Dallas Cowboys: Ugly wins are good wins

The Dallas Cowboys have had a few games so far this season that could be safely classified as “ugly wins”. The Patriots game was everything you could imagine in an ugly win: bad officiating, odd clock management, miscues, and turnovers. It was a grab-bag full of ugly.

However, at the end of the game, the Cowboys pulled off a victory in convincing fashion and now head to the bye week to fix some of their problems as they march toward the postseason.

Games like Sunday’s was something the Cowboys of the last decade would probably not have won. This is not an article knocking Jason Garrett and his staff, but rather, to show just how different this team is. Winning ugly games is something all Super Bowl contenders have do, and it is something these Dallas Cowboys just showed they’re able to do.

Winning ugly games is good for the Dallas Cowboys if they have hopes of making a deep run in the playoffs.

Cases in point: Last year the Buccaneers had some ugly games against the Giants and Falcons. In 2019 the Chiefs pulled out wins against the Lions and Vikings. The list goes on and on. Sure, there is some luck of how the football bounces, but more often than not it is about coaching, making plays, and not folding under adversity. Watching this team become a team, there is no folding under adversity and they are certainly making plays.

The largest improvement on this team, however, is the coaching. While there are some concerns with the clock management with Mike McCarthy, he and his staff are firing on all cylinders.

On offense, teams have to choose how the Cowboys should try and beat them, and so far, the Cowboys have answered every question. When a team takes away the running game, the passing game takes over, and when teams want to try and take away the passing game, Kellen Moore and Mike McCarthy are happy to beat teams on the ground.

On defense, Dan Quinn has kept teams guessing by moving players into different positions, using alignments to hide the scheme, and forcing teams to make mistakes. Special teams have been much better than years past, and while the kicking has been shaky, the aggressiveness to block punts, not allow large returns, and solid punting has been really refreshing.

Right now the Cowboys are playing well in all three phases and it is to the credit of this staff.

Yes, it all helps that Trevon Diggs is playing out of his mind, Dak Prescott has been elite, and everyone is playing for each other, but it is also the mentality of the team as a whole. Winning ugly games has an amazing effect as the Cowboys move forward.

Hopefully, not every game will be ugly, but they are building this team into something special, and with a bye week coming up, they fix some of the small issues, and they get better each and every week.