The Houston Texans are set to face the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football this week. Do these teams play often? No. But is this considered a rivalry? If you ask fans of both teams they may say yes.
If you ask the players they may say no. This is the battle of Texas -- which Lone Star team is better? Well, record-wise it's the Texans, who are having a much better season than the Cowboys. But, that doesn't mean Dallas can't get a win.
Since these teams don't play one another often, there is a lot of unknown within the matchup. A lot of fans probably don't know as much about the Cowboys as they maybe should, and vice versa. So, I teamed up with A to Z Sports' Mauricio Rodriguez to go behind enemy lines, as he covers the Dallas Cowboys. We each asked each other four questions about the other team, questions the fan base may have.
Here are the four burning questions:
4 burning questions for Texans vs. Cowboys on Monday Night Football
Who is one sneaky underrated offensive player on Dallas this year that Texans fans may not know about that they should.
Honestly, I'll say Rico Dowdle. He's far from a big-name player at running back but the guy is 10th best in success rate, per Pro Football Reference. The Cowboys have been guilty of not treating him as RB1 at various times this season but his games against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Atlanta Falcons, and even the Philadelphia Eagles last week show how dangerous he can be. With Dak Prescott out, the Cowboys will likely want to run the ball on the Texans defense.
Who is a defensive player in the same boat?
It's gotta be linebacker DeMarvion Overshown. It's his second year in the NFL but only his first playing and he's a flying missile on the field, making big plays versus the run albeit some missed tackles as well. With so many banged-up defensive ends, he's been key in the pass rush department as well, as he's frequently the focus on blitzes called by Mike Zimmer. He's been really good for Dallas and remains one of the bright spots for an otherwise bad team.
Why has a defense that has been really good the last few years for the Cowboys, not been as good this year?
It's a long list of reasons but I'd start with the defensive line. The Cowboys were bad at defensive tackle coming into 2024 and mostly bet on Mazi Smith taking a second-year jump. He didn't. Add to that the fact that Micah Parsons (who is now back), DeMarcus Lawrence, Marshawn Kneeland, and DaRon Bland have all missed significant time and it's just been bad. Additionally, Dan Quinn's defenses might've had a lot of issues but they sure as heck got takeaways. That hasn't happened with Mike Zimmer at the wheel.
From the outside looking in, it feels like there was a lot wrong with this team that just didn’t get addressed in the offseason like it should have. What’s the real issue going on in North Texas?
You're absolutely right. The Cowboys were 32nd in free agency spending this year. It certainly seems the front office discreetly treated this as a financial reset year. Jerry Jones himself said in the offseason he'd ask Dak to do "more with less" and now they're facing the consequences. That translated into a mediocre duo of offensive tackles, and no consistent help at wide receiver beyond CeeDee Lamb, plus the defensive issues listed above. It's a team with many roster holes and nine players on Injured Reserve have made it worse.
