The Dallas Cowboys still can’t beat the Arizona Cardinals, and this time a 33-30 overtime lost cost them their already-fleeting hopes of being a legitimate team for 2026. Through eight weeks now with a 3-5 record, the only things this Cowboys team is consistent at is being outcoached, wilting at the very first sight of adversity, and having one side of the ball or the other becoming a no-show for long stretches of game that leads to losses.
Troy Aikman was right to say he wasn’t all that impressed
with the week seven win he called when the Cowboys beat the Eagles on the road. Even with the Cowboys having an “AIKMAN AIKMAN” audible on offense against the Cardinals, the team’s best players never made themselves felt enough in this game to give Dallas anything to build on or feel good about now with another loss. Winning back-to-back games remains the absolute hardest thing for coach Schottenheimer to do, and teams that can’t do that don’t go anywhere at all.
With a week one loss at the Giants where they never matched the energy of the rival, the debacle in Brazil against the Ravens, a home loss to UDFA rookie QB Jalon Daniels and the Bucs, and another uninspiring loss at the Packers, the margin for error to let the Cardinals continue their dominance of this series was at zero before Sunday. By inexplicably adding this game to the ugly list of losses, it’s put wins against a Commanders team that lost Jayden Daniels by halftime, a winless-at-the-time Texans team, and the depleted Eagles far, far back into the memory of this season.
These four quarters against the Cardinals are a much more realistic snapshot of who the 2026 Cowboys are, and will continue to be, and certainly having a 24-10 lead in the fourth quarter evaporate adds to the sting factor.
The Cowboys are defined by losing right now, dropping a fifth straight overall to the Cardinals and fifth in a row at home as well. Let’s get to some notes on the second half and overtime collapse.
Going Backwards
It’s hard to believe since this game is now in the loss column, but in some of the early going when it was looking like the Cowboys would remain in control and win. It also had potential to be a win stamped more by the defense than the offense.
After Javonte Williams got stopped on fourth and short on the opening drive, Christian Parker’s defense got a goal line stand to keep the game scoreless. DaRon Bland had the coverage on 3rd-and-goal. On 4th-and-goal, the Cowboys had Alijah Clark on the field, which helped them get into a look the Cardinals weren’t expecting. By putting TE Trey McBride in motion against Caleb Downs, Arizona was looking for Downs to follow McBride in man. Instead, his route was passed off to Clark, and Downs was in position to make a run stop short of the end zone.
The Cowboys had further success against Jacoby Brissett defensively by leaning even further into their coverage players in this game. Parker used different lineups yet again, and it felt like it exuded some confidence in the whole defense playing cohesively. Shemar James set up the Cowboys’ first touchdown with his interception.
Donovan Ezeiruaku and Von Miller had back-to-back sacks after a Cowboys drive that settled for a field goal on Ryan Flournoy’s third-down drop. Quinnen Williams even had another clutch, timely sack on the very first play of overtime to help get the defense off the field in three plays, just for the offense to do the same and give the Cardinals the ball back only needing a field goal to win.
The best chance to stamp this as a game won with defense was after the offense played complementary ball coming out of halftime and held the ball for over eight minutes to go up 17-3, but three of their next four possessions would last 1:37 or less. Prescott was 2-6 targeting Lamb and Pickens from this point on, with one of the completions being that screen to Lamb that should have been a drive-ender.
Unfortunately, it remains true that this team is built to win with their offense, and the empty possessions, missed opportunities, and stunning lack of aggression played into a defensive collapse once the Cardinals made their QB change, and another win for the Cardinals against the Cowboys that defied all odds.
The Minshew Effect
Not only were the Cowboys battling against their odd history of misfortune against the Cardinals at large in this game, but once Mike LaFleur’s team inserted QB Gardner Minshew, some more unexplainable history against the longtime backup passer. In week 16 of 2022, Minshew was with the Eagles, and led that Philly team into a shootout that came out of nowhere against Dan Quinn’s defense.
Minshew went 24-40 for 355 yards and two touchdowns, but also threw two costly interceptions. The Cowboys did not sack him in that game, but Dallas did win 40-34. Playing in his first game from AT&T Stadium since then, Minshew somehow picked up right where he left off and added three more passing touchdowns against the Cowboys, 188 more yards, was sacked once, but led a game-winning drive in overtime as well.
Switching to Minshew neutralized the coverage first, pass rush as a result of it defense the Cowboys had working well against Brissett. This change somehow unlocked the Cardinals running game, when on Minshew’s second snap of the game he turned and handed to Tyler Allgeier who went 63 yards for a touchdown.
The Cowboys answered this with a touchdown after remembering that George Pickens plays football for them, making a big first-down catch and run, but again couldn’t contain Allgeier who scored on 3rd-and-goal after setting up the touchdown himself with a 50 yard run.
It took a bad personal foul penalty against the Cardinals defense after securing a third-down stop by tackling CeeDee Lamb on a screen for the Cowboys to again get points in response to their defense leaking, a field goal to stay ahead 27-17.
The defensive breakdowns were hardly done yet though, as Minshew ultimately led four straight touchdown drives. P.J. Locke and DeMarvion Overshown are not defenders who have spent much time whatsoever practicing in coverage together, and were not on the same page for McBride’s touchdown that made it 27-24.
The Cowboys offense would have to labor even more to get just three points , as Williams was tackled for a loss on first down, and Terence Steele gave up a sack on second down. Running on third down out of a one wide receiver set, the Cowboys settled for three to turn a three-point lead into six, leaving themselves open to losing on a touchdown that Michael Wilson delivered with six seconds left.
Even with a missed extra point to extend this game into overtime, the coverage breakdowns didn’t stop in the extra period, and the Cardinals made the winning plays for kicker Chad Ryland to redeem himself.
This dynamic makes it easy to point to the big play differential as the reason the Cardinals flocked back into this game and Cowboys blew it, especially with the Cowboys taking both Lamb and Pickens off the field at key times. The play before the field goal mentioned above was one example, but Flournoy was also the only receiver on the field for his touchdown that required a one-handed snag to make it 14-0, bailing Schottenheimer out of another questionable play call on a day it eventually proved costly.
Another factor that can’t be ignored is the way both offensive lines played throughout this game as well. The Cowboys saw an offensive outburst against the Eagles thanks to letting their big men up front play downhill and do what they do best going forward in the run game, not constantly backwards in pass pro.
The Cowboys did not nearly find the same opportunities to lean on the Cardinals at home this week, and once Minshew was in for Brissett, the Cardinals offensive line wasn’t going backwards as much either. They slowly took control of the game by neutralizing the Cowboys pass rush, trusting Minshew to get the ball out of his hands quickly, and most importantly running the ball well.
The Cowboys took fate out of their own hands when it comes to winning in the trenches offensively, couldn’t do so with a defensive end group that still lacks “the guy” once Minshew was in on defense, and let the Cardinals spoil their fun in embarrassing fashion. Dak Prescott had the longest Dallas rush of the game for seven yards, and Brevyn Spann-Ford had more targets in the pass game than George Pickens.
Even the Josh Sweat sack in overtime that totally took this game out of control for the home team was a head-scratching call. The Cowboys have had success this season with Javonte Williams lined up as an extra blocker just behind the offensive line. They went to this look on 3rd-and-8, but with Spann-Ford in the spot Williams normally is, and Williams in the backfield.
Williams didn’t even scan for any rushers to pick up before lazily going out in the pass pattern short of the sticks and into coverage, leaving Prescott to be sacked by Sweat. We’ve talked a ton this season about Schottenheimer’s Cowboys getting beaten badly by defensive head coaches as an indictment on this team’s offensive-minded head man. Now we can add first-time, first-year HC Mike LaFleur having the confidence to make a QB change midgame and putting on a better display of putting his players in position to make big plays and win as another loss on Schotty’s record.
The failures were all-around, up, down, forwards, and backwards for the Cowboys after this game, but to be here in week eight with a healthy Dak Prescott having only beaten Marcus Mariota, C.J. Stroud, and Tanner McKee led teams is a failure in preparation and execution that’s very hard to fathom.
After a gauntlet of defensive-minded head coaches in the first five weeks of the season, where the Cowboys went 2-3, they didn’t come out with intensity at the Packers and lost to the offensive-minded Matt LaFleur. They bounced back by beating Nick Sirianni’s Eagles last Monday, and now get another offense-first head coach in his first season, Mike LaFleur. There really are no excuses and nowhere to hide for the Cowboys this weekend, if they want the win in Philly to be remembered for something and to be taken seriously going into November.
We said before kickoff the Cowboys would lose this game if they aren’t a serious football team, with nowhere left to hide if they do lose, and that’s exactly what it feels like.
