At the end of Week 11, the Dallas Cowboys had their fans thinking playoffs.
Now granted, even after taking care of business against the lowly Las Vegas Raiders on their home turf, the Cowboys are still 4-5-1, with the NFC East basically out of reach and the final wildcard spot currently held by the 7-4 San Francisco 49ers.
With just seven weeks left in the 2025 NFL season, the margin of error is rapidly closing for Brian Schottenheimer's squad, but that doesn't necessarily mean the Cowboys are down and out, as if they play like they did in Las Vegas – admittedly against a Raiders team that has made plenty of teams look incredible – they have a chance to hang against some of the very best teams in the NFL.
Why? Well, because the Cowboys' 2025 trade additions are playing like certified All-Pros.
That's right, for a team that arguably moved off of the best player traded in 2025, Micah Parsons, the players they acquired in deals with the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets, George Pickens, and Quinnen Williams, have been balling out to an incredible degree.
Through 11 weeks, Pickens ranks second in receiving yards league-wide at 908, eight more yards than his 2024 total despite appearing in four fewer games. The former Steelers wideout has shown he can be a complete offensive threat with or without CeeDee Lamb and has become arguably Dak Prescott's go-to target due to his career-best catch percentage of 69.9
And as for Williams? Well, in one game in a Cowboys uniform, Williams more than doubled his sack total on the season, recording 1.5 to go with four tackles, a tackle for loss, and five QB hits on Geno Smith. Whether rushing from the 3-tech, pulling him on stunts, or even lining him up over the center, the former Alabama product made the most of his 33 snaps and has fans thinking their defense has found a new interior focal point.
Can the Cowboys ride Pickens and Williams to a late wildcard push? Only time will tell, but if they do, the Cowboys will need to secure an upset win over the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 12, as it could go a long way in recovering ground in the NFC East and NFC as a whole. Is beating the Eagles an easy task? Nope, the team's defense has allowed just 16 points since their bye week and has looked borderline unstoppable, but they do have a weak link the Cowboys can exploit to really give their offense a chance against a team that has, at times, struggled to get much going through the air or on the ground.
The Cowboys need to attack Adoree' Jackson early and often
Heading into the 2025 NFL season, the Eagles had two major question marks on their defense: their exterior pass rush and their third cornerback spot alongside certified stars Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.
After signing Za'Darius Smith before he retired and coaxing Brandon Graham out of retirement to further address the situation, Howie Roseman has seemingly struck gold with Jaelan Phillips, who has been a dominant three-down force for Vic Fangio as a do-it-all outside linebacker off the edge. Phillips, like Williams, has made an immediate impact against both the run and the pass, and is also heading for a massive payday next spring, be that with his current team or the highest bidder on the open market.
At cornerback, however, the Eagles have been far less lucky, with their big free agency addition, Adoree' Jackson, consistently being picked on as the second outside cornerback in nickel packages when DeJean kicks it inside. Roseman traded for Michel Carter II and Jaire Alexander to help fortify their cornerback spot, but the former is more of a slot option, while the latter stepped away from football to consider retirement.
As a result, Jackson has remained the Eagles' CB3 and has been consistently picked on by teams like the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions. Over eight games of action with five starts, Jackson has been targeted 44 times, allowing 27 completions for 306 yards and a touchdown. Jackson has allowed 191 yards through the air, which isn't great, but has really been hit after the catch, allowing 115 yards after completion thanks in no small part to his 14.2 missed tackle rate.
Considering the Cowboys have two of the top-5 wide receivers in the NFC East, they would be wise to make sure Jackson is consistently lined up against either Lamb or Pickens snap after snap.
Now granted, because the Eagles added MC2, if the Cowboys remain stringent with Lamb and Pickens always lined up on the outside, Fangio could counterpunch by having DeJean move to perimeter cornerback, allowing the former Jets slot to hold things down on the inside. Fortunately, Carter II has played exactly two snaps for the Eagles defense in 2025, and unlike Phillips, he didn't play for Fangio before, so the Cowboys would instead get a matchup against an inexperienced cornerback in the slot where Lamb enjoys deploying most.
Either way, CB3 needs to be attacked repeatedly.
Will it be easy for the Cowboys to take down the Eagles in Week 12? No, they already lost in Week 1, albeit in a lightning delay game, and if Fangio's defensive front is able to pressure Prescott like they did Jared Goff on Sunday Night Football, it will be a long night at AT&T Stadium. But if Prescott can get the ball out quickly in the direction of Jackson – or Carter II – Schottenheimer can effectively counter the Eagles' best weapon, and force a Kevin Patullo unit that has struggled to beat them in a shootout.
