After watching the Philadelphia Eagles take an embarrassing loss to the New York Giants this past Thursday night, the Dallas Cowboys had a chance to gain some ground in the NFC East on Sunday with a win over the Carolina Panthers, a victory that would've gotten America's Team over .500 for the first time all season.
That, of course, didn't happen, as the Dallas defense wasted yet another strong outing from Dak Prescott, allowing the Panthers to gain 410 total yards of offense in a 30-27 loss, 239 yards of which came from none other than former Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle.
Dallas did have a few winners in addition to Dak, but there were certainly far more losers in Sunday's defeat.
Winner: Dak Prescott
It's getting more and more difficult to put Dak Prescott in the winner category because he's clearly been the biggest loser of this 2025 season thus far. It's not for the way he's played, of course, as he's putting up NFL MVP-like numbers. But he just continues to get screwed out of victories by this dreadful Dallas defense.
Think about this. After completing 73.5 percent of his passes for 261 yards, thus taking over second place on the franchise's all-time passing yards list, with three touchdowns and zero interceptions against Carolina, Prescott has now accounted for 11 total touchdowns (10 passing, 1 rushing) over the last three weeks and hasn't committed a single turnover.
As such, since starts were first tracked in 1950, he's now the only quarterback to have 11 or more total TDs and zero turnovers in a three-game stretch and not have a winning record, as the Cowboys have gone 1-1-1 in their last three outings.
It's just sad at this point.
Winner: George Pickens
George Pickens continues to thrive in CeeDee Lamb's absence, catching nine Prescott passes against the Panthers for 168 yards, thus setting career highs in both categories.
He also set a career best with his sixth touchdown of the year and is now just the second player in Cowboys history with six receiving touchdowns in the first six games of a season, matching the six scored by Dez Bryant to open the 2013 campaign.
Winner: Donovan Ezeiruaku
The Dallas defense as a whole obviously doesn't deserve much credit at all, but we did want to shout out second-round rookie edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku, who earned the highest overall defensive PFF grade of any Cowboys defender (and easily the highest of young career) at 92.1 after recording a trio of total pressures, a pair of QB hits, a tackle for loss, and a forced fumble.
He still needs to be more consistent as the season progresses, but this was a solid performance that should get Cowboys fans excited about what's to come.
Loser: Matt Eberflus
Let's now start with the "loser" side of things, and there's no other place we can begin than with defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, who just continues to throw out the same tired scheme time and time again, which clearly isn't working.
Head coach Brian Schottenheimer doesn't appear to be ready to give up on Eberflus just yet, but he's clearly starting to lose a little faith. If things don't improve next week against Washington, a change undoubtedly needs to be made.
Loser: Donovan Wilson
While safety Donovan Wilson recorded his second interception of the season in the first half, which ultimately led to the Jake Ferguson touchdown that gave the Cowboys a 10-3 lead, it was also his blown coverage that allowed Panthers receiver Tetairoa McMillan to score his first two career touchdowns.
Wilson's 31.9 coverage grade was his worst mark of the season in that regard and ranked dead last among all Dallas defenders who took at least half of the team's defensive snaps.
Loser: DaRon Bland
Cornerback DaRon Bland didn't have as bad a game as many other Dallas defenders did on Sunday, but we still can't quite understand his decision to play soft coverage on wideout Hunter Renfrow on that 4th-and-3 the Panthers faced during their final offensive drive.
Bland legit lined up three yards beyond the line to gain, thus allowing Bryce Young to easily hit Renfrow with a pass ovre the middle to move the chains. Kenneth Murray honestly did his best to break things up, but he was late to the ball and never should have been put in that position in the first place. Bland is too good to make a mistake like that.
Loser: Kenny Clark
Remember how Kenny Clark was supposed to improve the Cowboys' run defense when he came over in the Micah Parsons trade? Well, that hasn't gone very well lately.
A week after earning a 38.3 run defense grade against the New York Jets, the 10th-year veteran earned a team-low and season-low 27.4 mark in that regard against Carolina and a 29.1 grade overall, which was also the lowest on the team.
Loser: Javonte Williams
We can't make every loser a defensive player, so we'll roll with Javonte Williams on the offensive side of the ball.
From an overall standpoint this season, Williams has obviously been fantastic and one of the best free-agent pickups Jerry Jones has made in years. But he just didn't have it against Carolina, gaining a season-low 29 yards on 13 carries and just five yards on five receptions. This is likely just a one-game hiccup, but his absence in the offensive attack was certainly noticeable.