The Dallas Cowboys will head to the Bank of America Stadium to meet the Carolina Panthers for Week 6. As the Cowboys hope for a back-to-back victory, quarterback Dak Prescott revealed an amusing advantage in their third straight matchup against the Panthers.

The QB believes that the familiarity with the team, thanks to their previous matchups and, most importantly, defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, who has been with the Panthers since 2023, will work in their favor. “Yeah, most definitely it helps preparation,” Prescott said with confidence. 

He further added, “As you said, seeing them the last three years with the same DC as last year. Anytime you’ve got that, I’m not gonna say it’s like a division game, but there’s a lot of familiarities in just what they’re gonna do, how they’re gonna attack, what we think they’re gonna play us, or maybe a certain look or defense they’re gonna give us that we struggled with last year, so all that helps.”

Evero had great success with the Panthers in his debut season, when the team allowed the 4th-fewest yards (293.9) per game that year. He had an underwhelming second year with the team. However, Evero is back again with the team and head coach Dave Canales. And as Prescott said, this is definitely an upside for the Dallas side, which is already ahead with a 3-2 record in the last ten years.

The Cowboys will aim to extend their streak in Week 6. In the game against the New York Jets, the team got its way with quarterback Justin Fields. And they will look to do the same against quarterback Bryce Young, and will definitely try to force mistakes.

Now, the Panthers aren’t unprepared. Their defense has long focused on “attacking the ball.” This allowed them to get turnovers and disrupt the opposition. This week, the offense is adopting the same approach. Offensive coordinator Brad Idzik has made up his mind. “At the point of attack, we’ve got to go attack the ball.”

The Carolina side has distributed the ball widely, with Young and Andy Dalton targeting 13 different receivers. Young has completed 106 of 174 passes for 951 yards, with seven touchdowns and four interceptions. With a new, aggressive approach, their offense will face tough competition against the Cowboys’ cornerbacks Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland.

And the Panthers aren’t slowing down with their running back Rico Dowdle openly challenging the Cowboys’ defense.

Dak Prescott jokes about Rico Dowdle’s message

With Chuba Hubbard sidelined with a calf injury, Dowdle had one of the best performances as he rushed for a career-high 206 yards against the Miami Dolphins. And he might be up for another interesting one when he faces his former team this week.

Dowdle is excited for the revenge game and didn’t hold back in his predictions and bold claims. “They’ve got to buckle up,” he said. “That was just meaning it’s going to be a very physical game. I take pride in that. Buckle your chinstraps up. I will be coming.”

And in response, the Cowboys QB joked about the RB’s warning. “I mean, we have to — we’re getting on a plane, right?” he declared during his interview.

Even Dallas head coach Brian Schottenheimer also joined in on the game. Jokes aside, both the coach and the QB are well aware of the challenge. “I know we’re going to have to buckle up,” the coach said in response to RB’s comment.

“We’ll bring our seatbelts, Rico. We’ll buckle up. Can’t wait to see him though.”

And at Panthers, Dowdle has garnered praise and acknowledgment from his teammates for his talent. It’s no surprise that the Panthers chose Dowdle. He spent 5 years with the Cowboys, and it’ll be interesting to see what Dowdle brings to the field against his former team. Can he be the tipping point? Guess we’ll find out.