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Morning After Week 11 - Winning Helps Healing
Dallas played a game with heavy hearts in Vegas and smiles were able to appear again.
Bob Sturm
Nov 18, 2025
As they say, there are no recipes for this sort of thing. It almost feels trite to bring up the memory of a man in terms of how you play the next game or show up to do a job you are paid handsomely to do.
That is well beyond the scope of topics that we are prepared to tackle, but it seems obvious that this is how this game will be remembered.
These men were emotionally drained from the events of the last two weeks and the friend they lost who had a locker inside their sacred home. They all felt pain in different ways as they mourned the loss and were tasked with carrying on in his memory. They wore his number and looked at his jersey and presented his face on shirts. They definitely told each-other they wanted to play for Marshawn Kneeland.
Again, I feel like a bit of an intruder in some ways even discussing it from the outside, but I also feel to ignore it as the lead story is missing the most obvious cause of the Cowboys smiles last night. Like sun returning after a horrible storm, this team needed to heal and try to carry on like so many do in the twists and turns of life. Tragedy will touch us all and when it does we must keep going and carry their memories with us.
I felt that inside the stadium last night and I am sure you felt it from wherever you were. Dallas had heavy hearts and playing a game was both difficult and welcomed for obvious reasons, I am sure. Getting back to work was probably the normalcy they all longed for, but they definitely wanted to make sure they got back to work as the best versions of themselves.
And for that, I would say they did. Dallas mauled the Raiders on Monday Night in Vegas to the tune of 33-16 and left absolutely no doubt in this one. They were ready to play and took apart a Raiders side that had very little resistance once things calmed down a bit.
In many ways, it was just what everyone needed as the 2nd half of the season got underway. We can assume that this 2025 season is probably too late to save, but what we saw on Monday Night were traces of what the future can look like and why this Dallas team is not too far from being good enough very soon. And that all starts with feeling like they have added two significant pieces this year that can be part of the next group moving forward.
This game put those two pieces on full display and if we were to try to squint and see a winning future, I think it is fair to say that the best player on defense and the best player on offense are both newcomers to this organization in 2025 and both seem absolutely elite in many ways.
First, Quinnen Williams displayed his wares in a Cowboys uniform for the very first time and it is hard to put into words just how dominant he was on this night. Yes, it does help that the Raiders offensive line remains just as ineffective as ever, but now you see the force multiplier that he truly is. His presence is both clear from what he does, but also from the opportunities that he presents others. We should not be shocked at how much better Kenny Clark and Osa Odighizuwa look with Quinnen present and to combine them all suddenly make interior runs impossible and interior pass pressure a regular occurrence.
The rotation of the three was excellent as they all played about 35 snaps, it seemed. This keeps the freshness up and the quality high. Overall, it can work and we also saw some 5-man fronts early to discourage the Raiders from thinking they would be getting the run game going and I am very excited to see what that looks like against the Eagles on Sunday. But, in its first test of this stretch, the passing grades were pretty obvious.
He was spectacular and we knew that would be the case because that is who he has been since he was at Alabama. When the Cowboys make a trade for someone from Alabama in midseason, the light switch appears to go on as this brought back memories of 2018 when they grabbed a Crimson Tide wide receiver who changed the math the moment he arrived and was acquired from this same Raiders outfit.
Which brings us to wide receiver where we again see the dominance of George Pickens. I am guessing nobody expected him to be second in the NFL in receiving yardage back in May when the Cowboys traded a third-round pick for him and we had to explain that this was a great deal and that Pittsburgh was not a great fit for a man of his talents. Put him with Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb and this always seemed like easy money to those of us who were up to speed on the fit. Not only has it been a good fit with them, but the ceiling of Pickens is somewhat reminiscent to the big receivers of decades past in this city with guys like Irvin, Owens, and Bryant all occasionally getting comps for the way he seems like an absolute man against boys outside the numbers.
Now, like that trio we just named, there is a fair amount of ancillary “stuff” that comes with the George Pickens experience and between the disciplinary action taken to start the game (I am assuming that curfew in Las Vegas was not honored) and then the personal foul celebration comedy, it is more than a little. There might be a game where he hurts your chances of winning because like so many, wide receivers often come with a little headache. But, if you are going to deal with that, make sure he has a superstar upside. And George Pickens clearly does. That performance last night was absolutely absurd and when he is in the open field, there is no stopping him. To see him cut back on that touchdown against the free safety 32-Lonnie Johnson was what elite looks like.
He is so special and the simplicity of getting him the ball and letting him do the rest after the catch adds a component to CeeDee Lamb that should make them partners for years to come. You have to make the contracts work and that is where it is important that the Jones Boys stop making life difficult on themselves. Extensions for Pickens and (soon) for Quinnen Williams will be very expensive and that cost is what it costs to assemble a team of difference makers. But, if the plan was to let Micah Parsons walk – a player who has been everything Green Bay hoped he would be and dominant nearly every week in his new location – so that maybe they could go get a guy like Quinnen Williams and George Pickens as well as picks in a soft rebuild, then we should be willing to see it play out.
Of course, there is no way to pay Quinnen and Pickens for the price of Micah Parsons. The Parsons decision seemed a decision based on the bosses thinking he is not their cup of tea – and maybe there is some thoughtful basis for all of that. Instead, you have to add in the numbers for Trevon Diggs and DeMarcus Lawrence and maybe even Terence Steele on the outgoing list before 2026, but again, you don’t lose because you pay elite players too much. You lose in this league because you don’t pay elite players that you need or even worse you pay ok players to try to be elite. Paying average players a ton does not often raise their ability. The ability is obvious to anyone watching and Quinnen Williams and George Pickens were obviously special last night to anyone with sight.
The thing is that Dallas has to act quickly and effectively to sort the business side out and hopefully they have learned a lesson (even though we know they seldom learn).
But, back to the game at hand, in our game preview we discussed the importance of the passing game turning in a dominating effort after several weeks of not looking quite right. We also pointed out that Maxx Crosby can wreck a game if you are not careful. There were early signs that he was going to with his big strip sack of Prescott that set the Raiders up early.
Yet, the Dallas defense had back to back stops in the red zone were touchdowns were converted into field goals because the defense stood tall. What a wonderful thing that is to see that a sack from Williams and Odighizuwa on the second drive forced the first FG and then a sack from James Houston forced the FG on the third drive. It could have been 14-3, Las Vegas, in that initial flurry, but instead, Dallas only was down, 6-3. Huge difference.
From there, we actually saw complimentary football. The offense did their part by putting in some adjustments to deal with Crosby and to get Pickens and Lamb going in space with quick throws and getting the ball out on time. Four straight touchdown drives and they were all drives with between 3-6 first downs. Not a ton of huge chunks, but easy marches that made Dak Prescott look as locked in as ever. We talked about how he usually destroys in games like this and he played to his reputation for sure after a bumpy start.
But, the issue with complimentary football is that the defense has never been able to play its part. Alas, on this Monday in Nevada, there were no signs of an incompetent defense. Yes, much tougher tests are waiting ahead, but for now, we must assume that adding Williams, Logan Wilson, DeMarvion Overshown, and Shavon Revel were all remarkably important. 21 different defenders played at least 11 snaps and I think that demonstrates a much deeper bench than we have seen.
There was a hunger and aggressiveness from this defense that was seen in splash plays all night. I look forward to the defensive study, but overall, we saw guys flying to the ball, making plays behind the line of scrimmage, winning in the trenches, and active hands in the secondary. Less was more from several players being overextended and yes, seeing Kenneth Murray look effective in significantly less work is exactly what we are talking about. His hand tipping the interception to Markquese Bell was a huge moment in this game and with his snaps down considerably, teams could not attack him at will. Great adjustment of having more guys.
Look at these snaps with the Raiders running 58 official offensive plays:
Yes, the defense was helped by some very poor offensive line play, a QB that looks incredibly overpaid and more like the backup he has been in his career, and a rookie RB that has no chance. But, Dallas deserves credit for a bullying effort where the Raiders had zero success on 3rd down and the game was uphill for them all night. 4.1 yards per play was over a yard better than the previous season best (Jets, 5.2).
Again, there will be more important tests coming up, but I will end for today by simply pointing out how difficult this stretch has been for Dallas and also what is done is done. The trades of 2025 have been very eventful and while I think they punted on this season when they traded Micah, I will concede that building around Pickens and Quinnen Williams as well as two upcoming draft picks in the 1st round should give them a real chance to be good very soon and in Dak’s window. It will depend on making sure they lock in Pickens and Javonte Williams, but I am confident they will.
It will also depend on knowing they hired the right head coach.
This guy.
Crisis shows you what sort of leaders you have and I want to say that you would never wish this on anyone, but through this period of time, I think Brian Schottenheimer appears to be a very believable leader. Even his way with Lamb and Pickens last night, but also his wonderful handling of his fragile team’s morale through this tragedy have been positive, I believe.
Yes, it is an odd thing to evaluate, but again, I say he is believable as a leader of men. I also say his schemes – which we will look at tomorrow – have been excellent overall.
Now, they prepare for the Eagles this Sunday and a chance to really get people’s attention by winning that showdown against a champion that plays like one. Dallas could use a signature win and Sunday will offer just that.
Dallas played a game with heavy hearts in Vegas and smiles were able to appear again.
Bob Sturm
Nov 18, 2025
As they say, there are no recipes for this sort of thing. It almost feels trite to bring up the memory of a man in terms of how you play the next game or show up to do a job you are paid handsomely to do.
That is well beyond the scope of topics that we are prepared to tackle, but it seems obvious that this is how this game will be remembered.
These men were emotionally drained from the events of the last two weeks and the friend they lost who had a locker inside their sacred home. They all felt pain in different ways as they mourned the loss and were tasked with carrying on in his memory. They wore his number and looked at his jersey and presented his face on shirts. They definitely told each-other they wanted to play for Marshawn Kneeland.
Again, I feel like a bit of an intruder in some ways even discussing it from the outside, but I also feel to ignore it as the lead story is missing the most obvious cause of the Cowboys smiles last night. Like sun returning after a horrible storm, this team needed to heal and try to carry on like so many do in the twists and turns of life. Tragedy will touch us all and when it does we must keep going and carry their memories with us.
I felt that inside the stadium last night and I am sure you felt it from wherever you were. Dallas had heavy hearts and playing a game was both difficult and welcomed for obvious reasons, I am sure. Getting back to work was probably the normalcy they all longed for, but they definitely wanted to make sure they got back to work as the best versions of themselves.
And for that, I would say they did. Dallas mauled the Raiders on Monday Night in Vegas to the tune of 33-16 and left absolutely no doubt in this one. They were ready to play and took apart a Raiders side that had very little resistance once things calmed down a bit.
In many ways, it was just what everyone needed as the 2nd half of the season got underway. We can assume that this 2025 season is probably too late to save, but what we saw on Monday Night were traces of what the future can look like and why this Dallas team is not too far from being good enough very soon. And that all starts with feeling like they have added two significant pieces this year that can be part of the next group moving forward.
This game put those two pieces on full display and if we were to try to squint and see a winning future, I think it is fair to say that the best player on defense and the best player on offense are both newcomers to this organization in 2025 and both seem absolutely elite in many ways.
First, Quinnen Williams displayed his wares in a Cowboys uniform for the very first time and it is hard to put into words just how dominant he was on this night. Yes, it does help that the Raiders offensive line remains just as ineffective as ever, but now you see the force multiplier that he truly is. His presence is both clear from what he does, but also from the opportunities that he presents others. We should not be shocked at how much better Kenny Clark and Osa Odighizuwa look with Quinnen present and to combine them all suddenly make interior runs impossible and interior pass pressure a regular occurrence.
The rotation of the three was excellent as they all played about 35 snaps, it seemed. This keeps the freshness up and the quality high. Overall, it can work and we also saw some 5-man fronts early to discourage the Raiders from thinking they would be getting the run game going and I am very excited to see what that looks like against the Eagles on Sunday. But, in its first test of this stretch, the passing grades were pretty obvious.
He was spectacular and we knew that would be the case because that is who he has been since he was at Alabama. When the Cowboys make a trade for someone from Alabama in midseason, the light switch appears to go on as this brought back memories of 2018 when they grabbed a Crimson Tide wide receiver who changed the math the moment he arrived and was acquired from this same Raiders outfit.
Which brings us to wide receiver where we again see the dominance of George Pickens. I am guessing nobody expected him to be second in the NFL in receiving yardage back in May when the Cowboys traded a third-round pick for him and we had to explain that this was a great deal and that Pittsburgh was not a great fit for a man of his talents. Put him with Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb and this always seemed like easy money to those of us who were up to speed on the fit. Not only has it been a good fit with them, but the ceiling of Pickens is somewhat reminiscent to the big receivers of decades past in this city with guys like Irvin, Owens, and Bryant all occasionally getting comps for the way he seems like an absolute man against boys outside the numbers.
Now, like that trio we just named, there is a fair amount of ancillary “stuff” that comes with the George Pickens experience and between the disciplinary action taken to start the game (I am assuming that curfew in Las Vegas was not honored) and then the personal foul celebration comedy, it is more than a little. There might be a game where he hurts your chances of winning because like so many, wide receivers often come with a little headache. But, if you are going to deal with that, make sure he has a superstar upside. And George Pickens clearly does. That performance last night was absolutely absurd and when he is in the open field, there is no stopping him. To see him cut back on that touchdown against the free safety 32-Lonnie Johnson was what elite looks like.
He is so special and the simplicity of getting him the ball and letting him do the rest after the catch adds a component to CeeDee Lamb that should make them partners for years to come. You have to make the contracts work and that is where it is important that the Jones Boys stop making life difficult on themselves. Extensions for Pickens and (soon) for Quinnen Williams will be very expensive and that cost is what it costs to assemble a team of difference makers. But, if the plan was to let Micah Parsons walk – a player who has been everything Green Bay hoped he would be and dominant nearly every week in his new location – so that maybe they could go get a guy like Quinnen Williams and George Pickens as well as picks in a soft rebuild, then we should be willing to see it play out.
Of course, there is no way to pay Quinnen and Pickens for the price of Micah Parsons. The Parsons decision seemed a decision based on the bosses thinking he is not their cup of tea – and maybe there is some thoughtful basis for all of that. Instead, you have to add in the numbers for Trevon Diggs and DeMarcus Lawrence and maybe even Terence Steele on the outgoing list before 2026, but again, you don’t lose because you pay elite players too much. You lose in this league because you don’t pay elite players that you need or even worse you pay ok players to try to be elite. Paying average players a ton does not often raise their ability. The ability is obvious to anyone watching and Quinnen Williams and George Pickens were obviously special last night to anyone with sight.
The thing is that Dallas has to act quickly and effectively to sort the business side out and hopefully they have learned a lesson (even though we know they seldom learn).
But, back to the game at hand, in our game preview we discussed the importance of the passing game turning in a dominating effort after several weeks of not looking quite right. We also pointed out that Maxx Crosby can wreck a game if you are not careful. There were early signs that he was going to with his big strip sack of Prescott that set the Raiders up early.
Yet, the Dallas defense had back to back stops in the red zone were touchdowns were converted into field goals because the defense stood tall. What a wonderful thing that is to see that a sack from Williams and Odighizuwa on the second drive forced the first FG and then a sack from James Houston forced the FG on the third drive. It could have been 14-3, Las Vegas, in that initial flurry, but instead, Dallas only was down, 6-3. Huge difference.
From there, we actually saw complimentary football. The offense did their part by putting in some adjustments to deal with Crosby and to get Pickens and Lamb going in space with quick throws and getting the ball out on time. Four straight touchdown drives and they were all drives with between 3-6 first downs. Not a ton of huge chunks, but easy marches that made Dak Prescott look as locked in as ever. We talked about how he usually destroys in games like this and he played to his reputation for sure after a bumpy start.
But, the issue with complimentary football is that the defense has never been able to play its part. Alas, on this Monday in Nevada, there were no signs of an incompetent defense. Yes, much tougher tests are waiting ahead, but for now, we must assume that adding Williams, Logan Wilson, DeMarvion Overshown, and Shavon Revel were all remarkably important. 21 different defenders played at least 11 snaps and I think that demonstrates a much deeper bench than we have seen.
There was a hunger and aggressiveness from this defense that was seen in splash plays all night. I look forward to the defensive study, but overall, we saw guys flying to the ball, making plays behind the line of scrimmage, winning in the trenches, and active hands in the secondary. Less was more from several players being overextended and yes, seeing Kenneth Murray look effective in significantly less work is exactly what we are talking about. His hand tipping the interception to Markquese Bell was a huge moment in this game and with his snaps down considerably, teams could not attack him at will. Great adjustment of having more guys.
Look at these snaps with the Raiders running 58 official offensive plays:
Yes, the defense was helped by some very poor offensive line play, a QB that looks incredibly overpaid and more like the backup he has been in his career, and a rookie RB that has no chance. But, Dallas deserves credit for a bullying effort where the Raiders had zero success on 3rd down and the game was uphill for them all night. 4.1 yards per play was over a yard better than the previous season best (Jets, 5.2).
Again, there will be more important tests coming up, but I will end for today by simply pointing out how difficult this stretch has been for Dallas and also what is done is done. The trades of 2025 have been very eventful and while I think they punted on this season when they traded Micah, I will concede that building around Pickens and Quinnen Williams as well as two upcoming draft picks in the 1st round should give them a real chance to be good very soon and in Dak’s window. It will depend on making sure they lock in Pickens and Javonte Williams, but I am confident they will.
It will also depend on knowing they hired the right head coach.
This guy.
Crisis shows you what sort of leaders you have and I want to say that you would never wish this on anyone, but through this period of time, I think Brian Schottenheimer appears to be a very believable leader. Even his way with Lamb and Pickens last night, but also his wonderful handling of his fragile team’s morale through this tragedy have been positive, I believe.
Yes, it is an odd thing to evaluate, but again, I say he is believable as a leader of men. I also say his schemes – which we will look at tomorrow – have been excellent overall.
Now, they prepare for the Eagles this Sunday and a chance to really get people’s attention by winning that showdown against a champion that plays like one. Dallas could use a signature win and Sunday will offer just that.