Whose stock is rising and falling after Week 9 for the Cowboys?

The Cowboys got another ‘W’ on Sunday and improved their record to 5-3 after a 28-17 win over the Chiefs.

Stock Up

Sean Lee

After watching the last three weeks, there is no doubt in my mind that the Cowboys would have won at least one of those games they lost had Sean Lee been on the field. He’s affectionately known as “The General” by a lot of Cowboys’ fans but he earned a new nickname against the Chiefs, “The Eraser”.

The Cowboys held the league’s most explosive offense to 17 points and one explosive play that occurred with Sean Lee on the sidelines. Alex Smith wasn’t able to trick the Cowboys with screens or hand-offs to Tyreek Hill. Most importantly, Sean Lee was a major catalyst in stopping the NFL’s leading rusher, Kareem Hunt, holding him to 37-yards on nine carries.

Stock Down

Byron Jones

After having made the dagger play last week against the Redskins, Byron Jones made some truly dumb decisions in this game.

Right before the half, he committed an easily avoidable unnecessary roughness that gave the Chiefs 15 yards. After the entire defense broke down, Tyreek Hill scored on a inexcusable “Hill Mary” attempt and Jones got another 15-yard penalty. The Chiefs were now only down by four and got the ball back to start the third quarter in good field position thanks to the enforcement of the second penalty. Kansas City then easily took the lead as Travis Kelce blew up Jones on this one:

Stock Up

Terrance Williams

He was absolutely outstanding in this game and took advantage of a porous secondary. He was the first Cowboys’ receiver to have a 100-yard game in the last 15 games:

He was perfect, catching everything that came his way and his ability to turn up field caught the Chiefs on multiple occasions. The Cowboys were needing a game where their receivers stepped up and in this game, Williams had the best day but Dez Bryant (six catches, 73 yards) and Cole Beasley (two touchdowns) were pretty good, too.

Stock Down

Prevent Defense/ Tackling

The play right before the half was just inexcusable and the Cowboys played it about as bad as you could. Now, they were expecting a Hail Mary play but you don’t have to put seven defenders all back at your 15-yard line. Tyreek Hill, who is literally one of the fastest guys alive, just toasted them.

Kansas City did a nice job of having their tight ends out in front but someone needs to at least attempt to tackle Hill. It was a bad decision from the coaching staff to play so far off, leaving about 45 yards of cushion. All Hill really had to do was stay behind his blockers and get the last 15 yards. All around, it was just the one lapse in an otherwise dominating performance.

Stock Up

Demarcus Lawrence

So he ended his sack streak at seven games, Lawrence was still very effective without recording a sack in this game.

Lawrence was in on so many plays that ended up being a loss for the Chiefs. Also, you could sense that Kansas City was intimidated by his presence. Though David Irving was the only defensive lineman to get a sack, Lawrence’s presence alone was felt in a major way:

Lawrence caused the Chiefs to jump early twice in this game and both times those drives ended with nothing. DeMarcus Lawrence is the Cowboys’ “War Daddy” and they may even have two with Irving in the mix.

Stock Down

Brice Butler

We’re nitpicking here but Butler was the only wide receiver in this game that made you shake your head. It’s consistency with him and it always has been. He had a real shot at busting the Chiefs up on a deep pass but dropped it.

Butler has said multiple times that in this offense, he just has to be ready to take advantage of his limited snaps. Brice Butler has shown to have a connection with Dak Prescott and he’s made some highlight plays before. The problem is that they are few and far in between. Butler’s day ended with one catch for six yards but he’s got the skill set to do so much more.