The Dallas Cowboys sured up their defensive struggles in a major way in their dominant Week 5 victory over the New York Jets. But heading into Week 6, the Cowboys are set to face off against a former player of theirs who sure seems to be dead set on getting his revenge against his old team.
While the Dallas defensive effort on Sunday was impressive, the Cowboys’ defense as a whole has still been less than stellar when you look at the entirety of the 2025 season, allowing the most yards in the NFL through the first five weeks of the year.
Most of the Dallas defensive struggles have been defending the pass. But former Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle seems to think that he can have plenty of success in the rushing game as well.
Dowdle had a career day on Sunday in the Carolina Panthers’ win over the Miami Dolphins, rushing for 206 yards, the most any running back has rushed for all season, en route to a 27-24 victory.
Clearly riding high off of his unbelievable performance, Dowdle didn’t hold back his excitement about a Week 6 matchup against his former team in the near future, issuing a warning to the Cowboys’ defense to “buckle up” for what could be a very difficult matchup.
“They have got to buckle up,” said Dowdle to the Cowboys defense. “I think they know, for sure. I’ve been there five years. They didn’t keep me there for five years for no reason, I’ll definitely say that. But looking forward to playing those guys next week. We’ll get to it, handle that when we get there.”
This quote from Dowdle on Sunday got back to Dallas head coach Brian Schottenheimer during his press conference on Monday, who made it clear that his team will come prepared for everything Dowdle has to offer.
“We're gonna bring our seatbelts, Rico,” said Schottenheimer. “We'll buckle up."
If the Cowboys needed any added motivation on the defensive side of the ball to stop the run in Week 6, they certainly got it from Dowdle.
But clearly, Dowdle also sure seems to have all the motivation in the world to show the Cowboys that they made a mistake by letting him walk in free agency. So it will certainly be interesting to see whether Dallas does “buckle up” against Dowdle, or if Dowdle can continue his positive momentum in Week 6.
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