage over the Cowboys.
As we can see, not only do the Cowboys need to win out, but these other teams also need to start doing a whole lot of losing for Dallas to have a playoff chance.
While the Cowboys will finish out the season at home against Tampa Bay, then on the road against the Eagles and back home against a Commanders team they already have beaten, Washington, before finishing out the season against the Cowboys, first must face the Eagles and Falcons at home.
Bottom line, though, the Commanders would eliminate Dallas from playoff contention with one more win or one more Cowboys loss. But at least the Cowboys are causing the Commanders to keep peeking over their shoulders. And if this race somehow comes down to a 9-8 tie for that third playoff spot, the Cowboys would win the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Now, that is getting way ahead of ourselves. But at least the Cowboys did their part here Sunday to keep things moderately interesting. They did so by running the ball, finishing with a season high 211 yards, the third consecutive game totaling more than 100. They did so with Rico Dowdle accounting for a career-high 149 yards, meaning Dowdle has now rushed for more than 100 yards in three consecutive games, the first Cowboys running back to do so since Ezekiel Elliott in 2019. In fact, it was Zeke pitching in a season-high 30 yards rushing as the Cowboys were working on salting this one away.
They also did so by earning their third win in the past four games thanks to CeeDee Lamb grabbing nine Cooper Rush passes for 116 yards, including a honey of a 14-yard TD catch, leaving Coop saying of CeeDee's turnaround grab of a throw behind him, "It's just elite level instincts that a lot of guys don't have at that level." Also elite, this was Lamb's fourth 1,000-yard season in his first five years in the NFL (1,089), the only Cowboys player to achieve such consistency, and knowing Dallas has three other franchise receivers already in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
And except for one play, the Cowboys defense totally discombobulated the Carolina offense, sacking second-year quarterback Bryce Young six times, registering 10 QB hits and totaling four takeaways.
Of course, the Cowboys had to add a level of anxiety to what could have been a cakewalk if not for a two-play span the final minute of the first half while leading 10-0. With 45 seconds remaining, facing a third-and-1 at the Carolina 14, the Cowboys got a little too fancy. Instead of just handing Dowdle the ball going left, Rush appeared to be intentionally pulling the ball out, trying to either run the ball to the right himself or possibly throw a short pass to Jason Ferguson, who had gone in motion to the right.
Rush fumbled. The Panthers recovered at the 17, and on the very next play, thanks to a busted coverage, Young hit wide receiver Jalen Coker in stride for an 83-yard touchdown pass.
Oops, game on.
If not for those two plays, and at the very least the Cowboys would have kicked a field goal to end the half, the Panthers had gained only 94 yards to that point and Young had only thrown for 51 of those on nine completions.
But as fast as the Cowboys complicating things, they quickly rectified them within the first three minutes of the third quarter. First, Osa Odighizuwa, who had a dominating performance, produced a sack/fumble on the first play of the second half that was recovered by Chauncey Golston at the Carolina 29-yard line. Five plays later Rush, extending the play with his legs, on the run hits Jalen Tolbert in the back of the end zone with a dandy two-step touchdown grab. That made it 17-7 Cowboys, and they never looked back.
"Flushed it, onto the next play," Coop says.
Well, this team has been required to flush a lot, considering the uncommon number of debilitating injuries they have been playing though this season. But far be it from them to use that as an excuse for this current 6-8 record.
"We fight as one," said center Brock Hoffman, who within a two-game span has gone from starting at right guard for the injured Zack Martin to starting at center for Cooper Beebe (concussion protocol). "We keep fighting no matter who goes down.
"No one gets rattled. No one flinches."
Again, for the Cowboys' sake, the big picture these final three games of the season likely becomes overwhelmingly way too big. As pointed out on Friday, just take snapshots. One game at a time.
Unfortunately, seemingly each game one or three players go down. In this one, cornerback Jourdan Lewis left due to an elbow injury with less than 6:00 to play. In comes Israel Mukuamu, and all he does is intercept Young's deep pass down the hash to what appeared to be an open Adam Thielen at the Cowboys' 10-yard line, allowing Dallas to then just run, run, run out the clock.
They lost backup corner Amani Oruwariye starting on the left side in place of Diggs early in the fourth quarter, and the Panthers didn't take long to pick on practice squad corner Andrew Booth, elevated for depth purposes.
And despite Chuma Edoga, starting at left tackle for what was termed "unavailable" starter Tyler Guyton once again – the rookie did not practice this past week – he departed in the second quarter with an ankle injury, forcing Guyton to actually play. Then of all things, when Bass, starting at right guard with Hoffman having to move over to center, left with a leg injury, that forced Edoga to return and now play guard.
Just one thing after another after another.
And if you think about it, the Cowboys in this game ended up playing with nine undrafted players, seven of those considered starters if we count kicker Brandon Aubrey and deep snapper Trent Sieg, and most on the field as injury replacements. Plus, there was seventh-rounder Jalen Brooks, a second-year player who caught his first career touchdown pass, a 17-yarder from Rush, extending the Cowboys lead to 24-7.
"It's painful to lose those guys," former first-round guard Tyler Smith said. "But the biggest thing for us is to carry on their will."
And so they did when very few thought the Cowboys could win this game with at least one setting a betting line thinking they would need those artificial 2½ points they don't spot you with to beat a team now 3-11. Someone should have warned him don't mess with this Texas team. These Cowboys are too hard to figure out.
"I'm a realist, so I take a lot of pride in just the fact that – I have a lot of pride in the commitment that we have to one another," McCarthy says. "It shows up. Monday through Saturday is the hardest part. Sundays, I mean, this is what we live for to get out here and compete against other NFL teams. I just love the way they stay after it every single day, and that's a credit to the coaches and the players. We got a big one now.
"Obviously, they're all big, but we fully expected to win this game."
Against all odds for sure.
