Cowboys vs. Texans: The good, the bad, and the ugly from Week 14

Fortune, and a little bit of luck, was in the Dallas Cowboys favor in the Week 14 matchup with Houston Texans. The Cowboys were simply outplayed pretty much from start to finish by an inferior team. However, they found some way to outlast their in-state opponent with a 27-23 victory, and in so doing, improved to 10-3 on the season.

Winning in the NFL is never a given and that was certainly the case against the Texans Sunday afternoon. Maybe the Cowboys took Houston a little too lightly or maybe they just simply played poorly.

Thankfully, the Dallas Cowboys did just enough to walk away with another “W” and sometimes that’s all that matters. But, there’s no doubt they can use this close call as a learning experience and to do that they could take a good hard look at the good, bad, and ugly from this Week 14 matchup.

THE GOOD - Overcoming adversity

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Except for the opening drive when the Dallas Cowboys drove straight down the field to score a touchdown, the rest of the game was surprisingly a hard-fought battle to the bitter end. This was expected to be an easy victory for the Cowboys, however, it was anything but. Dallas simply couldn’t really get anything going on offense, defense, or even on special teams. Houston came to play Sunday afternoon and it looked to have caught the Cowboys off guard. Fortunately though, Dak Prescott and Company did just enough to put more points on the board than their opponent. In the end, it was enough.

THE BAD - Injuries aplenty

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The Dallas Cowboys may have escaped a close call with the Houston Texans, but they didn’t escape this Week 14 matchup unscathed. Unfortunately, the Cowboys sustained multiple injuries to several key players Sunday afternoon. Terence Steele, Jonathan Hankins, and Jake Ferguson all exited the game early due to injuries and didn’t return. The severity of their injuries is as of yet unknown, but losing any one of the three would be a blow to the Cowboys roster. And on top of that, Trevon Diggs (thumb) and Dorance Armstrong (ankle) will need to be monitored closely as well because of their injuries.

THE UGLY - A win is a win

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Finding a way to secure the victory is the name of the game each and every week. Somehow, someway, that’s exactly what the Dallas Cowboys were able to do in this Week 14 matchup with the Houston Texans. To their credit, the Texans came to play and it was smash-mouth football from them from the beginning to end. Despite giving up 14 points on two turnovers and a disappearing act from the pass rush, the Cowboys still found some way to improve to 10-3 on the season, even though they were arguably outplayed by an inferior opponent. Hopefully this isn’t a sign of things to come though for the Cowboys.