How The Cowboys Turned A Lost Season Into A Playoff Push

ARLINGTON, TEXAS – NOVEMBER 23: Dak Prescott #4 of the Dallas Cowboys reacts to a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at AT&T Stadium on November 23, 2025 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

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The Dallas Cowboys are anything but underdiscussed in sports media.

However, the conversations around the team have been different in 2025 than in years past.

After a 1-2-1 start to the year, with their only win coming off a shootout with Russell Wilson and the Giants, there was a steady decline in conversations around it being the “Cowboys year”.

Now, Dallas finds itself just a game and a half away from the playoffs.

Would reaching the postseason just be a moral victory for the Cowboys, or could this be a difficult team to beat in the playoffs?

The answer to this question may have been different ahead of their Week 12 matchup against the Eagles, or even during halftime of this game.

The 4-5-1 Cowboys welcomed the Super Bowl champions yesterday for their second matchup of the year. They first met on Opening Night in the NFL, where they lost 24-20 in Philadelphia on “Ring Night”.

In that game, quarterback Dak Prescott returned to the field for the first time since November 3rd, 2024. He had a modest but effective night moving the ball, with newly acquired running back duo Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders scoring three times on the ground.

Dallas’ inability to stop the run defensively was the difference in Week One, which only opened the door for their defensive woes throughout the start of the season.

Over the next three games, Dallas would allow an average of 36 points to the opposition.

A win over the Jets slowed down that historically poor pace. However, the Cowboys would continue to lose games due to this inability to slow down opposing offenses.

The Cowboys would only muster up three total wins over the first nine weeks, putting doubt into the minds of even the biggest Cowboy believers.

Heading into their Week 10 Bye, Dallas was averaging 31 points allowed per game, which was 31st in the NFL.

This completely overshadowed their offense, which had been averaging 29.6 a game and had been unable to outscore their own defense.

While the Cowboys have always known how to move the ball, this has been the most effective offense in the Dak Prescott era.

Prescott, averaging 267.4 yards per game on a 69.3% completion percentage this year, has welcomed the new additions to the skill positions.

While Williams and Sanders have solidified the running back position, the biggest acquisition for Dallas was in their offseason trade for George Pickens.

Pickens is on pace for a career year, with already 67 receptions for 1,054 yards and 8 touchdowns.

The former Steeler wideout carried the receiver core when DeeDee Lamb missed three games due to injury. In those games, Pickens collected 19 catches for 359 yards and four scores.

While it seemed as though this production would be wasted in a sub-500 season, there was speculation that the team would trade away Pickens since he is due to be a free agent at the end of the year.

As a second-round pick out of Georgia, Pickens will be hitting the open market at the conclusion of his rookie contract.

Instead of the Cowboys trading Pickens as a rental asset for draft picks, Jerry Jones still had faith in the roster come the trade deadline.

So, Jones decided to buy at the deadline, bringing in much-needed assistance to the defense.

With the loss of Micah Parsons ahead of the year, the Cowboys’ pass rush took the most notable hit from 2024 to 2025.

While the addition of Kenny Clark should have helped with the rushing defense, this has also taken a step back, ranking in the bottom-third of the league.

To attempt and fix this on the fly, the Cowboys acquired defensive tackle Quinnen Williams and linebacker Logan Wilson, while surrendering a 2026 second and seventh-round pick, and a 2027 first-round pick.

The moves were ridiculed at the time. But since they joined the Cowboys ahead of Week 10, the Cowboys are 2-0, only allowing 18.5 points in those two games.

In that time, Williams already has 1.5 sacks and 6 quarterback hits, while Wilson has 4 solo tackles.

As a unit, the defense has not only seen improvements against the run game, allowing just 90 yards rushing in the two wins, but they have also generated more turnovers.

With an interception against Geno Smith and the Raiders and two forced fumbles against the Eagles, the Cowboys’ defense has looked like an inspired unit after the Bye Week.

Outside of these personnel and scheme-specific changes to the team, the Cowboys’ newfound sense of inspiration has come in unity, following the loss of 24-year-old Marshawn Kneeland.

The Cowboys honored Kneeland ahead of their matchup with Philadelphia yesterday, and celebrated in the locker room following their biggest win of the season in the shirts designed to honor his memory.

The Cowboys did not play 60 minutes of inspired football against the Eagles, as they trailed 21-0 going into halftime.

On a 354-yard effort from Prescott, alongside the defensive adjustments that limited Philadelphia to just 156 yards in the final 30 minutes, the Cowboys completed their biggest second-half comeback in franchise history.

Now, with a newfound formula to win and confidence behind first-year Head Coach Brian Schottenheimer, the Cowboys have a path to reach the postseason.

Their path does not get easier, with their next four games against the Chiefs, Lions, Vikings, and Chargers.

However, Dallas may only need to go 2-2 in this stretch to stay alive in the playoff picture, with two games against the Commanders and Giants to close the year.

If Dallas goes 4-2 in their final six weeks, they would finish the year 9-7-1, which may allow their tie to be the deciding factor over another nine-win team in the Wild Card.

If they were to sneak in, the Cowboys could enter the postseason as not only a top-five offense but also as one of the hottest teams in the NFL, which could be the exact formula for them to cause an upset.