A flashback to Week 2 Sunday at AT&T Stadium. Jerry Jones’ sharp gaze follows the game from his suite. Javonte Williams slams into the end zone with a kind of fury that belongs on highlight reels. Most of the crowd roars, while some are stunned silent. Four rushing touchdowns in two games? For a franchise that turned goal-line carries into punchlines last year, this feels more like a reboot than a new season. After years of watching the run game stall in the red zone, the Cowboys suddenly have a ground attack that’s not just functional; it’s ferocious. The Dallas Cowboys’ energy, led by Brian Schottenheimer, feels different, like someone handed the locker room a playbook for swagger.

Brian Schottenheimer breathed instructions into his headset, his mouth guarded by the charts. Whatever he said seems to have worked. Gone is the dry spell. Dallas had 6 rushing TDs in total last season, but that has already been almost matched. Williams hammered home three of those scores, a feat last seen by Dallas back in Marion Barber’s 2008 season. Miles Sanders chipped in with another, showing that this is no one-man miracle. The other man behind the magic? OC Klayton Adams, whose Arizona playbook brought 18 ground strikes last year, now blends with Schottenheimer’s no-nonsense approach. “Good red zone teams run the ball into the end zone,” reminds ESPN’s Todd Archer. And for the first time in ages, Cowboys linemen are pounding lanes open, not just occupying space.

The effect is instantaneous. Dak Prescott finds more spaces to throw, linemen dish out punishment with purpose, and every running back springs as if it’s contract year. If this continues, the nail-biting victory against the Giants might just be the first of many coming this season. As Todd Archer further notes, “If the Cowboys can be a threat on the ground inside the opponents’ 20, it will help Dak Prescott and his pass catchers find some space, too.” For now, it looks like the aggression is rubbing off on everyone, making red zone trips a celebration rather than a wait for disappointments.

Last season’s running woes haunted every close loss; even Jerry Jones made finding a fix the public priority. Now, Williams and Sanders have transformed that narrative. The Cowboys are executing Arizona-inspired run schemes and finally playing with a punch that doesn’t fade after halftime. It’s blue-collar, it’s mean, and for Dallas, it’s exactly what the doctor ordered. As the Cowboys gear up to face the Bears in Week 3, they’re well placed to break their last season’s record long before September ends. But to do that, there’s something critical the Cowboys must fix: the defensive gaps.

Defensive woes: Dallas’ next hurdle

While the offense turned heads, with major help from the special teams, the Week 2 battle with the Giants exposed a softer underbelly. For all the running game swagger, Dallas’ defense struggled. Russell Wilson alone torches the defense for 450 yards and 3 TDs. He even rushed for 23 yards across 3 carries. The Giants didn’t just find open spaces; they exploited indecision. Fast offensive starts can mask defensive flaws, but repeat these breakdowns and the Cowboys’ ground resurgence risks being overshadowed.

Compared to the previous regime of Mike Zimmer, new DC Matt Eberflus has focused the first two weeks purely on zone coverage more than anything. But against Wilson’s classic deep-ball threats, the strategy faltered. As Nick Harris aptly points out, “The Cowboys secondary had problems all over the field, but the deep ball specifically made this win a lot harder than it needed to be for the team as a whole.” Wilson found targets over 20 yards in the game seven times, and the defense could only watch those passes drop to Wilson’s receivers from high in the sky.

Assignment busts sparked big gains, missed alignments led to yardage hemorrhages, and tackling angles fell apart in the second half. Moving forward, defensive cohesion won’t just be a trend for Dallas; it will be a necessity if playoff hopes are going to survive on both sides of the ball. For now, the Cowboys Nation celebrates an offense reborn, hoping that Brian Schottenheimer’s solution isn’t a fleeting fix. But if the defense can close the gaps exposed against New York, Dallas may finally have both halves of a championship-caliber squad. We wait to see that in action vs. the Bears on Sunday, September 21.