Winners and losers: Dak, defense and Rico Dowdle lead Cowboys win over Steelers on SNF

The Dallas Cowboys improved to 3-2 on the season in the 34th all-time matchup in this rivalry with the Pittsburgh Steelers. While Dak Prescott and the offense got the praise in the end, the bulk of the glory should undoubtedly go to Mike Zimmer’s defense. They played out of their minds with key players sidelined and played a significant role in the Cowboys escaping with a win.

Dallas can establish the run and stick with it

It wasn’t the prettiest but when you’ve not run the ball too well like the Cowboys this season, you’re simply looking for production. The final rushing totals for Dallas on Sunday night weren’t super impressive but if you watched the game, it was noticeable how they stuck with the run game.

As a team, the Cowboys rushed for 109 yards averaging 3.5 per carry, on 31 attempts. Again, those numbers won’t blow anyone away, but it was good to see them establish even a moderate level of commitment to the run based on what we’d seen previously. Rico Dowdle has emerged as Dallas' No. 1 running back and showed the world why on Sunday.

Dowdle rushed for a career-high 87 yards on 20 carries while carrying the load for Dallas on this day. He also added two catches for 27 yards and a crucial touchdown in the win. While it’s clear the Cowboys' offense still needs some work scoring 20 points in a win for the second consecutive week, Dowdle’s big game was most definitely a welcomed ray of sunshine.

The Cowboys defense stepped up in the face of adversity

Pittsburgh’s offense isn’t exactly known as one of the most explosive in the league but considering the injuries Dallas’ defense is dealing with, holding them down on Sunday was impressive. No Micah Parsons, Demarcus Lawrence is on injured reserve and Daron Bland is still out.

Cowboys'Despite all this, the Cowboys defense stood tall limiting the Steelers to 17 points and just 226 total yards. Dallas isn’t known as a team that strives under adverse conditions but if not for the defense, they likely would’ve lost this game in Pittsburgh.

Dallas held Pittsburgh to 92 yards on the ground and bottled-up Najee Harris who ran for just 42 yards on 14 carries. Even Justin Fields’ longest run was only eight yards. He finished with 27 rushing yards and only passed for 131 just a week after passing for 312. Fields did add two passing TDs, but the Cowboys also sacked him three times.

Overall, this Cowboys defense stepped up when they needed to and got the job done. Week 6 could be a whole other story against the Detroit Lions who possess one of the more explosive offenses in the league, so we’ll see if the Cowboys can carry over this momentum.

Dak Prescott showed he can overcome a bad game

Nothing about this Cowboys offense other than Rico Dowdle did much to wow you Sunday. Okay, they did win in the end but looking at the overall performance there’s still a lot of work to be done for Mike McCarthy’s offensive unit. Dak Prescott did not have a great game, but he was able to overcome a rough outing to lead the game-winning drive.

Although Dallas led most of this game, Prescott had three turnovers (two interceptions and a fumble) which felt like they would eventually lead to the team’s demise. Even with the mistakes Prescott still finished 352 yards passing and two TD tosses, the latter of which was the game-winner to Jalen Tolbert.

This was a good sign because many times when Prescott has a rough start or multiple turnover game, he’s rarely able to recover and lead the team to victory. Some will say it was against the Steelers but the fact that Prescott didn’t hang his head and kept it in the game is a sign of growth.

This win was so important for many reasons. Keeping pace in the NFC and the division. Dallas’ upcoming schedule over the next six games is going to make or break their season. Detroit, bye week, San Francisco, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Houston and Washington.

All those teams are at least .500 or better with the Texans and Commanders sitting at 4-1. Nobody had Washington taking over the NFC East but that seems to be the case thus far. The Cowboys will need to go at least 3-3 over this stretch and Prescott can’t have many more of these multiple turnover games. If he does that against any of these next six opponents, the outcome will probably be much different than Sunday night.