At 3-4-1, the Dallas Cowboys need a win in a very bad way. Time is running out on the 2025 season and the 2-5 Arizona Cardinals are a team they absolutely have to take of advantage while at home before the schedule gets tough later into November.

Understandably, playoff odds are unkind to Dallas at the moment, with the Cowboys residing somewhere between a 18-24 percent likelihood of making it to postseason this year. Therefore, from a playoff eligibility perspective, all wins are good wins because they’re the golden ticket. In this regard so-called “style points” matter zero. But from a legitimacy perspective, style points carry a ton of weight since the Cowboys’ weaknesses are mortal weaknesses and promise to be their eventual undoing against good teams if not properly corrected now.

The manner in which victory is secured is important because through eight weeks it looks like the Cowboys are headed in the wrong direction. Their 44-24 loss to Denver last week marked a new low for the season. The defense was playing their poorest ball of the year, and the offense was finally corralled. Dallas has to show some improvement or else another win will mean very little in the grand scheme of things.

Cowboys need coverage awareness

In last week’s loss to the Broncos, one can only assume the Cowboys strategy was to confuse Bo Nix in the pocket by leaving every pass catcher open downfield as a form of “option overload.” Sadly, the one-read Nix had no trouble eating up the Dallas secondary, devouring his various wide-open options like they were a low-quality array of pizzas at CiCi’s all-you-can-eat buffet. Stuffed to the brim already, he even packed on a few garbage points in the final minutes, making the last scoring drive his version of gluttonously snagging some extra cinna-sticks on the walk out the door.  

“Bye, thank you for coming to CiCi’s!”

What the Cowboys need to prove is they can provide solid coverage throughout a play and aren’t reliant on the quarterback simply missing his targets. In Dallas’ only three wins, open targets were still everywhere. Watching the All-22 after the Jets, Giants and Commanders game was nothing short of depressing because it felt like the Cowboys didn’t really earn it.

For the Cowboys to have a legitimate chance against a playoff opponent, they have to show they know where to be and how to make windows tight. They don’t need to be ultra sticky or even good to instill hope, but they do have to look competent, which is something they haven’t looked all year.

The Cowboys’ running game against moderately heavy fronts

In 2025 the Cowboys have produced one of their most efficient rushing attacks in years. Led by Javonte Williams, they rank No. 10 in the NFL in rushing yards, No. 8 in rushing EPA and No. 8 in rushing success rate. They’ve largely achieved this goal by playing against light box counts, ranking No. 4 in EPA in those situations.

When teams crowd the line things get tough on the Dallas running game. Williams’ worst two rushing games this season, Carolina and Denver, saw abnormally crowded lines. As pointed out on the PFF podcast by Trevor Sikkema, these two teams countered the Cowboys rushing attack by heavily using five and even six players on the line.

The Cardinals this season rank No. 5 in the NFL in their usage of five or more players on the line of scrimmage. They are naturally designed to be kryptonite to Dallas’ running game. This is important for the Cowboys to overcome because if they’re fortunate enough to make the postseason, they can bet their well-prepared opponent will hit them with this plan of defense.

The Cowboys’ gap discipline

It’s the same story every week but until the Cowboys do something about it, it’s going to remain a top bullet point every week. The Cowboys’ commitment to assignments, gap integrity and effort has been a problem for years. Until players are willing to do the dirty work, nothing is going to change in the way of run defense.

The Cowboys are among the worst in the NFL in rush defense, making the case they aren’t just one player away from being a threat, but rather an entire team/attitude/scheme away. Even the traditionally solid players like Kenny Clark have fallen off in this aspect of the game, making this a bad situation that’s somehow getting worse.

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