The first time the Dallas Cowboys battled the Pittsburgh Steelers, both teams were in the NFL.
The NFC and AFC did not exist back then.
In fact, for six years, between 1961 and 1966, they played home-and-home series. They’ve only met 17 times since the NFL-AFL merger sent the Steelers into the AFC.
Three of those meetings were Super Bowl showdowns and all three were classic battles.
Pittsburgh won the first two, Super Bowl X and Super Bowl XIII, before the Cowboys finally broke through to down the Steelers in Super Bowl XXX.
Starting with the 35-28 Steelers’ win at the Cotton Bowl in 1960, the two teams have met 30 times in the regular season. The Cowboys are 16-14 overall against Pittsburgh in those games.
The Steelers won the last meeting between the franchises back in 2020. Dallas took a 19-9 lead into the fourth quarter of that game, only to watch Ben Roethlisberger lead three scoring drives to give Pittsburgh a 24-19 victory.
Dak Prescott was not in that game, Garrett Gilbert was Dallas’ starting quarterback, but he is 1-0 against the Steelers in his career.
Back in 2016, in his rookie season, Prescott led Dallas to Pittsburgh and walked out of the stadium with a 35-30 victory.
The Cowboys have won four of the last five meetings played in Pittsburgh dating back to the 1994 season. A 20-13 loss in 2008 being the lone blemish.
The Steelers are 9-8 all-time at home against the Cowboys.
The teams have never met in the fifth week of any season.
Keys To Tonight’s Game
The Cowboys weren’t exactly dominant last week in their five-point win over the Giants. They did manage to score two early touchdowns, a bonus given their previous two games.
The offense must get off to a solid start tonight as the defense is nowhere near 100%.
Injuries are piling up on that side of the ball. An offense that can grind the clock and put touchdowns on the board is the best medicine for Mike Zimmer’s defense.
The Steelers are coming off their first loss of the year, on the road to the Colts.
Pittsburgh got off to a slow start and a late surge simply ran out of time in a three-point loss. Look for Pittsburgh to be a different team at home.
More so if Justin Fields continues to play as he has for the first four games.
He is nothing like the Fields that got run out of town in Chicago. And Dallas historically has trouble with running quarterbacks.
Keeping him contained is Dallas’ top priority.
Losing Road Record In Week 5
The Cowboys come into tonight’s game with a 33-26-2 overall record in games played in the fifth week.
They did not play a game in the fifth week of the 1982 strike-shortened season. They have had two bye weeks scheduled in the fifth week, both coming in back-to-backs seasons in 2011 and 2012.
Dallas is 23-9-1 all-time at home and have a two-game home win streak in the fifth week. But their road record is concerning.
The Cowboys are 10-17-1 overall on the road and lost last year’s fifth game at San Francisco.
That was the first time Dallas had played San Francisco in the fifth week. Not a good omen for the Cowboys coming into tonight’s game.
Dallas is 7-6 overall against AFC teams in this week of the season all-time. That includes a 3-0 mark against the Bengals.
Dallas’ two biggest demons in the fifth week are the Cardinals (1-3-1) and the Packers (1-4). The Cowboys thrive when they face an NFC East team in this week on the schedule.
Dallas is 6-3-1 against the Giants, 6-3 versus the Eagles, and 4-2 against Washington.
ALL-TIME WEEK 5 RECORDS VS OPPONENTS
(Sorted by total games played)
- Giants (6-3-1)
- Eagles (6-3)
- Commanders (4-2)
- Cardinals (1-3-1)
- Packers (1-4)
- Bengals (3-0)
- Saints (1-2)
- Bears (2-0)
- Rams (1-1)
- Texans (1-1)
- Vikings (1-1)
- Broncos (0-2)
- Bills (1-0)
- Buccaneers (1-0)
- Chiefs (1-0)
- Colts (1-0)
- Lions (1-0)
- Panthers (1-0)
- 49ers (0-1)
- Browns (0-1)
- Oilers/Titans (0-1)
- Patriots (0-1)
