The Dallas Cowboys returned to the winning ways last night with a tough 20-15 win over the New York Giants. You certainly won't win any style points, but a win is a win.

Rico Dowdle and CeeDee Lamb's touchdowns in the first half really made the difference. I'm not sure about you, but I hate Thursday night football games.

Not just when the Cowboys play, every single week. These games are so sloppy, usually one-sided and cause injuries to players who are not needed due to a short week.

55 YARD TD FOR CEEDEE LAMB 🙌

(above @dallascowboys)pic.twitter.com/8ZXlBzbSIR

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 27, 2024

Injury to Micah Parsons

As the game neared the end, the defense was on the field trying to hold Daniel Jones and the Giants offense to no points.

The Cowboys' best defender, Micah Parsons, was carted off the field in the fourth quarter with an apparent leg injury. After the game, reporters asked Parsons in the locker room about the status of his injury.

“Right now I've just put it on hold, you know, I know very little. I have an MRI tomorrow and will try to come back next week,” Parsons said.

Micah Parsons said X-rays on his left foot/ankle came back negative and he will have an MRI on Friday. He said he felt good after the game but was limping afterwards.

— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) September 27, 2024

The good news for the Cowboys and Parsons: He had x-rays taken Thursday evening, which came back negative.

The good news for Dallas is that they now have a short break and have ten days off before playing the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football next week.

I'm not sure 10 days is enough for Micah to recover. We'll see how the MRI goes this morning, but I wouldn't even think about playing him unless he's close to 100%. They know he wants to play, but why would he risk it?

DeMarcus Lawrence

I was watching this as the game was going on and DeMarcus Lawrence was nursing the same foot he hurt while stroking it.

In the second half, Dlaw tried to bring Jones down, but when he failed, he looked like he was rolled up and was limping slightly as he made it to the sideline.

Lawrence already has the team's only sack of the game, his third in four games after two in the season opener against Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns.

People don't understand how big a role Lawrence plays, the Cowboys can't afford to lose their two best pass rushers at the same time. That won't be good for this defense, which has already struggled this season.

The next man

With both Parsons and Dlaw experiencing some pain and unsure if they can advance next week despite the mini-bye, the Cowboys' depth chart needs a new man-up mentality.

Carl Lawson was upgraded for this game, and he took a terrible offside penalty that negated an interception by Trevon Diggs, but he recovered and applied heavy pressure on the right late in the fourth minute when Parsons was injured.

My guess would be that Lawson would be the man, and someone else who gets a lot of time is Parsons, who is out next week, while rookie Marshawn Kneeland will be the man who starts next week if Lawrence doesn't go can. He had one sack in that game.

BAG.

DOWN GOES BIG.

Marshawn Kneeland, cook.

– Patrik (No. C) Walker (@VoiceOfTheStar) September 27, 2024

This team needed this win, no matter what it looked like, but it came at a cost. This team is already so thin everywhere that having two key defensemen out for an extended period is the last thing it needs.

It sounds like everything is fine right now and they'll be fine, but I wouldn't push Micah to play against the Steelers even if there were three extra days off.

This football team has so much to do, but 2-2 is much better than 1-3, I can tell you that.