The Dallas Cowboys are using the trade deadline to try and save themselves in a 2025 season that was already on thin ice going into Monday night against a struggling Arizona Cardinals team, and might have slipped away entirely with a 27-17 primetime loss. Can you even fix a defense that painted Dallas into this near-impossible corner, no matter what Jerry Jones tried on the trade market? Is Brian Schottenheimer’s offense really a revelation after another uninspiring effort saw Dak Prescott hit nine times, sacked five, and Ryan Flournoy come up with the team’s only offensive touchdown well into the fourth quarter? Monday night saw plenty of dejected looks on the sideline after two lost fumbles, an interception, and two turnovers on downs.
We’ll set the trade deadline news aside for a second, and look at the grim result of Monday night. It put the team in the spotlight as they now go into their bye week at a miserable 3-5-1 and losers of two straight for the first time this year. The Cowboys have another Monday night game in Week 11, Thanksgiving in Week 13, and then back to back night games in Weeks 14 and 15.
The Cowboys were coming off of their eighth straight loss to the same opponent, the Denver Broncos, coming into this game, but failed to respond and end another losing streak as the Cardinals have now also won four in a row against the Cowboys. If ever there was a time for Dallas to break this streak against Arizona, Monday night had to be it.
(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Getty Images
The Cardinals were once again playing with backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett, who should have elevated himself to the starting role with a poised performance against Matt Eberflus’ defense. The Cowboys had the perceived advantage of playing at home where the offense had previously lit up the scoreboard, drawing a Cardinals secondary that was not at full strength. They should have had desperation on their side, being beat thoroughly on both sides of the ball by the Broncos their last time out.
Instead, the Cardinals looked like the better and more desperate team on both sides of the ball again, and were ready to take advantage of every Cowboys miscue much like the Broncos. Arizona stuck to the script only a little bit when it came to trying to give the game away in the fourth quarter, as they did repeatedly during their losing streak, but this time found a way to finish. Jonathan Gannon earned his second win as the Cardinals head coach against the Cowboys, in similar defensive fashion to how the first one came.
The Cowboys being caught off guard and looking confused by these aggressive, heavy man-coverage style defenses despite the personnel they have at WR and TE remains stunning. While the Cardinals secondary may not have been at full strength, they did welcome back cornerback Garrett Williams, but more importantly had rookie first-round pick Walter Nolen make his debut at defensive tackle. Nolen got in the mix early and often to make an already strong defensive interior even better for Arizona, and with this their edge production was better than it had been all season with Josh Sweat recording two sacks and five total hits on Prescott. The Cowboys were quickly being forced into another one-dimensional approach offensively that did not help this cause at all, falling behind 17-7 before halftime when momentum in a 10-7 game was hanging in the balance, and then 24-7 just three plays in the second half.
The Cowboys will have an extraordinary amount of time to marinate on this loss, with a week ten bye with an extra day thrown in for good measure as they return to Monday Night Football at the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 11. A loss like this leaves just about nothing their front office, coaching staff, or marquee players can say over this stretch of time that will make anything remotely feel different, though. Every ounce of collective frustration they put out for what’s turning into the second straight down season for America’s Team can only be matched or exceeded by a fanbase that won’t even see the 2025 Cowboys make it to Thanksgiving with any semblance of relevancy they really care about. For the umpteenth time in recent memory, the Cowboys are a whole lot of talk and smoke and mirrors off the field, but hardly worth talking about on the field. The only new thing to come from this Cardinals loss in the on-field department only sinks them lower, as now both the offense and defense were major letdowns in the same game.
The Cowboys did not play with an edge at all against a 2-5 Cardinals side, nor did they set the edge once again on defense, giving up the types of big plays that are simply incompatible with winning games. This is a team without any possibility of playing games on their terms right now, instead letting opponents dictate everything and push the Cowboys around. Fringe players were not put in the best position to succeed, and players like DaRon Bland and Jake Ferguson that should be more reliable were not.
Let’s get to our full notes on the Cowboys’ second primetime loss of the season.
(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Getty Images
This game got off to an eerily similar start to the Broncos loss for the Cowboys. When remembering how recent history against either the Broncos or Cardinals was not at all on the home team’s side in this one, it spelt early disaster that forced Dallas to chase a game they sorely needed to play from on top instead.
The Cowboys’ opening drive looked poised to at least put them ahead by a field goal, instead ending with a goal line turnover on downs. After Walter Nolen made a tackle for loss against Javonte Williams on 1st-and-goal, the Cowboys targeted TE Jake Ferguson on back-to-back plays. His second down catch was well short of the end zone, and on third down he couldn’t control a contested catch. This brought up the first of many, many obvious passing situations for the Cowboys on 4th-and-goal, with Schottenheimer staying aggressive and looking for the early touchdown.
Josh Sweat sacked Prescott on this drop back though, creating a very early swing in momentum. Left tackle Tyler Guyton did not get good depth against the speed rush of Sweat, lunging at him at the top of his arc and allowing Sweat to quickly get to the level of Prescott before finishing the sack in a collapsing pocket. The Cowboys protection plan in this game asked a lot of their offensive line, which did welcome back Cooper Beebe at center. Both Ferguson and Williams were immediately sent into the pattern on 4th-and-goal without any pass protection responsibilities to chip. The Cowboys felt they needed all options in the pass game to get the ball out of Prescott’s hands against a defense that can close throwing lanes quickly, but doing so at the expense of pass protection while also not having Lamb or George Pickens win with any consistency on the outside sealed their fate. Sweat got another sack later in the game on another goal-to-go play, where both Ferguson and Williams were free releases once again.
The Cowboys should be able to trust an offensive line littered with first-round picks to win matchups. After all, the talk coming out of this loss is quickly going to shift towards draft capital being the best thing the Cowboys have going for them to right this ship. Against the Cardinals though, the line could not help the offense get established.
The Cowboys settled for a field goal after Sweat’s second sack, making it a two-score game at 24-10. The Cardinals would take most of the air out of the comeback attempt by immediately answering with a field goal of their own though, answering a 12-play methodical drive by the Cowboys in much quicker fashion to go back up three scores late in the third quarter. Also getting a Brissett QB sneak touchdown before halftime to respond to the blocked punt score by Dallas, catching rookie DT Jay Toia out of position on the play, Arizona had every answer and then some for the few things the Cowboys actually did right.
(Photo by John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Photo by John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Another similarity to the Broncos loss following the Cowboys early red zone mishap was the way their defense committed penalties that made getting off the field even harder on themselves. The Cowboys jumped offsides on one third-down attempt by the Cardinals then immediately got called for holding on the next third down. Markquese Bell held Arizona TE Trey McBride, who beat him in coverage regularly including to end the three-play drive coming out of halftime with another Cardinals touchdown. Bell still may have been a better answer in coverage against McBride than Kenneth Murray or Shemar James would have been, but by not having him as a deep coverage option at safety, the Cardinals also took advantage of one-on-one coverage with DaRon Bland against Marvin Harrison Jr.
Harrison Jr.’s highlight reel touchdown versus Bland came after he previously converted a third-and-long that kept the drive alive even after rookie DE Donovan Ezeiruaku had a sack. Ezeiruiaku and Jadeveon Clowney showed some juice off the edge in this game, beating single blocks that came thanks to Solomon Thomas, Kenny Clark, and Osa Odighizuwa being disruptive inside, but the Cowboys defensive front getting penetration was only a good thing when linebackers or secondary players were able to come up and set the edge. Murray and Juanyeh Thomas did this on a few snaps, but for the most part the Cardinals were able to gash the Cowboys on the edge.
Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
Whenever ESPN showed a zoomed in replay of a big rushing play from the Cardinals, it almost always included a clear view of Murray being blocked completely out of the hole. The Cardinals had a considerable advantage in the middle of the field in this game, and it made a huge difference. On offense, they did what every Dallas opponent has done to this point and attacked Murray. The first two plays of that three-play scoring drive to start the third quarter for Arizona were both negatives for Murray, with a 50-yard catch and run by Michael Wilson followed by a game-long 17 yard run by Zonovan Knight breaking away from Murray down the sideline.
On defense for the Cardinals, their own linebackers closed throwing lanes on Prescott, forced fumbles against Ferguson and Williams, and helped hold the Cowboys to 5-of-12 conversions on third down. Once this edge for the Cardinals manifested on the scoreboard in a big way, it led to Nolen as well as ageless veteran Calais Campbell getting pressures and sacks along with Sweat, marking yet another game where the Cowboys were pushed around in the trenches on both sides of the ball.
As if losing this game with familiar struggling players continuing to make the same familiar bad plays wasn’t bad enough in a game the Cowboys needed, the way other players they should be relying on to win also let them down made the whole evening worse. Pickens had a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty for taunting in a must-score situation for the offense also battling the clock at that point. Lamb failed to come back to the ball strongly on another failed fourth down that gave the ball back to the Cardinals up by 17. Williams fumbled the ball to all but end the frantic comeback hope and eventually allow Arizona to run out the clock. Brandon Aubrey missed a field goal to make it two weeks in a row the Cowboys came up empty in an end-of-half situation, where they were previously so good.
Not beating the Broncos or Cardinals may be nothing new for the Cowboys, but because of these losses now, so too is being a bad team. The Cowboys can’t avoid this label anymore, past the midpoint of another seemingly doomed season.