Cowboys should listen to Mike Tomlin's own words before facing his Steelers in Week 5
The Dallas Cowboys play the Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday night in a showdown that's expected to come down to the wire, as betting markets have priced the Steelers as a two-point home favorite.Just like the Cowboys back in Week 3, the Steelers are fresh off of a three-point loss in which they showed fight at […]
The Dallas Cowboys play the Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday night in a showdown that's expected to come down to the wire, as betting markets have priced the Steelers as a two-point home favorite.
Just like the Cowboys back in Week 3, the Steelers are fresh off of a three-point loss in which they showed fight at the end of the game as they attempted to come back from a 17-point deficit and failed to seal the deal.
"I appreciate the fight of our group," Tomlin told reporters postgame. "I told them, I just told them that, but not that I'm congratulating them for it."
Tomlin also made an honest assessment of the Steelers' loss that ironically serves as a big piece of advice to the Cowboys, as the rival coach's message is guaranteed to apply to them this weekend.
"You just don't win football games versus motivated groups in their venue playing the way that we played today in certain instances," Tomlin said about losing to the Indianapolis Colts.
The Cowboys will be in a similar spot in a handful of days: After a tough loss on the road that took an undefeated status off of their hands, the 3-1 Steelers will be as motivated as you can be in the NFL. You just know it's a spot Tomlin will have them fired up for it.
On the Cowboys' end of things, there have been sloppy moments on both offense and defense that if they show up on Sunday, as Tomlin lays out, it could cost them the game. You can't have pass protection breakdowns against T.J. Watt & Co. You can't have missed tackles (Cowboys had 16 against the Giants) against a dual-threat quarterback like Justin Fields. Not against a well-coached squad like Tomlin's.
The Steelers matchup is a "winnable" game that Dallas could really use before a slate of games that includes the Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta Falcons, and Philadelphia Eagles. But they can't have those hiccups on the road.
There's never anything wrong with taking some wisdom from the enemy and that's exactly what the Cowboys should do ahead of Week 5.