Jerry Jones didn’t get the kind of night that calms a restless front office. He got a win, sure. But he also got another reminder that the Cowboys are still the Cowboys - dangerous enough to keep hope alive, messy enough to make you wonder what comes next.
Dallas beat the Tanner McKee-led Eagles 38-21 on Monday Night Football, finally avoiding the kind of prime-time collapse that has followed this team around. The Cowboys were again facing a team with a losing record and no starting quarterback, and for stretches they made it look like the same old script was about to repeat itself. Instead, they pulled away in the second half and escaped with a result that keeps them in the NFC East mix.
That alone is probably enough to have Jones thinking big. He was all smiles from his suite, seated next to Michael Irvin, and that reaction matters because Jones doesn’t need much to start dreaming up a deal. With the Nov. 10 deadline approaching, the Cowboys owner is likely itching to make another trade even with his team sitting at 3-4.
Dallas isn’t sitting pretty in the division, but it’s still in range. The Cowboys trail only the first-place Giants, who are 4-2-1 and already own a win over Dallas.
The Eagles, meanwhile, are without Jalen Hurts for the rest of the season and looked more like a team interested in draft positioning than a contender. Philadelphia also missed DeVonta Smith, and Saquon Barkley barely played because of a nagging hamstring injury.
The bigger picture is simple: the Cowboys may not be one move from snapping their 30-year drought without an NFC title game appearance, but they’re close enough in the standings to justify another swing. They also might be the healthiest team in the division, and the schedule ahead gives them a path to stay in the hunt with games against Arizona, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Tennessee and Philadelphia again.
That’s why a name like Maxx Crosby comes up. If the Raiders keep sliding after four straight losses, Crosby could find himself back on the trade block, and Dallas could go after him again.
The issue, of course, is that Jones has already spent plenty of the draft capital the Cowboys gained when Micah Parsons was sent to Green Bay 14 months ago. Dallas used one of the first-round picks it got back to land Quinnen Williams from the Jets last deadline, and the Jets will receive the lower pick between Dallas and Green Bay.
Jones also gave up a 2028 second-round pick in an earlier trade with the Steelers for Jerry Porter Jr.
And that’s before getting to the long list of defensive moves already made in the Parsons aftermath: Williams, Kenny Clark, Rashan Gary, Porter Jr., and first-round rookies Caleb Downs and Malachi Lawrence. Jones also brought in defensive coordinator Christian Parker to steady the unit. So far, the repairs haven’t produced the kind of defense Dallas was hoping for.
Still, Monday night did offer a few reasons for Jones and the Cowboys to feel better about themselves. Javonte Williams powered the run game with a career-high 155 rushing yards, and the defense ramped up the pressure on McKee after halftime. The offense and defense both showed enough in the second half to keep this from feeling like another wasted chance.
Jones even gave his team a little bulletin-board material before kickoff, talking with Pat McAfee and Jason Kelce on the ESPN broadcast and pointing out two truths about his club: the Cowboys like prime time, and they also haven’t played well in it. He put it even more bluntly after the game, saying, “The last time we played a team that didn’t have their starting quarterback, we got our ass kicked. Seriously, seriously.”
That earlier stumble came in Week 5, when the Cowboys were embarrassed by undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels in a Thursday Night Football loss against the Buccaneers. Another ugly defeat followed against the Packers on Sunday Night Football, and Dallas had already lived through the blown lead against the Ravens in Rio in seven seconds.
Even after all that, the Cowboys are still standing in the race. That’s usually enough for Jones to believe another move is worth making. And after a night that looked shaky for a while before ending in a convincing win, the signs point the same way again: Dallas is probably headed back into the trade market.
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