FRISCO, Texas – The biggest number that stared at the Cowboys while gearing up to face the Jets was four, the number of starting offensive linemen they'd be down in Week 5.
That proved to be no issue for Dallas, as they help up just fine in a 37-22 victory on the road in East Rutherford where the offense tallied 416 total yards.
Defensively, the Cowboys had arguably their best performance of the season, getting home for five sacks and winning the turnover battle for the second straight week.
Let's dive into more of the stats and numbers as Dallas gets their second victory Monday of the season:
3.5
Just as everyone expected, James Houston is the Cowboys' leader in sacks through three games with three and a half of them despite playing just 79 snaps on defense so far this season. That's the second lowest on the roster from a defensive end outside of Jadeveon Clowney, who played in just his second game with the Cowboys on Sunday, and Clowney is still only 28 snaps behind Houston for the year. Houston finished the day with five pressures on 19 pass rushes.
5
With a 43-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter, George Pickens became the first player in Cowboys history to have five touchdowns in his first five games with the team. Pickens didn't score in the opener against the Eagles, but has five in the last four games, including three in the games where CeeDee Lamb (ankle) has been out. Five touchdowns in a season is already tied for Pickens' career-high as he also caught five in 2023 with the Steelers.
15
In just his second NFL game, and one that he didn't even start, Shemar James now finds himself in an elite group of rookies who have had 15 combined tackles in a game. James became the 36th NFL rookie, and just the second Cowboy (Leighton Vander Esch) to have 15 tackles in a single game. Ironically, James replaced an injured Jack Sanborn, who is also on the list, having 15 tackles as a rookie in 2022 with the Bears – also against the Jets.
37
The Cowboys not only put up 37 points on the Jets on Sunday, but it's now the third time they have finished regulation with exactly 37 points. Both of the home overtime games saw the Cowboys get to 40 with a field goal in the extra frame, but after scoring 37 in regulation. Through five games, the Cowboys are averaging 30.1 points per game.
41
Jake Ferguson now has 41 catches on the season, tied for the most by a tight end in NFL history through the first five games of the season. Eric Johnson (2004) and Zach Ertz (2018) both reached the 41-catch mark after five games. Johnson finished with just 82 but Ertz had 116 catches that season, which still stands as an NFL record for tight ends in a single season.
42
The Cowboys were able to end the first half with a pair of touchdowns – scoring twice in a span of 42 seconds. Javonte Williams had a 5-yard rushing touchdown with 57 seconds to play in the second quarter. But after a three-and-out on defense, and then Williams' 66-yard run up the middle to the 1, the Cowboys scored again. Jake Ferguson caught a 1-yard touchdown with 15 seconds left, giving the Cowboys a 23-3 lead.
50.9
After struggling to find a pass rush through the first four weeks, the Cowboys defense registered a 50.9% pressure rate on Sunday afternoon against the Jets. It was their highest mark of the season, and they also notched their quickest average time to pressure of the year with 2.32 seconds. Twelve Dallas defenders recorded a pressure and Dante Fowler led the way with eight, the second most in his career since 2018.
74
In back-to-back weeks, the Cowboys scored two touchdowns in the final minute of the second quarter before the halftime break. Across 74 combined seconds against the Packers and Jets in Weeks 4 and 5, Dallas put up 27 total points to drastically change the course of the game. Against the Packers, the two scores swung the Cowboys from down 13-2 to up 16-13 at the half, and in New York from a 10-3 lead to a 23-3 lead going into the locker room.
81.8
Dak Prescott continues to flourish in the play action passing game, as showcased on Sunday. All four of his passing touchdowns came on play action, as Prescott completed nine of 11 attempts (81.8%) for 98 yards and the four touchdowns. For the year, Prescott has completed 46 of 53 attempts (86.8%) for 463 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions.
100
Two players who didn't waste any time putting in the work on Sunday was Javonte Williams and Ryan Flournoy. Both of them went over 100 yards from scrimmage. Flournoy had 104 first-half receiving yards and Williams had 108 on the ground in the first half. Since the NFL started keeping first-half stats in 1978, no Cowboys duo has ever eclipsed the 100-yard mark in the same half.
