If you're a Cowboys fan who didn't feel particularly encouraged by Week 9's 27-23 win over the flailing Indianapolis Colts, there's good reason. Yes, it was a much-needed entry in the W column. But the numbers of the game largely back up that nagging notion that this is simply not a good Dallas team, even when they face an inferior opponent.
Maybe it was a ton of offensive yards that didn't seem to translate to points. Maybe you noticed occasional improvements from the defense that ended up vanishing in the second half. Perhaps watching the field goal unit take the field didn't engender the same confidence it used to, once upon a time. Or it could have been head-scratching play calls on third down... or penalty flags appearing to move the team
in the wrong direction over and over and over.
You're not mistaken. Those things all happened.
The Cowboys edged out the Colts' best efforts on Sunday, but they also had to overcome many problems of their own making, some of which have haunted the team all season (or even longer). And while the trip to Indianapolis offered a faint glimmer of hope in some categories, it remains to be seen if that spark will catch fire down the stretch of 2026 or be quickly snuffed out by the higher-quality opponents coming down the track.
Here's a look at the Week 9 win, by the numbers.
5: Three-and-outs forced by defense
The Cowboys are still the worst defense in the NFL at getting off the field on third down, with opponents converting at an ridiculous 48.3% rate through nine games. Sunday's visit to Indianapolis offered a brief glimpse of what it's supposed to look like, however. Dallas's defense forced an impressive five three-and-outs on the Colts' first eight possessions, allowing just 17 net yards on those drives. The sledding will get much tougher- starting with San Francisco in Week 10- but this outing had to have given Christian Parker's unit a much-needed confidence boost that they're perhaps trending in the right direction.
5.3: Team average yards-per-carry vs Colts
The #Cowboys' 55.9% success rate on the ground vs. IND was its best of the season. The OL was whoopin ass, while the TEs also put forth their best overall blocking performances of the season, imo.
— John Owning (@JohnOwning) November 9, 2026
Javonte Williams and Tyler Goodson also did well to maximize most of their… pic.twitter.com/CaQzPJM0rK
The Cowboys committed to pounding the rock versus Indianapolis... and this week, it worked, to the tune of 34 rushing attempts for 179 yards. That 5.3 per-carry mark was more than a full yard better than their season average (4.0) and was just the second time this season Dallas as a team has finished a game over the 5.0 threshold. The other instance was two weeks ago, versus the Eagles. That recent success makes the temporary loss of Tyler Goodson to a knee injury even tougher to swallow, especially considering that San Francisco and Seattle, two of the Cowboys' next four opponents, currently rank No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in shutting down the run.
12: Average targets per game for CeeDee Lamb
Against Indy, Lamb saw double-digit targets in the passing attack for the fourth week in a row, and the fifth time in the Cowboys' last six games. He currently leads the league with 108 receiving targets through nine outings. That average of 12 opportunities per game is higher than every pass-catcher in the NFL except the Rams' Puka Nacua. If Dallas were to keep feeding Lamb at that clip for the remainder of the schedule, he'd end up with an incredible 204 targets on the season. That would top his current career-best- by more than 20 targets- and be tied for the fourth-most in NFL history for a single season, five throws short of the all-time record.
31.3%: 3rd-down conversion rate by offense
Brian Schottenheimer's offense managed to convert just five of 16 third-down plays on the afternoon, a season-low rate of 31.3%. (For context, the Washington Commanders- the worst team in the NFL at moving the sticks on third down- are sitting at 31.1% for the season.) In fairness, the Colts defense has been a top-five unit on third-down stops this year, but unfortunately, this wasn't an isolated incident for Dallas. The Cowboys offense, coming into the season with record-breaking aspirations, has actually converted third downs at a clip of 38.5% or worse in five of their nine games. That's pure middle-of-the-road status among the league's 32 teams right now.
77.3%: Brandon Aubrey's 2026 FG percentage
“And another miss from Aubrey” words I never thought I’d hear pic.twitter.com/GGvA17GLv9
— Dylan ✭ (@DylanKnowsFB) November 9, 2026
The Cowboys coaching staff (and most TV announcers) love to remind us that Aubrey is "the best kicker in the league," but the inconvenient truth is, he's not playing like it. With another miss on Sunday, he's now sitting on a 77.3% make percentage this season, 23rd among all kickers and well under the league average of 84.5%. That is largely due to Schottenheimer's willingness to trot Aubrey out from anywhere near the logo. Aubrey is just 3-of-8 (37.5%) on tries from 50 yards or beyond in 2026, and he's only 14-of-25 (56%) on those sniper shots over the past two seasons. His Week 9 miss from 50 can be chalked up in large part to an awkward, skipping snap from Trent Sieg, but Dallas simply cannot consider Aubrey "automatic" at the current time, especially from distance.
153: Penalty yards walked off against Cowboys
The 14 penalties accepted against Dallas were infuriating to watch, but the yardage lost to those rules infractions were even more costly. With 153 penalty yards surrendered on Sunday (second-most by any team in a game this season), the Cowboys have now seen 667 yards walked off against them in 2026, the most of any team in the league. Pre-snap penalties are always a nuisance, but only 25% of the flags thrown on the Cowboys have been of this maddening variety. No, when Dallas fouls, they foul big: they are among the NFL's worst offenders in major drive-killers like defensive pass interference (nine calls), unnecessary roughness (four), offensive pass interference (three), face mask (two), taunting, and lowering the head to make forcible contact. Brandon Aubrey's kickoff penalties don't even technically count toward that huge lost-yardage total, but his three short kickoffs and two out-of-bounds kickoffs are giving up valuable field position to Dallas's opponents far too frequently.
508: Total net yards by offense
Against the Colts, the Dallas offense had its best yardage day since the infamous wild-card loss to Green Bay that closed out the 2023 season. That was, of course, the day Dak Prescott had to put the ball in the air 60 times while attempting to engineer a rally from as many as 27 points down before halftime, meaning the vast majority of those 510 yards came in garbage time. Sunday's 508 were nearly 100 yards better than their previous season best (Week 7's 38-21 win at Philadelphia), making it all the more frustrating that Prescott & Co. couldn't turn that yardage into more than 27 points.
Todd is on X at @ToddBrock24f7. Also, follow Cowboys Wire on Facebook to join in on the conversation with fellow fans!
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys' absurd penalty yardage tell story of infuriating 2026 season
