The Dallas Cowboys won on Thursday night. A win is a win is a win is a win and we are all very grateful. However, several things can be true at the same time. While we’re glad Dallas won, we can all acknowledge that there’s still a lot of work to be done if we want to host similar celebrations throughout the season and deep into the new year.

Going into Thursday night, while there were some things we would like to see the coaching staff adjust and improve, there were many moments from players that stood out and were cause for celebration. Our stock report after the Cowboys hit .500 after two long weeks has more upside than downside and a few names making their debuts.

Let’s get started.

Stock up: Mazi Smith

It’s no exaggeration to say that we just saw Mazi Smith’s best game as a professional football player. The bar is low, but wow, what an idea.

From NFL Pro and Next Gen Stats:

The New York Giants had 23 planned rushing plays for a total of 27 yards against the Dallas Cowboys.

New York generated -49 rushing yards above expectations, marking their lowest total RYOE on designed runs for them as a franchise in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2018).

On specially designed runs, the Giants’ ball carriers averaged -0.1 yards before contact and were touched behind the offensive line on 48% of those attempts.

That’s a neon sign saying Mazi Smith got out Thursday night.

For the first time in ages (screams loudly Frozen) Smith was an enforcer in the middle of Dallas’ defensive line. He clogged runs, stopped them completely, and ended many before they could really get into the air.

Perhaps we are at the beginning of a new era. One can only hope.

Stock up: Terence Steele

It’s been a long first month of the season for Terence Steele as we’ve often complained about how unprepared he seems. As the second oldest veteran, we have the right to expect more from him.

On Thursday evening we got more. Consider that Giants pass rusher Brian Burns (you know, the one they made a big trade for in the offseason) didn’t apply a single pressure against Dallas in the 25 plays in which he rushed the passer. This was the first time in his career that he was pressureless in games in which he scored at least double-digit tries.

Of Burns’ 25 pass-rush attempts… 17 of them were met with the ice-cold Steele wall that is Terence Steele. Kudos to Number 78 for locking up his man.

Stock up: Dak Prescott

Immediately after the game, we noted here on the blog that Dak Prescott had an extremely efficient evening. To be specific here, you should know that Dak was 13 of 14 for 143 yards and two touchdowns on passes under 2.5 seconds.

That’s a remarkably efficient job by the quarterback, who gets paid to do it on a weekly basis. Considering this comes just a week after Dak’s highest shooting percentage from tight windows (35.3%) in nearly six full seasons, we see in different ways just how difficult the circumstances around him are.

We thank Prescott for doing it, and doing it so quickly that the chaos couldn’t fully engulf him like we’ve seen in previous weeks.

Stock up: CeeDee lamb

It was awesome to see CeeDee Lamb in the end zone once again. He scored his first goal of the season from 65 yards (against New Orleans) and this one from 55 yards. He flirts with the range that only Brandon Aubrey feels comfortable with.

Seriously, it’s obviously been a very long week for Lamb, with all the talk of sulking and what-not during last week’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Burying such things and moving on is much easier said than done. Good thing he does.

Stock up: Rico Dowdle

We haven’t had many opportunities to heap praise on this team’s running backs, so we’ll take advantage of every opportunity we get. Rico Dowdle found the end zone!

It will be interesting to see the advanced numbers and data on this game (they are not yet known at the time of writing), but it appeared to be a much more efficient evening for Dowdle and the rest of the group. In fact, it felt like a much less inefficient night, but with baby steps.

Stocking up: Marshawn Kneeland

When DeMarcus Lawrence left the game, things were looking bleak for the Cowboys from a pass rushing perspective. Losing someone of this caliber is never easy to cope with.

Enter Marshawn Kneeland, who is often compared to Tank Lawrence and, like Tank himself, had an epic sack as quarterback of the New York Giants. Precisely.

Stock up: Hunter Lüpke

It’s one of those things that I think we’re all tired of fully committing to. Hunter Luepke can clearly be a legitimate weapon if used correctly on offense, and we’re seeing his use become more common.

Forget the raw numbers for a second. Keep in mind that early in this game (second quarter to be exact), the Cowboys faced a fourth-and-short opponent on their own side. Mike McCarthy decided to roll the dice with his fullback successfully moving the chains.

This isn’t about focusing excessively on a particular piece or moment. But it is clear that Lüpke is gaining the trust of the coaching staff. That’s great to see.

Stock up: Cooper Beebe

It is so incredibly rare that the player we have collectively praised throughout training camp fails to live up to expectations. One of the names we may have to add to this list is Cooper Beebe. He arrives.

We talked about the pressure at the top and noted that Brian Burns was held without a single pressure. Consider that his teammate Dexter Lawrence only created one pressure, according to Next Gen Stats. One! Dexter Lawrence!

This is the case because the Cowboys again double-teamed Lawrence on 20 of his 25 pass-rush attempts, according to NGS. Do you know what’s so cool about that? It makes sense to help a newcomer against a very good player! And the Cowboys did that!

Besides Lawrence, only Kayvon Thibodeaux and Isaiah Simmons generated pressure for the G-Men, making it a total of four times in the game. New York had a pressure rate of 14.3%, the lowest of any team in a single game this season.

Stock Down: Donovan Wilson

Last week, Donovan Wilson bit at the move that Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Rashod Bateman threw at him. That was unfortunate, but it’s not uncommon for receivers to win in the NFL. To put it simply: it happens.

But Wilson will have another play this week that people are waiting for, as he had Giants running back Devin Singletary in his sights on a fourth down that New York was going for. Wilson physically met Singletary in the backfield and then bounced off him while Singletary ran out and moved the chains. In the end, the Giants scored on one possession, just a field goal, but the point stands, which was a direct result of Wilson’s missed tackle.

It’s no secret that Wilson is a hard hitter. But we have one of the worst tackling teams in the NFL in the Cowboys, and Wilson is unfortunately the leader in that regard.

Stock Down: Andrew Booth

Rookie cornerback Caelen Carson did not play in this game, meaning the Cowboys had to rely on veteran Andrew Booth. You’ll remember that Dallas traded for Booth during training camp.

To say it was hard for Booth would be incredibly kind. He fought fiercely with Giants rookie wideout Malik Nabers, and while Nabers is incredibly talented, those fights were the kind that can’t be tolerated.

The situation got so bad that Dallas benched Booth in the second half. Kudos to the coaching staff for the move, but wow, what a bad situation that was that almost really cost the team.