The Dallas Cowboys took care of business on Thanksgiving Day and now we all have a win in the bank and a green light to charge into a weekend that promises incredible football, leftovers from the Thursday meal and (assuming this is the case for you as well) decorating for Christmas. It is feeling a sense of jubilation that is hard to beat.
How and why the Cowboys got to the point that they are certainly matters and will hopefully (lol) serve as a flashpoint of change when the opportunity for that truly comes, but for now the Cowboys have an opportunity to pull off something truly unbelievable, even if we think dreaming about it is silly. The point here is that the dream is alive while the team who Dallas just beat is officially the first one mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.
All told the Cowboys showed a lot to really like during their win over the New York Giants and we are here to sort through it in a proper sense.
Here is our stock report from Thursday’s action. For the second week in a row we have nothing but up arrows and celebratory high-fives.
Stock Up: DeMarvion Overshown
Whether this season winds up in a miraculous playoff run or if the Cowboys lose out, 2024 will always be the year that DeMarvion Overshown properly announced himself to the world. Overshown was a man on a mission against New York and the touchdown he scored was absolutely incredible.
The future promises to be incredibly bright with him and Micah Parsons at the front with Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland in the back.
Stock Up: Micah Parsons
You may want the Cowboys to tank or may think that the two wins they have had are hollow. But at the core of all of this is that Micah Parsons stood tall and said that there would be no tanking on his watch. All he has done since he said that is lead the team, something many people thought he was not capable of doing, to two division wins in a five-day period. This all began on the heels of everyone believing that they were toast, done and completely broken as an organization.
There is something incredibly impressive about this. Parsons knows one speed and it is the fifth gear. Everybody in his way better watch out.
Stock Up: Rico Dowdle
There is and has not been any question about who the best running back on the Dallas Cowboys is. Consider that Dowdle had 22 carries and still averaged over five yards on each of them. The original thought around him may have been that he was the best back on the team because of the rest of the people in that room, but he is certainly very talented and continues to show that now that the team is finally willing to let go of the past.
Before his day was done Dowdle scored a touchdown (the first one a Cowboys running back ran in at home this season) and had north of 100 yards, something no rusher had done for the team since Week 3 of last year. It was an impressive day.
Stock Up: Brandin Cooks
Sometimes when a player returns in a season that feels lost everything feels like just going through the motions. That was not the case here. Brandin Cooks showed up and showed out on Thanksgiving Day. He proved that he still has the juice necessary to be a difference-maker and caught the lone touchdown that Cooper Rush threw in the game. He is and likely always will be a burner. It was great to see him back involved.
Stock Up: KaVontae Turpin
Let me say that we do not need to see any more cute ideas when it comes to involving him on offense. Just get him the ball. This is not complicated. Don’t re-invent the wheel.
That being said, we are witnessing Turpin figuring it all out more and more as the weeks go on. He helped move the chains and keep things active like a tried-and-true wide receiver, not some gadget specialist on special teams returning kicks. Bring him back for 2025.
Stock Up: Donovan Wilson
Obviously the bar is low here, but Thanksgiving was easily his best game this season. There is something to seeing a player who has been struggling for a bit win one and come out and remind us of why we believed in them in the first place. Wilson’s physicality has always been his hallmark trait and on Thursday it was everywhere.
Stock Up: Jourdan Lewis
If I ever run a football team then there will always be a place for Jourdan Lewis. He fights hard and embodies all of the things that you want in a player. He did a lot of the dirty work in this game and helped keep the Giants at bay, although the Giants obviously helped out with that a lot in terms of their own doing.
Stock Up: Eric Kendricks
The last two games have been really impressive for Kendricks in that he is reminding many why they were excited about him running Mike Zimmer’s defense in the first place. He is the brain on the field and against New York seemed to know everything there was to know.
Stock Up: Carl Lawson
Just about every year there is the cast off free agency addition who plays really well for the Cowboys. We often worry that they will serve as the example for the front office to point to as to why they don’t have to spend big in free agency.
Carl Lawson is that worry this year. He has been quite the find and has really helped the team get by without DeMarcus Lawrence.
Stock Up: Osa Odighizuwa
There is zero doubt in my mind that Osa Odighizuwa is going to get paid very well by a non-Cowboys team in the offseason. My goodness what a player he has turned into.
It really is unfortunate that Odighizuwa shares a draft class with Parsons because otherwise he would easily be regarded as the best defensive player to emerge from that 2021 group. He was a constant force against New York and really helped keep pressure in the middle coming all game long.
An honorable mention is deserved for Mazi Smith, by the way. We don’t need to overreact, but Thursday was a positive one for him.
Stock Up: Mike McCarthy
Once more, you may feel like these wins mean nothing or that winning is costly. To each their own.
Something that has always stood out about Mike McCarthy is how different he is from his predecessor in that he is capable of figuring things out when the going gets tough. To be clear, being a better coach than Jason Garrett does not merit anything specific, but think about the Garrett days for a moment.
When Tony Romo would get injured, the Cowboys were totally lost under Garrett. This isn’t to say that the Cowboys of now are headed in the best direction ever, but McCarthy has shown an ability to make lemonade with a backup quarterback across multiple seasons now. In fact, McCarthy has won at least one game without Dak Prescott under center in now four of the five seasons that he has been the Cowboys head coach.
Kudos to him. He merited adding an 11th stock up this week.
RJ Ochoa
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