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The Morning After Week 13 - Winning The Day
Thanksgiving offers the Cowboys taking down Giants with a rare team-football win.
Bob Sturm
Nov 29, 2024
All you have to do is follow the recipe, and good things happen again. It can actually look easy!
Dallas won its first home game of 2024—and its first in 334 days on Thanksgiving—with a decisive dismantling of the New York Giants, 27-20, in a game that was not as close as the final score suggests.
The recipe, so to speak, for the Cowboys to win games in this very difficult league is as follows:
You’ll have to excuse us for wondering where this football team has been. That said, it’s important to point out that the New York Giants are just awful in many respects right now, so the degree of difficulty in winning home games will vary. Yes, it’s tempting to think the Cowboys discovered some magical formula. While that’s partly true, it often comes down to this: Baltimore, Detroit, and Philadelphia—Dallas’s last three home opponents—are three of the best teams in the league this year. Facing three Super Bowl contenders in succession, all of whom are significantly better in 2024, is bound to leave you looking outmatched. It’s not magic, and there’s no special potion working against Dallas. Those teams are simply better.
On the other hand, when the New York Giants come to town, it’s akin to a baseball team noticing they hit better when not facing an opponent’s top pitchers. Every fifth day, a struggling player is sent to the mound—someone who probably belongs in the minors—and when your team starts hitting well on that day, it isn’t magic. It’s just that the other guy stinks.
So, let’s temper any talk of an upcoming winning streak or a sudden turnaround for everything that’s gone wrong in 2024. The facts remain: these are two football teams far from the league’s best, and someone had to win. The ugly truth is just that—ugly. Coming into this Thanksgiving Day game, Dallas and New York were the only two teams in the NFL without a home win this season. Together, they were 0-11 at home until the Cowboys handed the Giants another loss, allowing Dallas fans to finally leave with a victory. Every other franchise in this 32-team league had already celebrated at least one home win. Now, only the Giants remain winless at home.
So, hey, you’ve got that going for you—which is nice, I guess. Still, some fans are lamenting the Cowboys’ improving draft position after these back-to-back divisional wins, victories that likely mean little in the grand scheme of things.
To those fans, I can’t offer much solace. If you’re upset about moving from the 9th to the 13th draft pick, maybe it’s best to stop watching games altogether. The players on the field don’t care about draft position. Many of them are playing through injuries for one reason: to beat the team across from them. Winning feels better than losing, and that’s their entire motivation—along with keeping their jobs in professional football next season.
But enough about that. Let’s talk about why they’ve looked reasonably good as a team lately.
It starts with the fact that the defense has begun to resemble the dominant force it’s been in recent years. Of course, there are plenty of factors at play here. Earlier matchups against the Ravens, Lions, and Eagles went horribly wrong because those teams were able to neutralize Dallas’s strengths. Essentially, if you avoid getting into obvious passing situations against the Cowboys, you can handle their defense quite effectively. Dallas struggles to stop the run, and if they can’t, their opponents rarely need to pass under pressure. This allows teams to stay out of third downs and prevents Micah Parsons and his crew from doing what they excel at—rushing the passer and breaking the opposing team’s morale.
The good news, based on the last five days, is that not every opponent is a Ravens, Lions, or Eagles-caliber team. Running offenses across the NFL vary, and the Giants’ offensive line is a glaring weakness. Their running game is far less intimidating, making it easier to force them into passing situations and test whether their protection can hold up. Once that happens, the sacks start piling up—Dallas recorded six in this game alone. With that kind of pressure on the quarterback, the opportunities for takeaways follow.
Remember that formula? It worked so well for the Cowboys in the past, and on Thanksgiving, it returned, if only for a moment. Pressure leads to sacks, sacks lead to turnovers, and turnovers create short fields. From there, even an inconsistent offense can manage to score 27 points in a game.
When they in the turnover battle, Dallas is 4-1. When losing, they are 1-6.
You don’t want to oversimplify football because it’s never that straightforward. However, sometimes having your key players on the field allows you to start down the path of success. Stopping the run on early downs against teams that lack strength up front can force them into passing situations, where the quarterback has to buy time he doesn’t have. That’s when players like Micah Parsons, Osa Odighizuwa, Carl Lawson, or DeMarvion Overshown get their chance to make an impact. And when they do, we’ve often seen them take the ball back to the sideline—or even straight into the end zone.
Or no field at all.
Overshown’s moment of brilliance will undoubtedly be on the shortlist for the Cowboys’ Play of the Year candidates. “Agent O” has already become a fan favorite for his electrifying play and infectious personality, but his Thanksgiving Day heroics will be remembered for years. When big-time players make big-time plays, we can’t help but celebrate their unique talents and dream about the future they promise.
Looking ahead to 2025, it’s exciting to imagine what Parsons and Overshown might accomplish together over a full season. We’ve only been teased with glimpses of their potential this year, and unfortunately, by the time we got to see them working in sync, the season was already compromised. But moments like the one Overshown delivered remind us of the incredible possibilities these two game-changers could bring to the Cowboys for years to come.
Overshown can line up at linebacker but then move to the edge to challenge a running back like Devin Singletary. Singletary’s plan is to chip him and then slide to the flat to create space for a potential gain. Instead, Overshown stretches out his hand to deflect the ball, tipping it into his own range to catch the carom and return it for a touchdown. Few players can pull off something like this, yet Overshown is showing us these kinds of moments every few games. He’s a special talent, and with any luck, he’ll be back next year properly wearing his No. 0 when the team reassembles.
The Parsons and Overshown dynamic seems straightforward to analyze. Parsons has been back for four games this month and already recorded 5.5 sacks in that span. He doesn’t just rack up sacks and single-handedly dismantle game plans—he acts as a “force multiplier,” elevating the performance of everyone around him. His value is almost impossible to quantify.
Any trade proposals suggesting Parsons be dealt for draft picks miss the most fundamental point: he is likely too valuable to trade. There’s no realistic scenario where you could recoup equal value, let alone improve the team’s position, which is the primary purpose of any trade. Can you genuinely argue that the team is better off without a generational talent who transforms the defense just by being on the field? Of course not. That should settle the debate.
As someone who has long defended DeMarcus Ware, I can confidently say that even Ware—a clear Hall of Famer—didn’t consistently move the needle the way Parsons does. In my view, any path to contending for Super Bowls over the next few years must include a heavy dose of Micah Parsons. Comparing the October defense, which struggled without him, to the November defense with him should silence anyone doubting his impact.
On Thursday, the defense delivered six sacks, two takeaways, and an outstanding performance on third downs, relentlessly pressuring Drew Lock into frustration. But could the offense capitalize, especially given the patchwork state of their personnel?
Surprisingly, we have some positive developments to report on that side of the ball. That said, it wasn’t always pretty. The second quarter included a failed fourth-down attempt (following a play-calling decision I could’ve done without) and three of the most lifeless, ineffective series we’ve seen all season leading up to halftime.
Still, Dallas ran the ball effectively. What follows is a reel of actual runs from Thursday’s game—five successful plays that demonstrate what we haven’t seen all season. The offensive line pushed the Giants around, and it was an impressive effort. Take a look.
In particular, I think 73-Tyler Smith, 78-Terence Steele, and my new guy, the hulking TE 89-Brevyn Spann-Ford all appear to be very positive pieces in these plays. They have developed a bit as the season went on and that disgusting stat that told us they had not had a single running play over 15 yards all season entering November has been rectified.
As you can see below, they now have six runs over 15 yards and three of them were yesterday as Rico Dowdle got moving.
What has caused this real uptick in running the football? Well, we have our theories, but perhaps the most compelling one is that they finally stopped placing Ezekiel Elliott in front of Rico Dowdle.
Since Nov. 3, Dowdle has 208 of the RB snaps (78%) and Elliott has 58 (22%). But before that day? Dowdle was at 169 (52%) and Elliott had 153 (48%). What is frustrating about all of this is that it appeared nobody inside the organization could determine that Elliott had no juice and that Dowdle was clearly the better running back.
I wrote about this all the way back on September 24th:
Is Rico Dowdle a top-tier starter in this league or the team’s savior? Probably not. But he is objectively better than Ezekiel Elliott in nearly every measurable way. Dowdle averages 1.3 more yards per carry, and 10% of his runs are explosive plays (13 runs of 10+ yards). In comparison, Elliott has managed just one 10-yard run out of 59 attempts.
The fact that these two shared the workload until after the bye week—when Dowdle mysteriously came down with the flu in San Francisco and Elliott was inexplicably a healthy scratch in Atlanta—is a story we’d all love to hear but probably never will.
Still, the tape doesn’t lie. Dowdle has been a good starter for the Cowboys, and the team’s performance has improved as a result. What changed? They finally decided to play the better player. A similarly frustrating tale emerges with Kavontae Turpin. The team had this explosive talent all along but wasn’t using him enough. Now that they are, look at the results! Turpin is one of the fastest players in the NFL, and getting the ball in his hands has injected much-needed energy into an offense that had been lacking.
When internal solutions like these come to light, it raises questions about what training camp is actually for. The organization acted as if Elliott was Gale Sayers and needed to prove nothing to anyone. It was maddening. Is football truly the ultimate meritocracy, where players earn their roles on the field? Or does this front office sometimes favor certain players because treating real-life football like fantasy football is fun?
Sure, we should take the wins and smiles where we can, but even a rare win streak makes us wonder why these solutions were only discovered in late November. There has been, and continues to be, a meritocracy malfunction within this organization. Valuable lessons are learned when you simply play the better players and let them prove themselves.
The lingering question is whether these lessons will stick and lead to better decisions in the future.
Even in victory, it’s hard not to wonder if those in charge recognize the messes they’ve created.
It was a fun day, but you can’t blame Rico Dowdle and Kavontae Turpin for questioning why it took so long for the team to realize just how much they could contribute to its success.
Thanksgiving offers the Cowboys taking down Giants with a rare team-football win.
Bob Sturm
Nov 29, 2024
All you have to do is follow the recipe, and good things happen again. It can actually look easy!
Dallas won its first home game of 2024—and its first in 334 days on Thanksgiving—with a decisive dismantling of the New York Giants, 27-20, in a game that was not as close as the final score suggests.
The recipe, so to speak, for the Cowboys to win games in this very difficult league is as follows:
- Take care of the football and win the turnover battle.
- Allow Micah Parsons and friends to get after the QB.
- Run the rock with some level of effectiveness.
You’ll have to excuse us for wondering where this football team has been. That said, it’s important to point out that the New York Giants are just awful in many respects right now, so the degree of difficulty in winning home games will vary. Yes, it’s tempting to think the Cowboys discovered some magical formula. While that’s partly true, it often comes down to this: Baltimore, Detroit, and Philadelphia—Dallas’s last three home opponents—are three of the best teams in the league this year. Facing three Super Bowl contenders in succession, all of whom are significantly better in 2024, is bound to leave you looking outmatched. It’s not magic, and there’s no special potion working against Dallas. Those teams are simply better.
On the other hand, when the New York Giants come to town, it’s akin to a baseball team noticing they hit better when not facing an opponent’s top pitchers. Every fifth day, a struggling player is sent to the mound—someone who probably belongs in the minors—and when your team starts hitting well on that day, it isn’t magic. It’s just that the other guy stinks.
So, let’s temper any talk of an upcoming winning streak or a sudden turnaround for everything that’s gone wrong in 2024. The facts remain: these are two football teams far from the league’s best, and someone had to win. The ugly truth is just that—ugly. Coming into this Thanksgiving Day game, Dallas and New York were the only two teams in the NFL without a home win this season. Together, they were 0-11 at home until the Cowboys handed the Giants another loss, allowing Dallas fans to finally leave with a victory. Every other franchise in this 32-team league had already celebrated at least one home win. Now, only the Giants remain winless at home.
So, hey, you’ve got that going for you—which is nice, I guess. Still, some fans are lamenting the Cowboys’ improving draft position after these back-to-back divisional wins, victories that likely mean little in the grand scheme of things.
To those fans, I can’t offer much solace. If you’re upset about moving from the 9th to the 13th draft pick, maybe it’s best to stop watching games altogether. The players on the field don’t care about draft position. Many of them are playing through injuries for one reason: to beat the team across from them. Winning feels better than losing, and that’s their entire motivation—along with keeping their jobs in professional football next season.
But enough about that. Let’s talk about why they’ve looked reasonably good as a team lately.
It starts with the fact that the defense has begun to resemble the dominant force it’s been in recent years. Of course, there are plenty of factors at play here. Earlier matchups against the Ravens, Lions, and Eagles went horribly wrong because those teams were able to neutralize Dallas’s strengths. Essentially, if you avoid getting into obvious passing situations against the Cowboys, you can handle their defense quite effectively. Dallas struggles to stop the run, and if they can’t, their opponents rarely need to pass under pressure. This allows teams to stay out of third downs and prevents Micah Parsons and his crew from doing what they excel at—rushing the passer and breaking the opposing team’s morale.
The good news, based on the last five days, is that not every opponent is a Ravens, Lions, or Eagles-caliber team. Running offenses across the NFL vary, and the Giants’ offensive line is a glaring weakness. Their running game is far less intimidating, making it easier to force them into passing situations and test whether their protection can hold up. Once that happens, the sacks start piling up—Dallas recorded six in this game alone. With that kind of pressure on the quarterback, the opportunities for takeaways follow.
Remember that formula? It worked so well for the Cowboys in the past, and on Thanksgiving, it returned, if only for a moment. Pressure leads to sacks, sacks lead to turnovers, and turnovers create short fields. From there, even an inconsistent offense can manage to score 27 points in a game.
When they in the turnover battle, Dallas is 4-1. When losing, they are 1-6.
You don’t want to oversimplify football because it’s never that straightforward. However, sometimes having your key players on the field allows you to start down the path of success. Stopping the run on early downs against teams that lack strength up front can force them into passing situations, where the quarterback has to buy time he doesn’t have. That’s when players like Micah Parsons, Osa Odighizuwa, Carl Lawson, or DeMarvion Overshown get their chance to make an impact. And when they do, we’ve often seen them take the ball back to the sideline—or even straight into the end zone.
Or no field at all.
Overshown’s moment of brilliance will undoubtedly be on the shortlist for the Cowboys’ Play of the Year candidates. “Agent O” has already become a fan favorite for his electrifying play and infectious personality, but his Thanksgiving Day heroics will be remembered for years. When big-time players make big-time plays, we can’t help but celebrate their unique talents and dream about the future they promise.
Looking ahead to 2025, it’s exciting to imagine what Parsons and Overshown might accomplish together over a full season. We’ve only been teased with glimpses of their potential this year, and unfortunately, by the time we got to see them working in sync, the season was already compromised. But moments like the one Overshown delivered remind us of the incredible possibilities these two game-changers could bring to the Cowboys for years to come.
Overshown can line up at linebacker but then move to the edge to challenge a running back like Devin Singletary. Singletary’s plan is to chip him and then slide to the flat to create space for a potential gain. Instead, Overshown stretches out his hand to deflect the ball, tipping it into his own range to catch the carom and return it for a touchdown. Few players can pull off something like this, yet Overshown is showing us these kinds of moments every few games. He’s a special talent, and with any luck, he’ll be back next year properly wearing his No. 0 when the team reassembles.
The Parsons and Overshown dynamic seems straightforward to analyze. Parsons has been back for four games this month and already recorded 5.5 sacks in that span. He doesn’t just rack up sacks and single-handedly dismantle game plans—he acts as a “force multiplier,” elevating the performance of everyone around him. His value is almost impossible to quantify.
Any trade proposals suggesting Parsons be dealt for draft picks miss the most fundamental point: he is likely too valuable to trade. There’s no realistic scenario where you could recoup equal value, let alone improve the team’s position, which is the primary purpose of any trade. Can you genuinely argue that the team is better off without a generational talent who transforms the defense just by being on the field? Of course not. That should settle the debate.
As someone who has long defended DeMarcus Ware, I can confidently say that even Ware—a clear Hall of Famer—didn’t consistently move the needle the way Parsons does. In my view, any path to contending for Super Bowls over the next few years must include a heavy dose of Micah Parsons. Comparing the October defense, which struggled without him, to the November defense with him should silence anyone doubting his impact.
On Thursday, the defense delivered six sacks, two takeaways, and an outstanding performance on third downs, relentlessly pressuring Drew Lock into frustration. But could the offense capitalize, especially given the patchwork state of their personnel?
Surprisingly, we have some positive developments to report on that side of the ball. That said, it wasn’t always pretty. The second quarter included a failed fourth-down attempt (following a play-calling decision I could’ve done without) and three of the most lifeless, ineffective series we’ve seen all season leading up to halftime.
Still, Dallas ran the ball effectively. What follows is a reel of actual runs from Thursday’s game—five successful plays that demonstrate what we haven’t seen all season. The offensive line pushed the Giants around, and it was an impressive effort. Take a look.
In particular, I think 73-Tyler Smith, 78-Terence Steele, and my new guy, the hulking TE 89-Brevyn Spann-Ford all appear to be very positive pieces in these plays. They have developed a bit as the season went on and that disgusting stat that told us they had not had a single running play over 15 yards all season entering November has been rectified.
As you can see below, they now have six runs over 15 yards and three of them were yesterday as Rico Dowdle got moving.
What has caused this real uptick in running the football? Well, we have our theories, but perhaps the most compelling one is that they finally stopped placing Ezekiel Elliott in front of Rico Dowdle.
Since Nov. 3, Dowdle has 208 of the RB snaps (78%) and Elliott has 58 (22%). But before that day? Dowdle was at 169 (52%) and Elliott had 153 (48%). What is frustrating about all of this is that it appeared nobody inside the organization could determine that Elliott had no juice and that Dowdle was clearly the better running back.
I wrote about this all the way back on September 24th:
That was after the third game. The fact that we are now ending Week 13 and finally it seems that the organization understands their mis-step is frustrating. The entire football world was telling them this in the summer time and it appears the front office love-affair with the return of Zeke was a major part of the worst rushing offense in the NFL.
Is Rico Dowdle a top-tier starter in this league or the team’s savior? Probably not. But he is objectively better than Ezekiel Elliott in nearly every measurable way. Dowdle averages 1.3 more yards per carry, and 10% of his runs are explosive plays (13 runs of 10+ yards). In comparison, Elliott has managed just one 10-yard run out of 59 attempts.
The fact that these two shared the workload until after the bye week—when Dowdle mysteriously came down with the flu in San Francisco and Elliott was inexplicably a healthy scratch in Atlanta—is a story we’d all love to hear but probably never will.
Still, the tape doesn’t lie. Dowdle has been a good starter for the Cowboys, and the team’s performance has improved as a result. What changed? They finally decided to play the better player. A similarly frustrating tale emerges with Kavontae Turpin. The team had this explosive talent all along but wasn’t using him enough. Now that they are, look at the results! Turpin is one of the fastest players in the NFL, and getting the ball in his hands has injected much-needed energy into an offense that had been lacking.
When internal solutions like these come to light, it raises questions about what training camp is actually for. The organization acted as if Elliott was Gale Sayers and needed to prove nothing to anyone. It was maddening. Is football truly the ultimate meritocracy, where players earn their roles on the field? Or does this front office sometimes favor certain players because treating real-life football like fantasy football is fun?
Sure, we should take the wins and smiles where we can, but even a rare win streak makes us wonder why these solutions were only discovered in late November. There has been, and continues to be, a meritocracy malfunction within this organization. Valuable lessons are learned when you simply play the better players and let them prove themselves.
The lingering question is whether these lessons will stick and lead to better decisions in the future.
Even in victory, it’s hard not to wonder if those in charge recognize the messes they’ve created.
It was a fun day, but you can’t blame Rico Dowdle and Kavontae Turpin for questioning why it took so long for the team to realize just how much they could contribute to its success.