“Don’t blink,” was the message Dak Prescott relayed to his teammates before the decisive drive that finally brought some sense to Sunday afternoon in Arlington. Despite that for the previous three hours, the Dallas Cowboys had blinked and blinked again and blinked some more.
The Cowboys had blinked so frequently against the Houston Texans as to make the eyes water, and there were very nearly some real tears to come from a 27-23 nailbiter that you’ve likely already either watched, or caught the highlights of, or read about, so now it’s time to figure out what it all means.
We will go through the steps of that here, but let’s give away a spoiler right at the top. If you’re looking for a take that Sunday’s result means the Cowboys’ fighting fortitude ensures their playoff readiness, or that their shaky performance indicates the opposite, you’ll be disappointed.
Because we’re past that now.
We’re so used to getting forensic on Cowboys displays at this time of year that we can’t kick the habit. It is different this time.
Mid-December is here and we know that Dallas is going to make the postseason. There is enough standing evidence to suggest it’s a team capable of doing some damage there. And also, naturally, of potentially flaming out and disappointing its legion of fans.
This reality isn’t new, and nothing that happened on Sunday shifted it. Dallas has a certain position in the NFL hierarchy this season, one of a handful of teams that can already cast a steady eye toward the playoffs and prepare accordingly.
A loss to the Texans would have been a shock, but would it have spelled doom and been a damning indictment on whether Mike McCarthy’s group had a chance of making a postseason splash? Answer yes if you must, but to do so would seem a little on the overreactive side.
The reverse applies as well. Does getting over the line late against Houston thanks to a calm final drive — behind Prescott’s forceful arm and Dalton Schultz’s sure hands and Ezekiel Elliott’s skillful footwork — mean they are now battle-tested and hardened and can use the memory of the experience to positive effect in January?
No.
It was an exciting game, a spirited performance by the Texans and a solid job of getting out of a jam by the Cowboys. And that’s really it; no cause or gain to be had from searing takes.
Prescott played it up as something more meaningful than that, because he’s smart and savvy and that’s what QBs do; spout positivity and put some verbal sheen on a performance that generally lacked gloss.
“We needed that game,” he told reporters. “You’re going to play some tough games. You’ve got to play one-score games in the back end, just to have that confidence and trust in each other.”
Truth be told, we don’t know much more than we did going into the weekend. We know Dallas is capable of playing poorly in stretches of a game, and we knew that prior, because we know that applies to every team in the league, even the 12-1 Philadelphia Eagles.
We know the Cowboys have a good quarterback who can deliver under duress, and that’s not a big revelation either. We know Dallas has enough smarts and timeliness to battle back from adversity against a team that was 1-10-1 and yeah, we could have guessed that one too if we’d bothered to think of it.
The rest of this Cowboys season is a pure results business, not a search for deeper meaning. Can Prescott’s offense and a fiery, hungry defense churn out enough wins to pressurize the Eagles? Can they turn the second-best record in the NFC and a No. 5 seed into the best record and a No. 1, with all the advantages it would entail?
That’s what matters. No positive signs and worrying signals and key indicators and moral victories or psychological setbacks. It’s about wins and losses.
A postseason is approaching in which the Cowboys are a legitimate threat and deserve to be regarded as one of the NFC’s leading favorites.
The time between now and then is going to fly by. Blink and you’ll miss it.
Don’t blink … and you sometimes get an exciting finish and a feel-good comeback. But not much more. Not yet, anyway.
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Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX and subscribe to the daily newsletter.
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