ARLINGTON, Texas – Jerry Jones carried a turkey leg with him as he hopped on an elevator that took him directly to his 50-yard-line suite at AT&T Stadium. While a turkey leg is far cry from a Lombardi Trophy – remember, the Dallas Cowboys haven’t won one of those in nearly 30 years – it was a fitting symbol nonetheless after the impressive win against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thanksgiving.
Suddenly, the Cowboys are relevant in the NFL’s playoff picture.
And the team’s owner, thoroughly roasted early in the season for the controversial trade that sent Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers, has reason to dream again about the Cowboys’ chances of chasing a championship.
This is what two victories over a five-day span against the Super Bowl 59 participants – they hung a 31-28 result on Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs on Thursday, following a rally from 21 points down to beat the defending champion Eagles on Sunday – can do to revive the hope that Jones is always selling.
“I wouldn’t be standing here right now, would not be in the hunt, if I were not a dreamer,” Jones told USA TODAY Sports as he leaned on the bar of his suite.
Cowboys have five weeks to keep 2025 playoff dream alive
With maybe 100 people in the suite – family, friends, business associates – the place was buzzing with festive electricity. Never mind the NFL’s one-week-at-a-time mantra and the fact that if the playoffs were today, the Cowboys would be on the outs. Jones had reason enough to celebrate.
The Cowboys (6-5-1) are above .500 for the first time all season and under first-year coach, Brian Schottenheimer, and have a three-game winning streak for the first time since 2023.
It’s why Post Malone, the rapper-turned-country/rock star who performed at halftime, came into the suite and yelled at Jones from the other side of the room with unbridled glee. And Jones yelled back at Malone, who has intimate ties to the franchise.
Maybe they’ll celebrate bigger victories later. Maybe not.
To make the playoffs, undoubtedly as a wild-card entrant barring a collapse by the Eagles, the Cowboys have to run the table and win every single game. Next up, a trip to Detroit, to face a just-as-desperate Lions squad (7-5) that has fallen woefully of lofty expectations.
After that, Dallas has back-to-back home games against the Vikings (4-7) and Chargers (7-4) before closing out the regular-season slate at the Commanders (3-8) and Giants (2-10). For a team that lately complemented a dynamic offense with an improved defense, it’s a path with, well, promise.
Is it taboo to even speak playoffs? Or is this a matter of trying to speak it into existence?
Of course, it’s rather predictable what you’d get from the NFL’s most visible owner.
“We all see the numbers,” Jones said. “We know where they are. As far as this team playing well enough to think like, we should. These last two games, we’ve played well.”
As Jones pondered the ways, Michael Irvin walked into the suite. The Hall of Fame receiver, who remains close to Jones and the franchise, took the celebration to another level with a demonstration that resembled something out of the glory years in the 1990s.
“Arrrrrgh!” Irvin yelled, raising his arms as he approached Jones.
“First we beat the Super Bowl champs! Now we beat the perennial Super Bowl champs!”
Irvin then put Jones in a bear hug like they had just won, well, a Super Bowl.
It was classic, over-the-top Irvin. And Jones loved it.
“Sometimes, it’s Thanksgiving and sometimes it’s Christmas Day,” Jones said. “Same energy. That energy has never left.”
Premature celebration? Look at where the Cowboys have been
It’s fair to wonder whether this excitement is all a bit premature. While they celebrated in the owner’s suite, it was fitting that Dak Prescott’s postgame press conference was shown on the TV monitors. Prescott won’t deny that Dallas has just pulled off its most impressive back-to-back victories in years, hailing the team’s resilience.
Yet the classy quarterback – dogged for years by the team’s playoff failures – is just the man to put it in perspective.
“I don’t know if there’s been two more impressive wins,” Prescott told reporters. “I can tell you now, we’re not going to get on some high because of that. We know we’ve got another big one next week. All this does is just give us more confidence, knowing that we can beat whoever.”
Then again, considering the real-world tragedy the Cowboys were forced to process after defensive lineman Marshawn Kneeland died by suicide in early November, there is much to be said with how the team has responded.
Kneeland’s jersey still hangs in the Cowboys’ locker room. The team carries a huge flag with Kneeland’s uniform number, 94, onto the field with it. Jones was careful to express a proper measure of respect while contending the difference with the team since the tragedy.
“Rather than taking an emotional downer or feeling like woe-is-me, they did what young people have to do whenever they have a setback or a tragedy: You live in every way you can with energy and enthusiasm,” Jones said. “There’s no question our energy has picked up since his death.”
Other relevant factors for the Cowboys’ resurgence:
This is not your Week 1 Cowboys defense
The much-maligned defense is forming a new identity. The trade of Parsons – who had 2½ sacks to help the Packers defeat the Lions on Thursday and became the first player in NFL history to post 12 sacks in each of his first five seasons – figures to add context for some time. Yet the acquisition of all-pro defensive tackle Quinnen Williams at the trade deadline on Nov. 4 takes up some of the slack.
Mahomes stung the Cowboys for four touchdowns and provided a Keystone Kops moment as he slipped out of would-be sacks to launch a magical, 42-yard completion to Xavier Worthy that set up a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Yet one reason the Cowboys won traced to the heat on Mahomes, which included three sacks and nine quarterback hits. And the unit, with veteran addition Jadeveon Clowney providing some of the rush and rising star DeMarvion Overshown back in the flow after returning from a torn ACL, and with Logan Wilson added to the linebacker mix, is not what it was a few weeks ago. And yes, Williams is a beast in the middle of the D-line, alongside Kenny Clark, who came to Dallas in the Parsons trade.
No, it’s not an elite defense. But much better.
Brian Schottenheimer rises to his big moment
Schottenheimer has flourished with his big opportunity. When Jones promoted the offensive coordinator after the split with Mike McCarthy, it was a gamble wrapped with the reality that the long-time NFL assistant – and son of the late coaching legend, Marty Scottenheimer – had never been a head coach before.
Yet Schottenheimer has proven to be well-equipped to withstand the glare of the high-profile Cowboys job … and the shadow that comes while working under Jones. He also showed tremendous leadership in helping the team deal with the loss of Kneeland.
“It’s his people skills,” Jones said. “He didn’t separate his feelings, as far as saying ‘I’m the leader.’ He shared his sorrow, just like they did. And he understood that the best thing for everybody and the feelings, after we were out for a few days, was to understand what was happening to you. Understand the sorrow. He had a challenging time.”
As he maintained when he promoted Schottenheimer, growing up in a household with his father provided added value.
And Schottenheimer’s confidence is undoubtedly rubbing off on his team about now. After Thursday’s win, he put it this way: “We’ll play anybody, anywhere. You can see that by what we’ve done the last couple of weeks. The moment’s not too big for us.”
George Pickens’ career year highlights dynamic passing attack
The addition of the big-play receiver, obtained in an offseason trade with the Steelers, has been better than expected. In teaming with CeeDee Lamb, Prescott has a 1-2 punch with perhaps the NFL’s best set of wide receivers, and it has added balance, spark and options to one of the league’s most dynamic units.
The passing game didn’t tank when Lamb missed three games earlier this season due to a high ankle sprain. Pickens filled in the gap. With five games to play, Pickens has already posted career-bests for receptions (73), receiving yards (1,142) and TDs (8).
Pickens is playing on a one-year contract, but slim chance that he’ll hit the free agent market next spring. Pickens has expressed a desire for an extension and Jones reiterated a similar desire amid the postgame suite party.
Jones, though, would not go any deeper than that – for good reason. Negotiations.
It’s also worth noting that Pickens is represented by David Mulugheta, the same agent who represents Parsons and was in the middle of the saga that led to the controversial trade.
Maybe Mulugheta and Jones can celebrate a big deal yet – with or without a turkey leg.
But first things first: The Cowboys are trying to keep their playoff dream alive.
Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on X: @JarrettBell