Dallas Cowboys can be ‘whatever we want to be’ as recent win streak revitalizes season

FRISCO — It was a month ago when the Cowboys were 3-5-1 and looking at a top 15 draft pick.

A series of events that included a loss to Arizona, a daring trade at the deadline, the tragic loss of defensive end Marshawn Kneeland and the return of several injured players have brought this team together.

The Cowboys are in the midst of a season-high three-game win streak, the first such stretch since 2023. With five games remaining in the regular season, the team is in the playoff conversation.

However, early season losses make reaching the postseason difficult.

Cowboys

How can one put what’s happened with this team into proper context, given where it stood nearly a month ago?

“The consistency is what you’re noticing,” coach Brian Schottenheimer said in a Friday conference call. “When you look back and try to figure out why that is, again it’s a little bit like we just stayed to the process. We trusted the process and we’ve continued to coach to the details and try to get communication better on defense and continue to work on pass protection and fundamentals and things like that. That’s the biggest thing I would say, we’ve always had confidence, we’re never going to lack for confidence.”

After the Cowboys lost to Arizona on Nov. 3, they were headed into their bye week. Kneeland would take his life just three days later, devastating not only his family but the franchise.

The Cowboys would have to play a game on the road Nov. 17 at Las Vegas. It was the first time in franchise history the Cowboys played back-to-back Monday night games.

The Cowboys, with strong emotions in the wake of their teammates’s death, defeated the Raiders.

The next two games, against the teams that played in last year’s Super Bowl, seemed daunting. Dallas conquered those clubs, Philadelphia and Kansas City, and now own a three-game win streak heading into a Thursday night game at Detroit.

A month ago, you could say the Lions game wasn’t winnable.

Now?

“We can be whatever we want to be,” quarterback Dak Prescott said after the Thanksgiving Day win over the Chiefs. “Everything’s in front of us. I just was telling the offense that when we’re in those kneel-downs at the end of the [Chiefs] game. But it’s not going to happen next Thursday. It’s going to happen Sunday [at practice] when we get in the building. It’s just taking it one day at a time, putting everything in, understanding that we win during the week with our preparation and that we just get to come out here and play the game that we love and playing it free.”

Losses to Arizona, Carolina, Chicago and even the season-opening contest at Philadelphia, are games the Cowboys wish they had back. It’s hurting them as they sit on the outside looking in when it comes to the postseason.

The margin for error is small because one more loss is all they can afford to have.

The Cowboys are doing their part by winning and it must continue.

Detroit (7-5) sits ahead of Dallas in playoff contention. If Dallas wins, it moves past, yet, Carolina (6-6) is right behind both teams.

“It definitely builds some confidence as we continue to move forward,” defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa said. “We know what we have to do, that’s something we’ve been talking about since coming off the bye week. Just knowing we got the harder stretch of our season, obviously every team is a NFL team, but a lot of good playoff teams.”

That begins Thursday night in Detroit.

The Lions are coming off a loss to the Packers and had coach Dan Campbell saying “we’ve dug ourselves a little bit of a hole.”

Schottenheimer wasn’t talking about holes Thanksgiving night or the day after beating the Chiefs.

This team has climbed out of its own hole and is still standing, hoping to achieve its goals.

The front office’s decision to trade for defensive tackle Quinnen Williams and linebacker Logan Wilson, along with the return of injured starting linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, has given the Cowboys a boost.

Schottenheimer has no time to dwell on what happened earlier in the season.

“No I don’t look back, man, I really don’t,” he said. “We’ve put ourselves in this position and I kinda just spoke to why that was. We weren’t playing very consistent and there’s been stretches where we we’ve taken care of the football and they’ve been other stretches where we haven’t. I don’t look back, we sit here where we sit today at 6-5-1 getting ready to play another really good football team in Detroit and what I do know is we got five weeks left. We’re guaranteed five more and let’s maximize those advantages one step at a time and when the dust settles let’s see where we’re at.”

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