FRISCO, Texas – Beware the Cardinal.
Not the perching red songbird sweetly tweeting of a different kind on the back fence.
Not the high lieutenant priests preaching Catholicism.
Oh no, over the Dallas Cowboys' history, these are a fierce Cardinal. And no matter if they have been the Chicago Cardinals way before the Cowboys came into existence in 1960, or the NFC East-brethren St. Louis Cardinals or the Phoenix Cardinals and now the Arizona Cardinals. Same thing. Historically hard to beat for the Cowboys.
And here these Cards come, Sunday at AT&T Stadium, post-Halloween. The 2-5 Cardinals, having lost five of their past six games, meet the 3-4 Cowboys, second place in the NFC East and trying to win back-to-back games for the first time since last Thanksgiving, 13 games ago, in order to stay on the Giants' (4-2-1) heels. The Cowboys will be praying the previous night's Goblins are not still walking the streets of Arlington for this rare noon start.
This Cardinals franchise, one of only two charter members of the NFL still in existence, has carved out a befuddling history with the Cowboys. Can remember witnessing some of their trolling for more than 40 years, save 1990 through 1996 when the Cowboys turned them into bird droppings, beating them Red Birds 13 consecutive times.
Still can remember their incongruent ways when playing the Cowboys over the years, like in 1985 when the 6-2 Cowboys went into St. Louis for a Monday Night Football appearance with the 3-5 Cardinals. The Cowboys' defensive backs, the ones having prided themselves on collecting takeaways and feeling a little too full of themselves, went into a haberdashery in the mall adjacent to the team hotel to buy these expansive top hats to wear to the game. They called themselves Thurman Thieves, named after their ringleader Dennis Thurman and including our Everson Walls. The bunch even did, for back then, the unheard-of TV interviews that night before the game.
Gave up 21 consecutive second-half points to get beat by the Cards, 21-10.
There was the 1989 meeting at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., the 1-8 Cowboys, on the way to that 1-15 season of rookie quarterback Troy Aikman and rookie owner Jerry Jones and NFL rookie head coach Jimmy Johnson, trying to win their second straight. They took a 20-17 fourth-quarter lead thanks to Aikman connecting with rookie receiver James Dixon while getting knocked out cold for a 75-yard touchdown, only for the Cardinals to come back on the next possession with punter/backup QB Tom Tupa's 72-yard TD pass to Ernie Jones for the win, despite Aikman throwing for a season-high 379 yards.
There was this 1998 game when the Cowboys had defeated East member Arizona twice during the regular season on their way to winning every one of their division games (8-0) for a 10-6 record and NFC East title. Yet in the first playoff game under new head coach Chan Gailey, Cardinals quarterback Jake Plummer, the second-year QB in his first full season starting, smacked the Cowboys in the face at Texas Stadium for a first-round 20-7 victory.
Go figure.
Oh, and this one, too: The 2008 season, the 4-1 Cowboys, then playing the Cardinals at what then was named University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, rallied with a 52-yard Nick Folk last-second field goal to force overtime. But on the first play from scrimmage in OT, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo suffers a sack/fumble that he recovers. But unbeknownst until after the game, Romo had suffered broken a finger on his right throwing hand, the reason for his next two feebly thrown incompletions forcing a punt.
And of all things, now punter Mat McBriar is forced to kick from the Cowboys' 15-yard line, and can't make this stuff up, Cardinals safety Monty Beisel not only blocks the punt but also recovers the ball in the end zone for the game-winning, overtime-ending touchdown, 30-24, which also left McBriar with a season-ending broken bone in his foot.
While we're at it, just last season, 2025, and this is eerie considering tomorrow is Halloween, the 3-4-1 Cowboys (sound somewhat familiar?) were playing the 2-5 Cardinals on a five-game losing streak (come on now), who came into AT&T to beat down the Cowboys, 27-17. Did so with backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett starting and the Cardinals defense roughing up Dak Prescott with blitzes (oh no). They sacked Dak five times, recording nine QB hits, forcing him to run another four times to avoid sacks and, by my count, had double-digit pressures.
All causing Dak after the game to succinctly say, "They kicked our ass."
So fair warning, do not ever take these Cardinals for granted just because the 2-5 Arizona club is tied for the second-worst record in the NFC. They have certainly haunted the Cowboys over the past three decades, especially during recent history, having beaten them in eight of the last nine meetings, beginning with that 2008 defeat, a streak that includes going 4-0 against the Cowboys at AT&T. And, after winning this season's opener over the Chargers, best dismiss the Cardinals now having lost five of the next six, that one win two weeks ago over the Rams, 18-16.
Not to make anyone squeamish, but let Dak explain the urgency of winning this game in the midst of all this voodoo history with the Cardinals.
"Nobody's going to give it to us," Dak's 11 years of NFL history allows him to say, backed up by a personal 1-3 record vs. the Cardinals, his 2017 win the Cowboys' only one in the series' recent past. "Nobody's going to say, 'Yeah, you're the better team. You got it.' That's what's so great about the NFL. We've got to come out and earn it each and every week, and there's going to be no difference coming Sunday."
If the Cowboys need recent history reinforcement, surely they haven't forgotten the 24-16 beating they suffered just three games ago at the hands of the then 0-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, starting a backup quarterback, right there on a Thursday night at AT&T Stadium. And summarily, that one on a short week coming off a victory over Houston, the last of two previous times this season the Cowboys have failed to win consecutive games.
And to win this one, well, same song, next verse: The offense must be quite offensive against an Arizona team having given up at least thirty-something in five of their seven games. And the Cowboys defense, having taken baby steps – sorta – in the past three games, needs to continue creeping forward, at least not having given up more than 24 points in the past three.
Now then, while holding the offensively struggling Eagles to just 21 in last Sunday's win at the Linc, 38-21, the Cowboys still aren't far removed from giving up 419 total yards to Tampa Bay while yielding 241 yards rushing, and they have a league-high 52.9 third-down conversion percentage against after seven games.
Also, it was just two quarters ago the Cowboys allowed Eagles backup quarterback Tanner McKee to drive 84 yards on 17 plays, eating up 9 minutes, 16 seconds, to open the second half with a touchdown to take a 21-20 lead.
So now comes Brissett, having beaten them already once last year, with but an 82.8 QB rating, ranking 22nd in the NFL. He's thrown 10 touchdown passes, been intercepted six times, yet also has been sacked 15 times, with the Cardinals having scored no more than 21 points in the past three games.
No matter. These are the Cardinals, the mighty, mighty pesky Cardinals, having dominated the Cowboys eight of the last nine times out. Which all started following a 2005 win when Drew Bledsoe was the Cowboys' starting quarterback for their last home victory over the Cardinals, 34-13. Bill Parcells was the head coach in that game. So long ago, Tony Romo had yet to play in an NFL game. Julius Jones was the team's leading rusher. Rookie DeMarcus Ware had just four of his Cowboys franchise-leading 117 sacks on his way to a Hall of Fame career back then. Current NFL head coaches Dan Campbell and Aaron Glenn still were playing for the Cowboys.
Understand that was all a long time ago, but as Dak said of the current iteration of the Cardinals, "They've had our number the last couple of years," reinforcing there is no overlooking an opponent. That even though the Cardinals are 2-5, look, the Cowboys are only one game better at 3-4. No time or reason to eat some cheese.
Especially against these historically not-so-benign Cardinals.
