The Cowboys got a win in Week 9, but the kind of win that leaves everybody squinting at the tape and the power rankings. Dallas handled Indianapolis just enough to survive, and that was apparently enough to nudge a few national analysts into moving Brian Schottenheimer’s team up the board.
That’s the strange part here: the Cowboys didn’t exactly look transformed, yet the rankings bump came anyway. After a scrape-by result that felt a lot like the Arizona loss from the week before, several outlets still treated Sunday as a step forward.
The scoreboard said victory. The broader picture still looked messy.
At USA Today, the Cowboys landed at No. 21, up from No. 27.
The note attached to that jump was blunt: “I don’t buy anything about this team, but they have enough firepower to beat the absolute worst teams in the NFL, even if they only show up for part of the game. And under Brian Schotttenheimer, they only show up for part of the game most of the time.”
That’s a pretty sharp summary of Dallas right now, and the reaction to it was just as direct. The Cowboys may have climbed six spots, but the consistency issue remains impossible to ignore. A win is a win, sure, but this group keeps living on the edge of a bad result.
Todd Archer of ESPN had Dallas at No. 22, up from No. 24, while also circling a game that could end up mattering far more than the rest. Archer pointed to Week 17 against the Giants as “Most important game of the second half,” noting that Dak Prescott called every remaining game a “must-win” and that a late-season rematch with New York could become a winner-take-all meeting if the Cowboys stay in the NFC East chase. Archer also reminded readers that from 2011 to 2013, Dallas had a de facto NFC East title game in each regular-season finale and lost all three.
The Cowboys’ rise there came with a familiar caveat: the win over Indianapolis didn’t suddenly fix anything. It just kept them alive.
At CBS Sports, Dallas checked in at No. 20, up from No. 23.
The writeup acknowledged that the Colts are a team many have already written off, and that the victory won’t carry much weight in the larger picture. Still, the offense topping 500 yards and the defense forcing a win-sealing takeaway gave the Cowboys enough to avoid a bigger slide.
That’s the theme with this team. The good stuff shows up in flashes, but it rarely arrives cleanly.
The New York Post’s Paul Schwartz had Dallas at No. 20 as well, up from No. 23, and leaned into the drama of how close the Cowboys came to another ugly loss. When Indianapolis grabbed the lead late, Schwartz wrote that it looked like Dallas was headed deeper than one of Jerry Jones’ oil wells.
Then Dak Prescott delivered the big throw that saved the day. Schwartz also said Brian Schottenheimer’s seat is getting pretty hot, questioned why Christian Parker was back in the building the way the defense has played, and noted that the Cowboys are about to begin a three-game homestand that starts with the 49ers.
He added that Dallas is just 1-3 at home this season.
That’s a lot of concern for a team that technically won, but it tracks with how shaky the Cowboys have looked.
The Athletic’s Josh Kendall and Chad Graff were more measured, giving Dallas a midseason grade of C. Their note centered on CeeDee Lamb’s huge day - 10 catches for 195 yards and a touchdown - and the fact that he became the first player in NFL history to record at least 70 catches and at least 900 yards in each of his first seven seasons.
But the bigger issue was the defense, which they pointed out is only better than the lowly Dolphins by EPA per play. That’s why Dallas is still under .500.
That grade might be generous depending on how you view the full body of work. The Cowboys have won enough to stay in the conversation, but not enough to feel trustworthy. They’ve been uneven from drive to drive, sometimes even from quarter to quarter, and their results have reflected it.
One ranking also took a shot at a specific Cowboys moment from Sunday, calling out DeMarvion Overshown for running onto the field in sweats while inactive with a hamstring injury and drawing a 15-yard penalty. The reaction to that criticism was simple: it was an odd thing to single out, even if the play itself was undeniably boneheaded.
The larger point, though, was harder to argue with. Dallas’ win over the Colts featured plenty of offense, plenty of mistakes, and just enough defense to survive. It was, as one ranking put it, “the 2026 Dallas Cowboys in a nutshell-for better and for worse.”
That’s the story of this team right now. Big numbers from Dak Prescott, Javonte Williams and CeeDee Lamb.
Penalties. Defensive lapses.
A late save. A win that keeps the pulse going, but doesn’t settle much of anything.
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