The Cowboys head into Week 5 with a chance to build on a 2-2 start, and Thursday night gives them a clean shot to do it. Dallas beat the Houston Texans in Week 4, then got a favorable setup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who will be without Baker Mayfield. In his place, the Bucs are turning to undrafted free agent Jalon Daniels, who is making just his second career start.
That makes this a prime spot for Dallas to handle business, but it also puts a few players squarely in the spotlight. For three Cowboys in particular, Week 5 is about more than the scoreboard.
DaRon Bland is carrying the heaviest pressure of the bunch. Joey Porter Jr.’s strong performance on Sunday helped the secondary, but it also underscored how much Bland has struggled across the last two seasons.
He continued to give up completions at a high rate in Week 4 and finished with a 48.2 PFF grade. The Cowboys gave him a major extension before the 2025 season because they expected the version of Bland they saw in 2023, when he picked off nine passes.
That level of play hasn’t returned, and there’s a real sense he may be running out of chances in Dallas.
Caleb Downs is in a different spot. The rookie has mostly been solid, and his first four games have produced 27 tackles, one sack and one pass breakup.
But Week 4 was a rough step backward. Against the Texans, he gave up five catches on five targets for 54 yards and landed in the Cowboys’ bottom five in PFF grades for the week.
That outing wasn’t typical for him, which is exactly why this game matters: he’ll be trying to show the Houston performance was the outlier.
Then there’s Jake Ferguson, who made the kind of play that can swing a game and still walked away with more questions than answers. His seven-yard catch on fourth-and-four late in the final drive was huge; without it, Dallas likely doesn’t win.
But the rest of his day was tough. Ferguson finished with three receptions for 11 yards and was a problem in run blocking.
He’s already been taking heat this season for that part of his game, along with a career-low 6.9 yards per reception, and the costly fumble in Week 3 only added to the pressure. Of the three, he may have the most to prove in Week 5.
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