The Cowboys and Jerry Jones in particular were broadly painted as laughingstocks after they could not find a way forward with Micah Parsons and dealt him to the Packers during the offseason. Nothing they did through the first nine games of this regular season did much to change that, even fighting to a 40–40 tie with Green Bay, clearly one of the best teams in the NFC. Yet over the course of the past 10 days, the entire narrative around America’s Team has evolved at a blistering pace.
A Monday Night Football thumping of the hapless Raiders, a shocking comeback against the Eagles and a Thanksgiving win over the Chiefs have combined to bend the arc so much that Jones’s team is being discussed as a potential Super Bowl contender.
“They are absolutely true threats to be NFC champions,” Ryan Clark said on Friday's First Take.
"They are absolutely true threats to be NFC Champions."@Realrclark25 weighs in on the Cowboys and their chances to win the NFC ✍️ pic.twitter.com/hBOn8Of02y
— First Take (@FirstTake) November 28, 2025
Clark used Dak Prescott’s performances over the past three weeks to suggest that he’s a different man than the one who has wilted in big moments before and pointed out the Cowboys have a fearsome one-two attack at wide receiver with CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens. Then there’s the re-stocked defense at the trade deadline that’s been able to do just enough in consecutive weeks against both participants in the last Super Bowl.
This is all great content. And it may all be leading to the big payoff where Dallas fights its way into the playoffs only to lay and egg and then Stephen A. Smith will come out in a big hat and troll everyone. But it may be time to pump the breaks just a tiny bit as the Cowboys have just a 17% to make the playoffs even after all the work they've done the past three games. Next Thursday brings what is essentially an eliminator contest against the Lions in Detroit. So all this chatter could be good for exactly one week.
Still, it's pretty remarkable that Dallas has made it to this point. There’s a good chance this will be the high-water mark of their season so if Jones wants an apology for all the offseason clowning he took, he’d better act fast.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Don't Look Now But the Cowboys Are Now Being Talked About As a Super Bowl Threat.
