It’s already been a wild ride for the Dallas Cowboys in 2025. Through four games, we’ve gotten a little bit of everything\u2014a comeback win, a blowout loss, two overtime games, and a tie.<\/p>\n
It’s been inconsistent and frustrating, but always entertaining. The record says 1-2-1, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. These seven numbers do\u2014and reveal the truth behind the Cowboys’ first four games of 2025<\/p>\n
Dak Prescott is the most important player on the Cowboys<\/a>. Unsurprising\u2014he is the quarterback, after all. But other franchises have the ability to overcome underwhelming performances by their signal-caller, either with an elite defense (Cleveland) or a devastating run game (Philadelphia). Dallas doesn’t have that luxury. If Prescott is bad, the Cowboys lose.<\/p>\n His 87.5 PFF passing grade under pressure<\/a> is the highest in the NFL, and his 90.4 overall passing grade ranks third. He also leads the NFL in Big Time Throws with 12.<\/p>\n It’s a massive turnaround from 2024, when he struggled early and then missed the second half of the season with a hamstring avulsion. This version of Prescott looks a lot like the 2023 version\u2014the one who finished second in MVP voting and carried Dallas to a division title.<\/p>\n Dak’s return to form<\/a> is the single biggest reason this season hasn’t already descended into chaos. He hasn’t been perfect, but without him playing at an elite level, this team would be winless.<\/p>\n Prescott’s passing grade under pressure is impressive, even without any context. But when you look at the performance of his protection unit<\/a> up front, it becomes almost laughably good.<\/p>\n Dallas is the worst pass-blocking team in the NFL. According to PFF, their 34.0 pass block grade ranks dead last<\/a>, and they’ve already surrendered 58 pressures\u2014third-most in the league. Injuries have bitten Cooper Beebe and Tyler Booker, and poor pass blocking from the tackles makes protection feel more like a coin flip than a deliberate action.<\/p>\n And yet, Prescott hasn’t missed a beat.<\/p>\n This isn’t 2016\u2014Tyron Smith, Zach Martin, and Travis Frederick aren’t walking through that door. This is a young, patched-together unit with backups forced into action\u2014and taking on a lot of water. It’s fair to wonder if Dak can continue to play at such a high level under pressure, or if the relentless onslaught will eventually bring him back down to earth.<\/p>\n It can’t be overstated just how improbable it is that the Cowboys have been able to run the ball<\/a> this well.<\/p>\n Dallas’ run game hasn’t looked this good in years, and Javonte Williams has a “oomph” to him that this team hasn’t seen since Zeke. Williams’ rushing success rate of 52.4%<\/a> is the second-best among all running backs in the league. He’s also top-ten in WIN yards and yards after contact. As a unit, the Cowboys have a 50% success rate on the ground\u2014No. 1 in the league.<\/p>\n It’s hard to exaggerate how important this has been to the success of the offense. Or how revelatory. With injuries and inconsistency along the offensive line, and a running back rotation of discarded assets, you’d expect the run game to be a net negative. It hasn’t been. And with defenses now forced to respect the threat of a handoff, Prescott should continue to see more favorable looks.<\/p>\n Head coach Brian Schottenheimer<\/a> said he wanted to run the ball, and we scoffed. It looks like he’s the one laughing now.<\/p>\n And yet, for all the offensive success, the Cowboys’ first four games of 2025 have been defined just as much by what’s happening on the other side of the ball.<\/p>\n The Cowboys’ pass defense<\/a> is utterly atrocious. The numbers are abysmal, and watching it on gameday is even worse.<\/p>\n Dallas has allowed an EPA of 56.8 through the air<\/a>\u2014worst in the league by an impossibly wide margin. They’ve also allowed an EPA per dropback of 0.371 and a DVOA of 35.7%\u2014both second-worst in the league.<\/p>\n To give you an idea of just how bad that is: the gap between Dallas (last) and Miami (second-to-last) in EPA is 20.21 points. That’s a wider gap than the one between Miami and the ninth-worst<\/em> pass defense.<\/p>\n Through four games, the Cowboys have also allowed the most passing yards, the most yards per attempt, and the most passing touchdowns in the league. If there’s a stat that measures how well you stop the pass, Dallas is sure to be last in it.<\/p>\n It’s not just bad\u2014it’s borderline unwatchable. And no amount of Prescott heroics will make up for a defense this inept at defending the pass.<\/p>\n Ties are pretty rare in the modern NFL. In the overtime era (1974-present), only 30 games have ended without a winner.<\/p>\n The Cowboys’ 40-40 deadlock with the Packers last Sunday night marked the team’s first tie since 1969<\/a>, when they played the 49ers to a 24-24 draw. It was also the highest-scoring game to end in a tie in NFL history.<\/p>\n I wish this were a joke. It’s not. Jerry Jones<\/a> has held court with the media after every game this season, and he’ll continue to do so until he’s no longer associated with the Cowboys. The other 31 owners? Zero.<\/p>\n Cowboys fans have grown accustomed to Jerry’s behavior, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s absurd. There isn’t another owner in any other sport who is as front-and-center as Jones. For the owner of any other NFL team, you may<\/em> hear from them once a year. Maybe twice. Not Jerry. He’s never met a microphone he didn’t like. And the only reason we went with four is because it’s impossible to tally the number of times he’s actually gone before the press. Realistically, he’s probably talking to the media four times a week!<\/em><\/p>\n Jerry weighs in on everything from player performance to coaching decisions to front office strategy. Sometimes he’s clear. Mostly, he’s not.<\/p>\n The Cowboys have an entirely new coaching staff, but one thing remains constant: Jerry Jones is still the most visible, quotable, and unavoidable figure in the Cowboys organization<\/a>.<\/p>\n It still doesn’t make sense.<\/p>\n The Cowboys traded away Micah Parsons<\/a>, and the results have been predictable. Parsons has a pass rush grade of 93.4<\/a>\u2014which is…yep, you guessed it, tops in the league. He’s also No. 1 in pressures with 25, second in hurries, fifth in quarterback hits, and top-five in win percentage. The Packers are also the second-best pass rushing unit as a team in the NFL. Parsons probably has something to do with that.<\/p>\n How have the Cowboys fared? Not as well. Dallas’ top pass rusher is James Houston, with a grade of 78.7 on only 31 snaps. If you want to go starters, Dante Fowler Jr. and Sam Williams have pass rush grades of 64.1 and 56.7, respectively.<\/p>\n The moral of the story: you just don’t trade away blue-chip players<\/a> like Parsons. But Jerry made the deal and has tried to spin it, hoping the committee approach would be enough.<\/p>\n It hasn’t been. Weird, losing your best pass rusher puts a bigger burden on players with less talent and ability.<\/p>\n The defense is collapsing. The pass rush has no juice. And the guy you traded is now playing for a Super Bowl contender.<\/p>\n *sad*<\/em><\/p>\n Four games into 2025, and the Cowboys are 1-2-1 and one of the most chaotic teams in football<\/a>. The offense is doing everything it can to keep the team afloat despite struggles along the offensive line, but the defense is sinking fast. Between questionable decisions, glaring holes<\/a>, self-inflicted stupidity, and a familiar, omnipresent voice dominating the headlines and airwaves, Dallas finds itself in a spot they know all too well: talented and volatile.<\/p>\n34 – Dallas’ Pass Blocking Grade<\/em><\/h3>\n
52.4 – Javonte Williams Rushing Success Rate<\/em><\/h3>\n
56.80 – Opponent Passing EPA<\/em><\/h3>\n
56 – Years Since the Cowboys Played to a Tie<\/em><\/h3>\n
4 – Jerry Jones Postgame Press Scrums<\/em><\/h3>\n
93.4 – Micah Parsons’ Pass Rush Grade<\/em><\/h3>\n
Final Takeaways on the Numbers Behind The Cowboys’ First Four Games of 2025<\/h3>\n