FRISCO, TX – There weren’t many chances left for the Dallas Cowboys to lose their game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, another one seemingly popping up again and again over the course of the game and even before (hello, Mother Nature). They overcame all kinds of adversity, including their own, to move to 3-2 on the season and post the first winning streak of their 2024 season.

But it’s also true that, as mentioned, there’s a lot of cleaning to do ahead of Week 6’s battle with the visiting Detroit Lions – namely the penalties and turnovers that plagued them in the Steel City – swimming against the tide of eleven penalties and three turnovers to escape with a narrow three-point victory.

It was due in large part to an outstanding performance by a vastly undermanned defense that kept Justin Fields at bay, a carousel offensive line and rushing attack that punched well above their weight class, a third-year receiver who delivered an old play and an All-Pro quarterback who simply refused to accept that he had not helped him do so.

“I think yesterday was our best game as a football team, our best game of complementary football,” head coach Mike McCarthy said Monday. “If the offense has the ball longer than the defense, that’s a good thing. We were (offensively) above 70-plus plays.”

The Cowboys did gain time of possession, which in itself is key, but that also meant they produced an attacking split that McCarthy really liked. While Prescott threw the ball 42 times, the Cowboys rushing attack fell behind Rico Dowdle by a career day.

The offense finished with 31 rushing attempts, with McCarthy previously noting that his weekly goal is “around 30” for the ground attack.

And thus all things are perfectly balanced, or at least close.

Thanos knew. He always knew.

“We got some trips to the plate where the ball was distributed well,” McCarthy said. “Those were the things that are very important every week, let alone playing in Pittsburgh. Achieving that and running the football is a big part of that. And speaking of complementary football, how often do you lose the turnover ratio like we did? to play three times less and win the match? That is a huge honor for the fight and resilience of our football team.”

Sometimes the greatest compliment is to complement it.

Two things can be true at the same time, as is the case with the Cowboys’ win over the Steelers in primetime.

The first is that they still have a lot of work to do to avoid incessantly shooting themselves in the foot as they get closer to and inside the red zone. The second is that it’s hard to win in the NFL, so no one should expect an apology for winning in Week 5 for not being nominated for prom queen by media pundits.

Get the win, get better and saddle up for next week.