STATEMENT: Dallas Cowboys STUN Chiefs | Win Third Straight Game!!!

Summary

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Locked On Cowboys – Episode Summary

Episode Title: STATEMENT: Dallas Cowboys STUN Chiefs | Win Third Straight Game!!!
Hosts: Marcus Mosher & Landon McCool
Release Date: November 28, 2025
Game Discussed: Dallas Cowboys 31, Kansas City Chiefs 28

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Episode Overview

This episode centers around the Dallas Cowboys’ thrilling 31-28 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, marking their third consecutive win and pushing them over .500 for the first time this season. Hosts Marcus Mosher and Landon McCool break down how the Cowboys pulled off the win, analyze key individual performances (notably CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, and Dak Prescott), discuss game-changing moments, and examine the broader trajectory and playoff hopes for the Cowboys after back-to-back wins over last year's Super Bowl participants.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Cowboys Riding High: Season-Altering Statement Win

• The win against the Chiefs follows victories over both teams from last year’s Super Bowl.
• Marcus Mosher: “It really feels like this team is growing up before our eyes.” (02:41)
• The Cowboys are now 6-5-1 after a rocky early season (including being 3-5-1 at one point and a bad loss to Arizona).
• Confidence is high that no one wants to see Dallas in the playoffs if this form continues.

2. Learning to Finish: Changing the Narrative in Big Games

• Historically, the Cowboys have faltered in tight, high-profile games, especially against favorites.
• Landon McCool: “All my life the Cowboys have lost this game, right? … They have just not been able to close out these big, big games on national TV, and they've done it twice in four days.” (04:28)
• This time, they sustained late leads, ran out the clock, and outplayed elite competition.

3. Game-Changing Plays and Small Margins

• George Pickens’ late-game third down catch and fumble: Covered successfully by KaVontae Turpin, averting disaster.
• Landon McCool on the fumble: “It’s the little plays like that that end up making the difference in these games.” (06:41)
• Adjustments when key offensive weapons were slowed (Williams bottled up, Pickens less consistent): Others like Lamb, Ferguson, and Turpin stepped up.

4. The Quinn Williams Trade and Team’s Trajectory

• Since the acquisition of Quinn Williams, the team looks transformed—playing upward-trending, fundamentally improved football.
• The defense is performing beyond expectations despite injury churn, especially at corner and safety.
• Marcus Mosher: “Through three weeks…it feels like they’re playing better than league average, and that’s still with shuttling guys in and out…” (09:03)

5. Offensive Brilliance Against a Top Defense

• Cowboys scored 31 points against the league’s #4 ranked defense, and even gave away 7 points to start with.
• They averaged 7 yards per play—one yard more per play than the Chiefs.
• Efficiency on third downs (50%), sustained drives late.
• Landon McCool: “I would argue this is maybe their best performance [offensively].” (09:30)
• Marcus Mosher: “That’s how you…flip the possession flow a little bit.” (10:09)

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Segment Breakdown with Timestamps

[03:07] – “Nobody Wants to Face These Guys”

• Marcus: Cowboys now a playoff dark horse; they’re finding a rhythm, building confidence, and thriving on offense.
  • Quote: “I think it’s a dangerous team right now … the thing that’s stopping them when they are getting stopped is, is mostly themselves.”

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[04:28] – Historical Failure, Recent Poise Under Pressure

• Landon recounts decades of Cowboys “losing these games,” but highlights decisive, clinical drives closing out the Chiefs.
• Marcus: The final drive showcased smart, aggressive play-calling—throwing to Pickens for the win, not just sitting on the ball.

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[06:41] – Game-Swinging Plays: Pickens’ Fumble, Turpin’s Recovery

• Landon: The Chiefs were one recovery away from getting the ball with the game tied—Cowboys recover, three-point swing.
• Marcus: “Small performances that really mattered”—Turpin on sweeps, Williams mixing it up, Ferguson and Lamb stepping up when Pickens is contained.

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[09:03] – Defense’s Emergence Post-Trade

• Positive impact of Quinn Williams trade; the defense is not just “average,” but legitimately tough—amazing given ongoing injuries.
• “The offense is up to what we expected … but the defense is playing better than we honestly could have imagined at this point.”

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[10:09] – Best Offensive Game of the Year?

• Cowboys were 50% on third down, dominated in yards per play, and sustained drives to win late.
• Quote: “They were able to convert those third downs and continue those drives and keep them going … that’s maybe what the difference [was].”

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[14:01] – Wide Receivers: CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens Deliver

• CeeDee Lamb: After a rough week prior, he bounced back with 7 catches, 112 yards, 1 TD, plus three drawn penalties—mostly against Chiefs’ best corner.
  • Marcus: “Lamb just ate him up … you see why … so many big spots in this game, he came through.” (14:19)
• Pickens: Up-and-down game—critical big plays but also errors (drop, fumble), illustrating why Dallas fought to land multiple star WRs.
  • Landon: “He does these alien things … it's almost impossible to stop those two.” (16:26)
• Secondary receivers (Ferguson, Turpin, Florida): Stepping up at key moments.

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[19:01] – Dak Prescott Outduels Mahomes

• Stat line: 27/39, 320 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT.
• Landon: “For as great as they [Lamb & Pickens] were, you know, they had guys draped over them the entire game long. I thought Dak was brilliant.” (19:01)
• Dak outperformed Mahomes in EPA/play and other advanced metrics.
  • Marcus: “Dak easily matched him … he beat Mahomes in EPA per play.” (19:37)

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[22:26] – Cowboys Defense: Not Perfect, But Good Enough

• Cowboys allowed 28, but kept the Chiefs off the board for extended stretches—especially important given key defensive injuries (Carson, Diggs, Bland, Hooker).
• Second quarter on: Four straight Chiefs punts.
• Landon: “All you need is like a couple stretches … two or three stops in a row and that’s how they flip [the game].”
• Penalties drawn by defense (Williams, Ezraku, etc.) in the red zone were crucial: “Making enough plays to win this football game. We’re not looking for the number one defense.”
• Pass rush got there, but Mahomes’ escapability limited the impact; sacks not always the key—forcing holds and negative plays mattered.

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[26:28] – Defensive Issues Still Present, But Overcome

• Linebacker struggles: Overshown and Logan Wilson repeatedly allowed Mahomes to escape for long runs.
  • “Linebackers are still a major problem and that’s something they’re going to have to address this off season, but the secondary and the defensive line played really well.”
• Secondary depth was tested but delivered; rotation of Bridges, Stewart, Bell due to injuries.

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[28:32] – Cowboys’ Playoff Outlook

• Now 6-5-1, Cowboys in playoff mix; a win over the Lions jumps their playoff odds to 51%.
  • Landon: “For the first time in a long time, you feel great about the direction of the Dallas Cowboys and the way that they’re playing.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Marcus Mosher [03:07]: “I think it’s a dangerous team right now and, and I think they’re playing at a high level and really the thing that’s stopping them…is mostly themselves and not the good teams that they're playing for.”
• Landon McCool [04:28]: “All my life the Cowboys have lost this game, right?... They have just not been able to close out these big, big games on national TV, and they've done it twice in four days.”
• Marcus Mosher [14:19]: “Lamb just ate him up ... you see why ... so many big spots in this game, he came through.”
• Landon McCool [19:01]: “I thought Dak was unbelievable. This is one of the hardest defenses to play against... I thought Dak was brilliant.”
• Marcus Mosher [19:37]: “Dak easily matched [Mahomes], I think. ... he beat Mahomes in EPA per play.”
• Landon McCool [28:32]: “For the first time in a long time, you feel great about the direction of the Dallas Cowboys and the way that they're playing.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:07] – Cowboys’ momentum, playoff threats
• [04:28] – New-found late game poise
• [06:41] – Pickens’ fumble and Turpin’s recovery
• [09:03] – Defensive improvement post-Quinn Williams trade
• [10:09] – Offense’s most complete game
• [14:19] – CeeDee Lamb’s big bounce-back performance
• [16:26] – Pickens’ high and low moments
• [19:01] – Dak Prescott vs. Chiefs: elite showing
• [22:26] – Defensive resilience amid injuries
• [28:32] – Playoff scenarios and team outlook

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Conclusion & Tone

The episode emphasized a confident, optimistic tone, with both hosts highlighting signs of growth and the team’s new ability to close out challenging games. They stress how team improvements, sparked in part by the Quinn Williams trade, have led to a more formidable and resilient Cowboys squad—one that is earning the right to be included in late-season and playoff conversations.

Closing Sentiment:
“For the first time in a long time, you feel great about the direction of the Dallas Cowboys and the way that they're playing.” (28:32)

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Transcript

[Marcus Mosher]

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[Landon McCool]

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[Landon McCool]

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[Landon McCool]

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[Marcus Mosher]

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[Landon McCool]

The Dallas Cowboys are over 500 for the first time this year thanks to a big win over the Chiefs. We're going to tell you how they got that w next. You are Locked On Cowboys, your daily Dallas Cowboys podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome back to the Locked On Cowboys podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast network. Your team every day. We'd like to thank you for making us the number one sports podcast network. And today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Welcome back. I am your host, Marcus Mosher. He is Landon McCool. And on today's show, we are breaking down the Cowboys 31 to 28 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. We're going to talk about CD Lamb and George Pickens. We'll talk about the defense, but I want to start with this Landon. This Cowboy season has been very much up and down and mostly down. Yeah, but over the last three days, or sorry, over the last 11 days, you have three wins, including back to back wins against the two teams that were in the super bowl last year. It really feels like this team is growing up before our eyes.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah, I mean, I think it's official that this is definitely a team that, you know, nobody wants to make the playoffs. Right. Like, nobody wants to face these guys, you know, early in the playoffs because I think that they're going to be even more feisty as the season goes on. They're building more confidence, they're playing together. If they can continue to kind of stay healthy. Hopefully, you know, they have a combination that we've talked about. An offense that is a juggernaut even against good defenses. I think this was one of those games where you kind of the, the usual game script for the Cowboys was oh, AFC contender that's actually trying to really win this game. That's. That doesn't sound like a game that the Cowboys would win. It sounds like a game that they would fumble away. And early on in the game it kind of felt like they, that, that maybe was the game script, but they found their footing and, and were able to kind of, you know, turn on the jets and, and just when we, we know we'll talk about it, but just when we all wrote off cd, not all of us, but just when everybody else wrote off cd, Lamb, suddenly, you know, he shows up a super scion and that just goes nuts. So I just think I, I think it's a dangerous team right now and, and I think they're playing at a high level and really the thing that's stopping them when they are getting stopped is, is mostly themselves and not the good teams that they're playing for.

[Landon McCool]

All my life the Cowboys have lost this game, right? You, you start out, you throw an interception on like the third or fourth play, the Chiefs score a touchdown. Two plays later, even you get this lead late in the game and you're not able to milk the clock against, you know, all time great quarterback. I mean, how many times have we Seen that the game that just jumps into my mind is like the. The Broncos game with Peyton manning. Right. In 2013. Like, they have just not been able to close out these big, big games on national tv, and they've done it twice in four days. Landon, like, that's. That's the thing to me, like, I. It's crazy to see one of these. To see them back to back in such a short period of time, it's pretty unbelievable.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah. You know, it just felt like when they got the ball back that last time, I just could see it playing out in my head. It's like, oh, they'll kind of, you know, try a couple of anemic things, and. And ultimately it won't be enough, and they're gonna have to punt the ball away. And now we're facing Patrick Mahomes, only having to get into field goal range.

[Landon McCool]

My brother and I were. We were watching the game thinking, okay, well, if the Cowboys, are they gonna have enough time to score, if they need to go down and get a touchdown to. If they need to get a field goal, they took. The last was at 3 minutes and 45 seconds. Kansas City had all three timeouts, and they were kneeling on the ball at the end of the game. I mean, there's been very few of the times that they've actually accomplished that.

[Marcus Mosher]

Well, and. And let's be clear, they did it by, you know, showing an appropriate amount of aggressiveness, too. Throwing the football at, you know, would mean maybe, you know, other teams would have just taken that third kneel and. And been happy with it. Like, you know, getting the ball to Pickens, you know, in the middle of the field, not trying to get out of bounds, and so that he gets tackled in the boundary, and it was a high leverage situation. He drops it, obviously, the clock stops. But, you know, being, you know, being willing to do that and trust your guys, it super, super paid off because, yeah, they didn't even have to worry about. About lining up for a. What would have been a very short field goal. They could just kneel it out, and they just basically strangleholded the game at the end of it in a very impressive way. Right in. In a way that was. That's how winning football teams win. Win the game, right as. As they. They. They do it smart and they win the football when game. When it's presented to them. And. And. And they. They took the. The brass ring.

[Landon McCool]

Couple key plays that really swung this game that I want to mention. One is right at the end of the game, George Pickens catches a pass on third down, cuts up field and fumbles and there's like three Chiefs there. And if the Cowboys don't recover that fumble, the Chiefs are what the game is tied at that point or the Cowboys down. Yeah, I think it would have been. Sorry, the Cowboys would have only gone up. They've only been up 7 and not 10. Right. The Kansas City scored of the next drive, but that is a three point play that Cavante Kirpin made. He, he saw it right away, went and got that football. It's the little plays like that that end up making the difference in these games.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah, and, and again, I, I think it was small performances that really mattered here. Look, the, the, the Chiefs were doing a really good job of bottling up Williams early in the run game as well. And they decided they were mixing it up with Willie Dav a 43 yard touchdown. But then on top of that, they were doing some of the other stuff that we had talked about, you know, focusing on getting Turpin, you know, opportunities with the ball in his hands on the perimeter. The jet sweeps were working that they were actually handing the ball off without him falling down and fumbling the ball but, and having great success there. So they were able to kind of adjust their game plan when they're, you know, top end weapon. Even, even Pickens, what didn't necessarily have his best game. I mean, not quite to the level that we saw with Lamb last week, but it was to the point where they thank God Lamb came back and played the way he did this week because it wasn't going to be one of those games where you could consistently move the ball throughout the game. With Pickens, he made the big plays at the end when you needed them, but it wasn't consistent throughout the game. It was great to see guys like Ferguson and obviously Lamb coming back to step up and fill that gap when he needed it.

[Landon McCool]

We're going to talk about those receivers more in a second and I don't want to do the playoff picture thing right now. The Cowboys have about a 25% chance. We'll talk about that more into the week. But I did want to take like a 10,000 foot view of this team because since the Quin and Williams trade and it's not all Quinn and Williams, but since that trade, this has looked like it looked like an entirely different team. And one of the things that you and I said when the Cowboys made that trade is that we wanted them to just play better, like more, more than anything else, even more than winning and losing. We just wanted them to play better football. And I don't know if you can ask for anything more. We'll see what happens the rest of the way. But we wanted to see a team that was trending upward and you can't deny that they are.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah, I mean, we hoped that they would get to like league average on defense. I mean, again through three weeks I, I feels like they're playing better than league average and that's still with kind of having to shuttle guys in and out of cornerback and safety because guys were getting banged up throughout the game and still guys coming off of major injuries. So yeah, it certainly feels like the offense is up to what we expected it to be, but the defense is playing better than we honestly could have imagined at this point.

[Landon McCool]

And one more thing before we move on. On our preview show that came out on Wednesday, you and I thought we needed. The Cowboys needed to score 24 points to win this game. Almost all the games that the Chiefs have lost this year, it's been when the opponent has scored 24 points. This is, I think the number four ranked defense in the league. The Cowboys scored 31 points in this game and they basically gave seven away to start the game. They averaged seven yards of play in this one. Dallas was giving up big plays left and right. They averaged a full yard more per play than what Kansas City did. They've had some really good games on offense this year. I would argue this is maybe their best performance.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah, I mean, I think, I think the thing that was really impressive is that they, they were @ I think 50 on third downs. And you know, even early in the game, you know, it was, it was a tough slog and it felt like Kansas City wasn't exhausted from the games that they had just played, you know, recently, but as the game, because they were able to convert those third downs and continue those drives and keep them going. It gave them opportunities in the red zone. They weren't able to convert all of them. I think they were end up being 50 of the red zone, which should have been 75 if he could get Jake's shin down on inside the end zone. But, but I think the opportunities is, are what was mattered because I think, you know, Kansas City ended up somewhere in the 33% area and that's maybe what the difference. That's how you kind of flipped the possession flow a little bit. Despite that, that interception early which the, the Kansas City was able to convert into a touchdown. Can I just add this one more thing too real quick. It feels like we'll talk about this a little bit more. The defensive I just wanted to bring this up before I forget that Kansas City's offense just simply looked different after they ran out their game script, right? Like after the first 15 plays of the game, it felt like Kansas City's offense was a little bit more herky jerky, a little more start stop. They definitely obviously were able to make some huge plays at certain points, but it didn't feel like they were consistently a well oiled unit at certain points. So it certainly kind of evened the game up and I felt like the Cowboys at a certain point were a very even team with them.

[Landon McCool]

Last thing I I remember tweeting when the Cowboys got the ball they were up 17 to 14. I said they're probably going to be only three or four possessions left in this game. How the Cowboys handle these next three will decide their season. 7 plays 78 yards field goal. That's the Jake Ferguson one. 8 plays 68 yards touchdown 8 plays 82 yards field goal 8 plays 40 yards and a game. That's it. You score touchdown. You score points on three of the four and the last one was to burn out the clock. So well done by the Cowboys offense. Let's talk about the stars of that Cowboys offense. Let's talk about George Pickins and CD Lamb. We'll throw Dak Prescott into that conversation as well. We'll get to that next. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA is back and there's not a better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or just want to ride the hot ham, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score the next bucket to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team's making that late game push. The NBA has been unbelievable in the first month of the half of the year. Like the games have been awesome. So many of them coming right down to the final shot. So go check out all the great action because FanDuel is giving new customers a great offer right now. New customers can get 300 in bonus bets when your first five dollar bet wins. So head over to FanDuel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA.

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Visit alienware.com deals before these limited time savings end. Welcome back to the Locked on Cowboys podcast. We'd like to thank you for making us your first listen of the day. I'd like to thank you for making us the number one sports podcast network. Let's talk about the receivers in this one because if the Cowboys are going to win games, it's going to be because of CD Lamb and George Pickens. Let's start with CD after a really rough game against the Eagles, seven catches, 112 yards and a touchdown on nine targets. Also drew three big penalties in this game. Pretty good bounce back game.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah. And it felt like they, you know, had him mostly matched up against McDuffie for good portions of this game. Did you notice that too? Because it just felt like. And, and he was just fully taking advantage of him. Yeah. Lamb. You know, the one thing that Lamb hasn't been struggling with, it feels like these last few weeks is getting open. You know, it's not like it's been a struggle for him to create separation. It's just been finishing and catching the football and you know. Yeah, that's one of the reasons that we were confident that he would bounce back because he's not an inconsistent hands guy in the long term. Right. So he, what does he do? He, he converts more of the targets this year, this week, and he has a much bigger game because he's still getting open even when they're putting their best corner on him. So yeah, I think we, we saw with, with Pickens, they, they were doing a bunch of different stuff and I think that kind of disrupted the ability for the Cowboys to consistently get him the ball early because they were really trying to focus specifically on trying to stop Pickens. And, and it was, it was, it felt like it was kind of the Bill Bel right where they were. They, they put the best corner, they put like a double team on Pickens. Right. And they try to put their best corner on Lamb and Lamb just ate him up. And, and so it was great to see him bounce back. And even when he didn't get a chance, you were seeing Ferguson, you know, pop in there, convert a couple of big third downs as well. So he, he became a part of that. And, and it just everywhere. Every time the Cowboys had to have an answer on third downs, they were throwing it to open to wide receivers. Whether it was seeing guys like Ferguson and Turpin in the flat, which I thought was a nice change up, you know, they were spreading them out vertically and then getting swings out to guys who could create after the catch. I thought that was all very effective. And then also we can't miss. Mingo had a couple of really big catches. Who continues to shine when he given.

[Landon McCool]

Florida. Florida, not Mingo.

[Marcus Mosher]

I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Yeah, I said Florida. Like he continues to shine. Yeah. Mingo is inactive again this week. Fenoy continues to like be a huge part of just being that four, that third, fourth receiver who when called upon needs to be a high efficiency guy. And he showed that he is that guy a couple times tonight. Again.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, I just don't worry about CD in these games. Like he, he figures it out. Like if he had, he had a bad game against Philadelphia, he had a monster game against the Giants in week two. Like this is kind of what happens now. You'd like to see these games be fewer and far between and for the most part they have been for his NFL career. But you see why, like so many big spots in this game, he came through. He had a big 50 yard play that really flipped the field position. And I felt like after the Cowboys got that big play for cd, the entire game just kind of flipped on its head. So really good game by CD Pickens was more up and down. Like there's an alternate world where this is a really bad Pickens game in the sense that there was a big third down. It was a third and four. The Cowboys were backed up into their own end zone. They throw a slant to Pickens, he bobbles it and drops it. He has the, the fumble in the red zone. The Turpin ultimately recovers. If Kansas City, you know, if, if they recover that totally different game. But he also does these alien things like he catches a 40, 40 yard pass and jumps over defender. He, you know, he gets an awesome play on a two point conversion to put the Cowboys up 21, 28, 21. This is why you, we've been preaching all off season to go out and get another stud receiver. It's because it just is almost impossible to stop those two.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah. Because even when they, I mean, and this actually applies to Lamb last week too is even when they're having a bad week. Lamb had 75 yards last week. You know, it's not like it was a, a terrible, terrible performance. It's just a terrible performance for an otherworldly, you know, borderline all pro wide receiver. Right? So we're. When you've got two of these guys, it, it kind of is a counterbalance or almost insurance, right, that, that, that if the other guy is not at, you know, supernova level, well, you've only got him at, you know, only very, only very destructive level, you know, and then you've also got the supernova guy. So that's, that's what was great about the offense is that they just had answers at every turn when they needed to throwing the football. And again, like as the game went on, it felt like Kansas City, who has an older roster, right. Is also coming off a four day break. It felt like the bodies got a little bit more tired, right. And they were able to be a little bit more efficient in early downs running the football and doing other things. But up until that point, the Cowboys had to throw the ball in order to move it appropriately and they relied heavily on Lamb, which, which, you know, thank goodness he bounced back because it was, it made a difference in the game.

[Landon McCool]

Talk about Dak Prescott really quickly. 27, 39, 320 yards, two touchdowns. Had the one interception on the third play of the game. Had one other throw that was really close to being picked. But really outside of those two throws, he was nearly flawless in this game. Like I, I thought, I thought Dak was unbelievable. This is one of the hardest defenses to play against because they're so well coached. They, the guys are just not open. We saw it like CD Lamb and George Pickens. For as great as they were, you know, they had guys draped over them the entire game long. I thought Dak was brilliant.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah, I mean, look, I mean we all watched what Patrick Mahomes did and what he did was incredible. Some of the throws that he made were amazing. Dak easily matched him, I think. I mean, and even the advanced stats will tell you that he, he beat Mahomes in EPA per play. He had more total EPA as well and, and completion percentage over expected, you know, and they had similar a dots. I mean, they honestly these two offenses were kind of operating at similar efficiency at certain points. Except the difference was the Cowboys were converting those third downs and kind of giving themselves a couple more bites at the apple than the Chiefs had, who had, I think ended up punting the ball. What was it, four times in a row. We'll talk about that a little bit.

[Landon McCool]

Four stops in a row. We'll get there.

[Marcus Mosher]

But, but yeah, it just the, the, the more efficient side the Cowboys was Dakota right outside of that interception, you know, which he was hit as he was throwing that. Right, right. But outside of that interception and the one bad throw you you mentioned, he was absolutely lights out again this week and I don't know, this is eight weeks in a row that he's been like this. Maybe this guy's pretty good.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, he's not, he's not bad. Those are two big, big games in back to back weeks. Let's talk about the Cowboys defense. They gave up 20, 28 against the Chiefs, but honestly, I don't think they played all that badly. And we'll get to that. More next.

[Marcus Mosher]

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[Landon McCool]

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[Landon McCool]

Welcome back to the Lock on Cowboys podcast. We'd like to thank you for making us your first listen of the day. For your second listen, check out the Locked On NFL podcast. Two shows every single day. One in the morning with Tyler Roland, one in the afternoon with Tony Wiggins. Available wherever you get your podcast. All right, let's talk about the Cowboys defense. They get allowed 28 points in this game and I think for most teams that's an awful effort. But considering that the Cowboys were without Kaylin Carson, they've been in without Trayvon Diggs for a little bit. The Ron Bland missed some time in this game with an injury. You were able to get enough key stops and that's what we've been wanting for this Cowboys defense. Like, yeah, you're going to give up scores. And really the defense, the offense can and gave them seven to start the game. But listen to this stretch from the second quarter on 7 plays, 29 yards punt. 8 plays, 16 yards punt, 3 plays, 5 yards punt, 7 plays, 19 yards punt. The Chief's next possession was into the fourth quarter and for the Cowboys offense, it's this good. That's all you need is like a couple stretches in this, these games where you can get two or three stops in a row and that's how they flip.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah. You know, it's funny and we didn't really mention this on, on the, on the CD Lamb side of things, but some of the value that the Cowboys got out of this game were in penalties that were drawn. Right. Like, like CD Lamb had three of those big penalties that, that didn't get included. Yeah, but they were huge, right? Yeah. And I think the same thing can be said about, about the. The for the Chiefs, right. They, they ended up getting inside the red zone at least on two different drives and caused Simmons to force Simmons to get a hold. I think one of them was Sam Williams and one of them was Ezraku, if I'm not mistaken. And those penalties really set the Chiefs back. Right. And once Chiefs and it felt like, you know, this was a kind of a classic thing with the Cowboys, right. Where they. It feels like teams move very well between the twenties and then when they get into the red zone, things kind of get tightened, tightened up a little bit. And if any, if they commit a penalty or if they get behind the chains. The Cowboys are really good at getting out of those situations. If you get behind the chains of them in the red Zone. Right. And so when you get inside, like.

[Landon McCool]

When it's goal to go, that's where Dallas struggles.

[Marcus Mosher]

That's right. So in. But if they can keep you out of like inside the 10 and force you to make a mistake and, you know, get back behind the, behind the, the chains, they can force you to get off the ball, which they did a couple times. Look, you mentioned it. They had a couple of injuries and guys were kind of shuttling in and out. Malik Hooker was also injured at one point during this game. I think. I don't even know if he finished the game, but. But I think the point is, is that the guys that were in there, you know, were really battling ready. Stewart had a pass breakup at a point that was really important. The guys were, you know, making solid tackles at certain points. There was definitely some inconsistency. Kenneth Murray still played in this game, but I think this was, I mean, one of the guys that we've been harping on for being inconsistent, Sam Williams, I think had his best game tonight and just was able to make some more plays. He, like I said, drew a holding penalty. So I think again, it's just about making enough plays to. To win this football game. We're not looking for the number one defense in the NFL. And when they needed the big plays, it just seemed like consistently they were able to get off the field and prevent Mahomes from getting the points they needed and getting the Cowboys the ball back.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, and we should mention, like the pass rush was getting there. Now, Mahomes, for the most part, sacks are a quarterback stat. I think Mahomes kind of shows you that today. I mean, he was under pressure all day long. There was the play that he jumped out of the Donovan as a Raku sack and hit the big play to Worthy down the field.

[Marcus Mosher]

I mean, that's just crazy. That was unbelievable to watch.

[Landon McCool]

Right. But there were also several times, I think there were three different times in this game where the Cowboys pass rush got there and there was holding calls that backed them up to get him, like the second and 20. And Dallas was able to do enough to get out of those situations. And that's where I think sacks can be overrated because you couldn't win a pass rush. I think James Houston was one of those guys that won right away. Drew a holding call. That's a huge play in these games.

[Marcus Mosher]

Fowler.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, Fowler 2. The linebackers are still an issue, like DeMarvi and Overshooke Letting Mahomes sneak out for a 14 yard run on 3rd and 14 was rough. Logan Wilson letting Patrick Mahomes sneak out and run for 12 yards on third and 10 like the linebackers are still a major problem and that's something they're going to have to address this off season. But the secondary and the defensive line played really well.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah. And again, I think, I think the context here is who, who's out there. Right. It's Bridges back out there with at certain points when Bland was hurt. It's Stewart like we talked about. Bell was back out there at certain points because when Hooker was hurt. So yeah, I mean I think that just being able to battle and do what you had to do at certain points and being able to get off the field when, you know, I think if we had thought about this whole situation pre trade with Quinn Williams, you would have never thought the Cowboys would have been able to get off the field once with the Kansas City.

[Landon McCool]

No. Pretty, pretty unreal. Again, I think they played a much better game last week against Philadelphia, but this is also a Kansas City Chiefs team that had to win this game. Like this was a game that they generally win. You look at Mahomes's pass rating indoors, Andy Reid's record indoors, and there was that two quarter stretch where the Chiefs did not score a point. If the Cowboys can have two quarters every single game where they don't allow a point, they're going to win a lot of games the rest of the way.

[Marcus Mosher]

Lana. Yeah, and honestly I, I don't know. I mean I think part of it was just the matchup. Right. I think that the Chiefs matched up against the Cowboys defense a lot better than Philadelphia did. Right. The Cowboys are able to kind of play their five man front stop the run against Philadelphia and Philadelphia has a very kind of one dimensional playbook. If you can eliminate the run. The Chiefs are quite the opposite. They have tons of different stuff that they can do and I think that was kind of the problem at their detriment once they got out of their well rehearsed opening drive set they, they were pulling plays that they were, that they were doing but at certain points it was also causing mistakes and they weren't as crisp on those places. They were in their opening script play, so. And the Cowboys are able to take advantage there.

[Landon McCool]

6, 5 and 1. The Cowboys are above.500 for the first time all year.

[Marcus Mosher]

Wow.

[Landon McCool]

Landed it feels pretty good considering there was a point where the Cowboys were. What were they? 3, 5 and 1. They just got blown out by the Cardinals. Again, we'll talk about playoff stuff, but you're actually Believe it or not, they are in the playoff hunt right now. A win I just saw over on the Athletic. A win over the lions in Week 14 would give the Cowboys a 51 chance of making the postseason. I can't even believe that I'm saying that.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah. And look, I mean, you know, you watch the Lions today, they certainly didn't look unbeatable to me and they're pretty beat up. And look, they're going to get a boost. Ragnarok. Ragnarok's coming back, but I don't think it's going to be this weekend against the Cowboys, so probably not. You're. You're set up to win these three games that we've talked about that we felt like, man, if they could win one of these games, that would be incredible. If you went two, it'd be unbelievable. We never even dared to dream the opportunity to win three. I'm feeling confident about this team going into this week and, and I think if they come out with this game not too injured, unscathed, they get a full week, I'm going to feel good about their chances to go on and get the sweep of this three, three game set.

[Landon McCool]

And I think for the first time in a long time, you feel great about the direction of the Dallas Cowboys and the way that they're playing. They're playing complimentary football. Dak Prescott's playing. Unbelievable. It's a good time to be a Cowboy fan. Go enjoy your pie. Enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend. We'll see. Yeah. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. We will see you back here on Monday. To continue to break down all of the all 22 film. We'll get you ready for Cowboys Lions, which is just a couple days away. They play on Thursday. Once again, we'll see you guys there. Enjoy your weekend. See you next time.

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