With their Thanksgiving win against the Giants, the Cowboys finally have football success

ARLINGTON – It took a long time for the Cowboys’ running game to become a reliable part of this team.

The Cowboys used the acceptable excuse of being down two or more points because they didn’t use the run game more often. In training camp we heard the specious narrative that Ezekiel Elliott was the lead back, when in reality Rico Dowdle would get the majority of the carries.

Dowdle has finally shown what he can do given the tryouts coach Mike McCarthy wanted for him on Thanksgiving Day.

Dowdle rushed for 112 yards on 22 carries in Thursday’s 27-20 win over the Giants. Dowdle’s first 100-yard rushing game of his career was also the first for the Cowboys since Tony Pollard in 2023.

“Yes, I stuck with that from the beginning,” Dowdle said about purchasing more carriers. “With the flow, the rhythm, which I think definitely shows.”

The Cowboys played 25 regular season games without a running back reaching 100 yards in a game.

On Thursday, the Cowboys reached 100 yards without All-Pro guard Zack Martin and lost rookie left tackle Tyler Guyton. So Brock Hoffman (guard) and Chuma Edoga (left tackle) took over the role of the injured. Edoga replaced Guyton on the second possession of the game.

“That’s our mantra, that’s something that’s ingrained in our room,” left guard Tyler Smith said. “It’s just that resilience, that commitment to excellence and I think every guy embodies that five is one. If one of us goes down, not only will I stand by my brother, but he too. There is no levy. Pure dominance.”

The Cowboys won this game, their first home win of the season, due to their defense and ability to control the run game. McCarthy mentions time of possession as something important because it means you control the game when you gain time. Dallas held the ball 31:36 compared to 28:24 for the New York Giants.

The key was to use Dowdle in key moments.

He made the longest run by a Cowboys running back this season with a gain of 22 yards and also had runs of 18, 17 and 13 yards. Of the ten longest plays of the day, Dowdle had four.

There was a sequence in the fourth quarter where the Cowboys were ahead 27-13 when McCarthy set up four consecutive run plays for Dowdle.

On a 2nd-and-8 from the Cowboys 33, Dowdle gained 18 yards.

But McCarthy messed everything up with three consecutive passes by continuing to pass the ball to Dowdle.

Or someone else.

The Giants got the ball back but had to punt, then McCarthy went back to Dowdle as he should have done. On 3rd-and-7, there was a questionable play call at the Giants 41 when quarterback Cooper Rush was in shotgun and we saw a throw to Dowdle, although we may have seen him running between the tackles.

And after the Giants cut the deficit to 27-20 with 2:18 left, McCarthy gave the ball back to Dowdle. However, on third-and-short, Rush found receiver Brandin Cooks for three yards, clinching the game. Cooks had to make a diving catch and extend both arms to secure the pass.

Rush had to take a knee a few times to end the game, but you were second-guessing whether to make it easy for the Cowboys.

Thanksgiving Day was all about giving Dowdle the ball late in the game and, when he got tired, picking up Elliott or passing it to Hunter Luepke.

But let the football run.

It was one of those games where it worked.

“I really thought we had a good rhythm in the first three series, got into a bit of a skid after that, but didn’t execute on fourth-and-1,” McCarthy said.

Let’s talk about the 4th-and-1 in the second quarter. They handed the ball to Lüpke and he was stopped without a result.

Sometimes you have to give Elliott the ball. Or Dowdle.

It’s okay; it didn’t cost the Cowboys a game. When the running game is on, we have learned that this football team gives itself a chance to win games.

“But I think it was a clear demonstration of what (Dowdle) can do when he touches the ball a lot,” McCarthy said. “He struggled with injury challenges at the start of his career and finally with Rico you can experience what we experience every day. This team needs that. We have to run football not only for our offense, but also for our football team.”

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.