Coming off a resounding 37-22 Week 5 victory against the New York Jets, the Dallas Cowboys are turning their attention to Week 6. Dallas will look to get over .500 for the first time this season against an up and down Carolina Panthers this Sunday, making for a strong litmus test for both sides of the ball as well as presenting the opportunity for a couple of reunions. 

At 2-3, the Panthers have been average at best and downright bad at worst. However, while they’ve had their sure of disastrous games such as a 42-13 Week 4 loss to the New England Patriots, they’ve also shown the ability to put together a complete game like in their Week 3 30-0 win against the Atlanta Falcons. 

Suffice it to say, they’ve been inconsistent in the first five weeks. However, they’re coming off a fantastic 27-24 comeback win against the Miami Dolphins, erasing a 17-0 deficit. 

Who led that comeback, you may be asking? It was largely old friend Rico Dowdell who, while filling in for an injured Chubba Hubbard, rushed for a career-high 206 yards and one touchdown on 23 carries, good for an average of nine yards per carry. 

For his part, third year quarterback Bryce Young played well in the game as well. After a slow start and what feels like an obligatory weekly turnover, he threw for 198 yards and two touchdowns. While not eye-catching and definitely disappointing for a former first overall pick with two years under his belt, it shows that he’s capable of rebounding during a game.

While they did end up winning, it was the fourth time in five games that the Panthers defense gave up at least 24 points, with their Week 3 shutout clearly being an outlier. This sets up well for a Dallas offense that has routinely sliced up opposing defenses aside from their own Week 3 hiccup. 

While we can feel confident in the Cowboys offense continuing to perform at a high level, this presents a real opportunity for the Dallas defense. Yes, they looked better against the Jets in Week 5, but they’re still giving up an average of 30.8 points per game, 29th in the league. 

With that in mind, Week 6 against Carolina is a good chance to prove that not only can they shut down at least bad offenses, but that they can do so consistently. It’s one thing to bully the winless Jets, it’s another to stifle an offense that, while still not very good, has at least done enough to win two games this year. 

That’s the 100 mile view, surface level preview of Dallas’ Week 6 matchup, one that looks like a real opportunity for the Cowboys to show that they shouldn’t be written off quite yet. We’ll take a more in depth dive into how they can take advantage of that opportunity throughout the week.