Cowboys–Texans Roundtable: What Does Dallas Need to Show in Houston?

Dallas has shown stretches of good football through three games. On Sunday in Houston, the question isn't whether the Cowboys can flash again. It's whether they can finally put the pieces together for four quarters.

Three games into the season, the Dallas Cowboys remain difficult to define.

They've been good enough to beat Washington. Good enough to erase an 11-point deficit against Baltimore. Good enough to take a fourth-quarter lead in Rio.

They're also 1–2.

Sunday's trip to Houston brings a different kind of test. The Texans are 0–3, which makes this look like the kind of game Dallas should control. But Houston has been here before. The Texans also started 0–3 last season and still reached the playoffs. In fact, only two teams this century have started 0–3 and made the postseason — and both were Houston.

Dallas, meanwhile, comes home from Rio battered on defense and still trying to figure out exactly what it is.

So we brought the table together.

Not to predict a score.

Not to declare Sunday a "must-win" in Week 4.

Just to answer one question:

What do you need to see from the Cowboys in Houston?

Jesse Worrell: A Complete Game

Jesse: I'm going to start with something that sounds ridiculously simple.

I want to see Dallas play one complete football game.

We've seen pieces of it.

The offense moved the ball against Baltimore. The running game finally looked alive. The defense has had stretches where it gets off the field. We've seen young players flash. We've seen Dak Prescott put them in position late.

But every time one part starts working, something else seems to catch fire.

Against Baltimore, Dallas rallied from 24–13 down and eventually took a 28–24 lead. Then Baltimore answered. Dallas tied it with seven seconds left. Then the Ravens somehow got themselves into field-goal range and won 34–31.

At some point, "almost" has to become a win.

I don't need Dallas to beat Houston by three touchdowns.

I need to see them stop creating problems they then have to heroically solve.

Gabby: So your standard is basically less drama?

Jesse: I'd happily accept one boring Sunday.

Marty: You're running the wrong website for that.

Marty Gaines: Finish the Damn Game

Marty: Jesse used the polite version.

I'll use mine.

Finish the damn game.

Baltimore bothered me because Dallas did a lot of things winning teams are supposed to do. They got punched. They responded. They came back. They took the lead.

Then they left the door cracked.

And Baltimore walked through it.

Christian Parker has already acknowledged that he'd change that final defensive call. He said he had another call in mind, overthought the situation and would handle it differently if it came up again.

Good.

That's accountability.

But the important part comes next.

What happens the next time Dallas has somebody backed up with the game on the line?

That's what I want to see Sunday.

Football gives you plenty of chances to learn lessons. The problem is it usually charges you a loss for the education.

Theo: That's almost profound.

Marty: Write down the date.

Theo Marsh: Don't Play Houston's Record

Theo: My concern is simpler.

Dallas cannot play the 0–3 Houston Texans.

They have to play the Houston Texans.

There's a difference.

That record invites assumptions, and Houston has already demonstrated how misleading an 0–3 start can be. Last season's Texans started exactly where they are now and still reached the playoffs.

C.J. Stroud has said this week that the experience is part of why he remains confident despite another 0–3 beginning.

That doesn't mean history repeats itself.

It means Dallas shouldn't expect Houston to behave like a team waiting for its season to end.

They're at home. They're desperate. And they're looking at Dallas as an opportunity to change the direction of their season.

Julian: Which means the first quarter matters a lot.

Theo: Exactly.

Don't let them discover confidence while you're still settling into the game.

Julian Vance: Make Houston Chase the Game

Julian: That's the matchup piece for me.

Dallas has spent too much time reacting.

Something goes wrong, and then the Cowboys respond.

They fall behind, then the offense wakes up.

They give up a drive, then Dak has to answer.

I'd like to see Dallas reverse that equation.

Score early. Get a stop. Make Houston play from behind.

The conversation around Houston this week has included whether its offense needs to lean more heavily on C.J. Stroud and the passing game rather than trying to establish itself as a run-first team.

If Dallas can get Houston chasing points, Christian Parker gets to dictate more of the conversation.

And that's especially important because his defense still isn't healthy.

DeMarvion Overshown and Cobie Durant are out. Malik Hooker and Shavon Revel were full participants Friday, which gives Dallas some reason for optimism in the secondary, and the Cowboys may also have newly acquired Joey Porter Jr. available in some capacity.

You don't want a defense that's already been shuffled by injuries playing another 70 snaps in a one-score street fight.

Gabby: So your defensive strategy is score more points?

Julian: Revolutionary, I know.

Marty: Put him on staff.

Gabby Whitfield: Stop Trying to Decide What This Team Is

Gabby: I'm going somewhere different.

I don't think I need Sunday to tell me whether Dallas is "good."

And I don't think a loss automatically tells me they're bad.

We're three games into a seventeen-game season.

That's a tiny sample.

We've already watched opinions swing after every Sunday. One week somebody looks fixed. The next week they're broken. Then they're fixed again.

Maybe we should stop trying to solve the entire season every seven days.

What I want to see is evidence.

Does the running game continue what it showed against Baltimore?

Does the defense communicate better after what happened in the final seconds in Rio?

Do the penalties and turnovers come down?

Can Dallas handle adversity without turning every mistake into an emergency?

Those things tell us something.

"Dallas beat an 0–3 team, therefore everything is fine" doesn't.

Neither does the opposite.

Jesse: You've been reading your own articles.

Gabby: Somebody has to.

Marty: I wait for the movie.

What About Joey Porter Jr.?

Jesse: We haven't talked about the newest Cowboy yet.

If Dallas puts Joey Porter Jr. out there Sunday, how much do you expect from him?

Julian: Expectations have to be reasonable.

He's joining a new defense during the season. Even if the physical part is fine, terminology and communication matter at corner — especially in a secondary already dealing with injuries.

I wouldn't judge the trade based on his first afternoon in a Cowboys uniform.

Theo: Agreed. The temptation will be to watch every snap because he's new.

But the more important question is whether his presence eventually gives Parker more flexibility.

Marty: I'll make it simpler.

If he plays, don't ask him to save the defense.

Ask him to do his job.

Gabby: Look at Marty bringing us back to reasonable expectations.

Marty: Don't get used to it.

Jesse: Maybe That's the Answer

Maybe we've been circling the same answer from five directions.

Dallas doesn't need to show us that it's a Super Bowl team Sunday.

It doesn't need to prove the Baltimore loss was meaningless.

And it doesn't need to solve every problem on the roster before lunch.

It needs to show progress.

Finish drives.

Finish tackles.

Finish quarters.

And if the Cowboys have the game in their hands late, finish the game.

Houston will have its own ideas. An 0–3 team playing at home doesn't need much encouragement to start believing Sunday is where its season changes.

Dallas shouldn't give it any.

Three games have given us flashes.

Sunday would be a good time to give us four quarters.

By The Doomsday Legacy Editorial Team