Cowboys Morning After, Wk 6 - The Must-Win Monday
Dallas needed to beat the Chargers somehow to avoid catastrophe. They did.
Just win, baby.
At no point on Monday did anyone feel like everything has been fixed and properly put back on path. There is still much that will require addressing and improving, especially if this Cowboys team is going to find its stride in 2023.
Nobody should put their feet up and suggest things are on a wonderful path right now. That is certainly not the case.
But, this league is incredibly difficult and unforgiving with 32 teams doing whatever they can to win a game from week to week. It is often not easy and not aesthetically pleasing, especially when you are on the road and nobody is feeling very happy about the state of affairs.
And sometimes those wins tell us much more about a team than anything you can gain by destroying someone without breaking a sweat.
The Cowboys beat the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night, 20-17, in Inglewood, California to hit the bye week at 4-2. They did plenty of things that were frustrating and could be done better. But, the NFL is a bottom-line league and the bottom line is the 2023 season is still in play because they gutted and gritted their way to a hard-earned win that will not gain style points.
If you’ve read this space with any regularity over the years, you know I preach a consistent message: We do not apologize for wins in the NFL.
We especially do not apologize for road wins – against playoff teams that are coming off restful bye weeks as Dallas just was put through the ringer in San Francisco. For the last week, Dallas was having their manhood challenged and dealt with much speculation that they may not have the character to stick together and figure things out. Just a few days ago, the directive from this column right here was pretty clear: