Week 8's 33-30 overtime loss to the Cardinals already ranks as the most painful gameday in quite some time for most of the Cowboys faithful, so a deeper dive into the stats won't make it any worse.
Probably.
Most of how the Cowboys managed to blow a game that they led by 14 points in the fourth quarter... then by 10 points with under four minutes to play... then by six points with 10 seconds left... and then after forcing a three-and-out in overtime... is already well-covered ground by this point.
Yes, Arizona's comeback- behind a backup quarterback and third-string running back who both absolutely exploded once they set foot on the field- was statistically improbable. But the Cowboys did this to themselves, largely with longstanding issues that
they have been patently unable to clean up.
Giving up big plays on defense, an overcommitted approach to an underachieving run game, the mysterious disappearance of a top playmaker, and a recent uptick in errors from one of the most dependable players on the roster all contributed mightily to the latest collapse to the Cardinals.
3: Consecutive games with a sack from Quinnen Williams
Williams logged two sacks on Sunday, one on Jacoby Brissett and another in overtime on Gardner Minshew. He now has five on the season and at least one in each of the Cowboys' past three games. That's his longest streak of games with a sack since 2022, the year he set his career-high mark of 12 and earned first-team All-Pro honors. Williams will look to continue the trend in Week 9 versus the Colts, who are giving up nearly three sacks per outing and just traded away eight-time Pro Bowl guard Quenton Nelson.
4%: Cardinals' chance of winning late in 3rd quarter
The Cowboys were sitting on a 10-point lead with 16:25 in regulation when Arizona sent in their backup quarterback. The team's third-string running back had already taken over backfield duties on the drive prior. At that moment, according to Next Gen Stats, the Cardinals had just a 4% chance of pulling out a win. The Dallas defense promptly let Gardner Minshew, Tyler Allgeier, and wide receiver Michael Wilson- now the Cards' best option with Marvin Harrison Jr. gone- look like Aikman/Smith/Irvin as Arizona ripped off four straight touchdown drives, all on possessions that covered more than 50 yards and took no longer than four minutes each. The Cowboys defense, which hadn't looked better all season than in the game's first half, has never looked worse than in that final quarter of play.
4: Missed field goals from Brandon Aubrey through 8 games
The Cowboys' increasing tolerance for settling on a Brandon Aubrey long-distance sniper shot is becoming an issue (especially when it's bad play-calling that stalls the offense at midfield). Aubrey's 61-yard wide-right attempt on Sunday was his fourth miss of the year-- all from 59 or beyond (though two of them were blocked). He missed just six field goals all of last season. Aubrey is still a weapon, to be sure, but his season make percentage is currently below 79%... not quite as automatic as the TV announcers like to suggest. Also, he's been called for four penalties (!!) through eight games, for kickoffs either going out of bounds or falling short of the landing zone; no other team has more than two. Aubrey's four penalties are just one shy of his flag total for all of last year. His long field goals and "dirty" kickoffs are awesome when they work... but when they don't, it's the atrocious defense who's stuck with the mess of poor field position.
55: Explosive plays given up by Dallas defense in 2026
Tyler Allgeier breaks free for a 63-yard rushing TD!
— NFL (@NFL) November 1, 2026
AZvsDAL on FOX/FOX One
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/PuMUPt7CLa
Allgeier's 63- and 52-yard runs on Sunday both rank among the five longest plays from scrimmage allowed by the Cowboys defense thus far this season. Dallas has been burned by the explosive play (defined as a gain of 20 or more yards on a completed pass, 10 or more on a run) all year. With another eight of them allowed to Arizona, they've now given up 55 explosive plays- third-most in the league- and are doing it, on average, once every nine snaps.
57%: Percentage of offense's snaps played by George Pickens
This startling number from the Week 8 snap counts bears repeating. Pickens was on the field for just 42 of the Cowboys' 74 offensive snaps on Sunday. That's 57%, the lowest percentage of playing time Pickens has ever seen in an NFL game, apart from last year's regular-season finale, when Dallas shelved their top playmakers early in a meaningless outing. And it's way down from this season's Weeks 1 through 6, when he was in the offensive huddle for over 75% of the action. Whether his shoulder and hamstring are worse than we know or he's still in Schottenheimer's doghouse for run-blocking or the team is protecting him in preparation for a blockbuster trade, something seems fishy about Pickens- after a career-best 2025 and getting tagged for a whopping $27.3 million payday- not being on the field more often. For what it's worth, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones did say Tuesday the team needs to get the ball in Pickens's direction more.
94.2: Cowboys' team rushing yards-per-game average entering Week 8
Coming off a 204-yard ground game versus Philadelphia, Brian Schottenheimer couldn't wait to lean into the running attack versus Arizona, feeding Javonte Williams often. Problem is, Williams wasn't finding room to run this time out. His longest run of the afternoon? Six yards, and he ended up averaging just 2.3 yards per carry. Dallas was averaging only 94.2 rushing yards per game coming into the contest: that's a bottom-10 number leaguewide, so Schotty's insistence on overcommitting to the run even when it clearly wasn't working is particularly baffling. Williams finished the day with 56 yards; the Cowboys as a team hit 93... and they're now (at 94.1 ypg) bottom-eight in the NFL as a team.
137.3: Gardner Minshew's Week 8 passer rating
MINSHEW MAGIC OH MY! pic.twitter.com/KCtTmz4Av4
— NFL (@NFL) November 1, 2026
Minshew stepped in ice-cold and, in less than 24 minutes of game time, posted a 137.3 passer rating, going 17-of-23 for 188 yards and three touchdowns against Dallas's soft secondary. That's the highest passer rating put up against the Cowboys this season, just edging out Lamar Jackson's 136.7 in Week 3 and Jaxson Dart's 134.2 in the season opener. (All three performances rank among the 15 best single games of the 2026 NFL season.) But most opposing quarterbacks- even the backups- are also crushing it versus Dallas; Tampa Bay's Jalon Daniels and Washington's Marcus Mariota both notched triple-digit scores. In fact, all QBs facing Dallas have combined for a 102.8 passer rating so far in 2026, fourth-highest in the league. If that were an individual player, he'd rank seventh in the NFL right now, higher than Josh Allen, C.J. Stroud, Patrick Mahomes, Matthew Stafford, and Dak Prescott.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Brandon Aubrey's missed long-shot FGs, kickoff penalties among troublesome Cowboys stats
