Dallas Cowboys Week 5 Preview: At New York Jets

Cover photo: Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott under center against the New York Jets in 2023 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Photo credit: Tim Heitman, Imagn Images

The Dallas Cowboys battled the Green Bay Packers to a standstill tie last Sunday night in Arlington, in a 40-40 contest that stands as the second-highest scoring tie in NFL history. 

The 1-2-1 Cowboys travel to East Rutherford, N.J. for Week 5 to take on the winless New York Jets (0-4) at MetLife Stadium at 1 p.m. eastern time on Sunday afternoon. Needing a win in a major way, the Cowboys will have to do so with somewhat of a depleted lineup. 

Center Cooper Beebe and right guard Tyler Booker remain out multiple weeks, and though star receiver CeeDee Lamb was on the practice field getting some work in this week, he remains out with his high ankle sprain suffered against the Chicago Bears in Week 3. Backup running back Miles Sanders has knee and ankle issues and likely will not play on Sunday, returner KaVonte Turpin has a foot injury and will miss Sunday’s game, star left guard Tyler Smith has a knee issue and will only play in case of emergency according to ESPN’s Todd Archer, and linebacker Kenneth Murray Jr. was limited all week with a knee injury and is questionable for Sunday. Receiver Jonathan Mingo and Caelen Carson, both with knee issues, were limited all week and are questionable. Both will need a open roster spot in order to play as they are in the 21-day practice window, meaning that the Cowboys have three weeks to either activate both players to the 53-man roster, and make moves to create room for them on the roster, or they will be placed on injured reserve, which would end their season.

Cornerback Trevon Diggs, after being limited all week in practice, was a full participant on Friday and will play on Sunday. Malik Hooker, one of the team’s starting safeties, has a toe injury and will miss a couple of weeks. In for Hooker will be 25-year-old reserve safety Juanyeh Thomas, who has good size at 6 foot, 3 inches tall and 217 pounds. Sunday will be Thomas’ second career start. Right tackle Tyler Guyton suffered a concussion against the Packers and is out for Sunday. Defensive end Marshawn Kneeland did not practice Friday due to a knee issue and is questionable for Sunday. 

The injuries that have piled up for the Cowboys come at an inopportune time, as the team at 1-2-1 with its No. 1 offense yardage-wise (404.3 yards per game and 28.5 points per game, 5th) and No. 32 defense (420.5 yards per game allowed; 33.0 points allowed, 2nd-worst) cannot afford a loss in a division with the 4-0 Philadelphia Eagles and a conference that boasts the 4-1 San Francisco 49ers, and 3-1 Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Detroit Lions. Only the Baltimore Ravens allow more points per game (33.3) than the Cowboys. The team always has aspirations of making the playoffs, and if they want a shot at it with this talented offensive group, all of their starters will have to come through in a game that is a winnable game. 

The Cowboy offense has put up 20, 40, 14, and 40 points this season, a slightly inconsistent but overall clearly productive offense led by quarterback Dak Prescott’s 1,119 passing yards (319 yards and three touchdowns against the Packers). Prescott’s 1,119 yards are second in the NFL to the Los Angeles Rams’ Matthew Stafford (1,503), who threw for 389 yards and three touchdowns in the Rams’ 26-23 home loss on Thursday night to the 49ers. Cowboy receiver George Pickens was outstanding last Sunday night against the Packers, catching eight balls for 134 yards and two touchdowns. If people doubted whether Pickens could pick up the receiving slack in the absence of Lamb, he answered those questions with a dominant performance. 

Running back Javonte Williams ran for 85 yards on 20 carries and a score against the Packers. His 312 yards rushing are eighth in the league through four weeks. University of Texas rookie Jaydon Blue (5 feet, 9 inches and 196 pounds), who ran a 4.38 forty-yard dash at the Draft Combine and has been on the Cowboy practice squad to begin the season, will give the Cowboy offense some additional juice on Sunday in Turpin’s absence. The Jet defense, which gives up the fourth-most points per game in the league at 30.0, ranks 20th in the NFL in yards allowed at 330.3. Conversely, their passing defense is 12th, allowing 199.8 passing yards per game. The unit is 25th in run defense allowing 130.5 yards per game, which should bode well for the Cowboys albeit with their potentially makeshift offensive line.

The Jet offense meanwhile ranks 21st in the NFL in yards at 304.8 per game. Quarterback Justin Fields has thrown for 471 yards and two touchdowns this season (65% completion, 100.1 quarterback rating). The team boasts the third-best rushing attack in the NFL at 144.5 yards per game behind both running back Breece Hall and the dual-threat Fields. Hall has run for 238 yards on the season but only one touchdown. Fields has run for 178 yards and three touchdowns. He is a focal point for a Cowboy defense that allowed Jalen Hurts, another dual-threat quarterback, to run for 62 yards and two touchdowns in Week 1. 

The winless Jets lost convincingly, 30-10, in Week 2 to the Buffalo Bills, but battled the Pittsburgh Steelers in a shootout in Week 1, a 34-32 Steeler win. The team lost 29-27 to the Buccaneers in Week 3 and in Week 4 on Monday Night Football lost 27-21 to the Miami Dolphins. The Jets accumulated 394 total yards against the Steelers, with Hall running for 107 yards (5.6 yards per carry) against a talented Steeler defense. Fields in that game ran for 48 yards and two touchdowns. Fields did not play against the Buccaneers due to concussion protocol. Against the Dolphins, he completed 20-of-27 passes for 226 yards and one touchdown. He also ran for 81 yards (one touchdown) on seven rushes, and Hall ran for 81 yards on 14 carries. The Cowboy defense has allowed 123.3 rushing yards per game, 18th in the NFL through four weeks. The defense will need to spy Fields, ideally with weakside linebacker Damone Clark or maybe Shemar James if James ends up starting for Murray Jr. It will be crucial that the Cowboy defense does not allow Fields to run for chunk yardage like they allowed Hurts. According to defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, James Houston may see more snaps at end. Houston, who had an all important strip sack of Packer quarterback Jordan Love last Sunday, leads the Cowboys in pass rush win rate and sacks (2) through four games. He has an overall grade in 2025 of 73.6 according to PFF. As a rookie in 2022, he tallied eight sacks in seven games with the Detroit Lions. He has good power and decent speed and has been the Cowboys’ best pass rusher so far in 2025. Jadeveon Clowney will play his second game as a Cowboy on Sunday. He had one solo tackle against the Packers and was solid defending the run. He figures to get more snaps against the Jets.

Archer also reported Sunday morning that the Cowboys’ offensive line for the game will be Nate Thomas (LT), Hakeem Adeniji (LG), Brock Hoffman (Center), T.J. Bass (RG), and Terence Steele (RT). Thomas and Adeniji are making their first career starts. Adeniji, 27 years old, was a sixth-round pick in 2020 by the Cincinnati Bengals. With now a patchwork unit that only retains one starter for the game, the Cowboys will be challenged just like they were in Weeks 2 (New York Giants) and 4 (Packers) as they face All-Pro Jet defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. The 2022 All-Pro made the Pro Bowl each season from 2022-2024. He registered 23.5 total sacks in those three seasons and has one in 2025. Give credit to the Cowboy line though for their performance against the Packers in allowing just one sack. Big name absences for the Jets in practice leading up to Sunday include end Jermaine Johnson II, who did not practice all week due to an ankle and is questionable for Sunday. Nickel corner Michael Carter II is out for Sunday with a concussion. 

The Jets will employ star cornerback Sauce Gardner against Pickens. Gardner was the NFL’s 2022 Defensive Rookie of the Year and in 2022 and 2023 was 1st team All-Pro. In two career games against the Jets (2022 and 2024), Pickens has 11 catches for 213 yards and one touchdown. He caught six passes for 102 yards in the 2022 game and five catches for 111 in 2024. Gardner will likely follow Pickens on Sunday, meaning Prescott’s prime target will be matched against one of the league’s best cornerbacks. 

On the flip side, the Cowboy secondary will have to contend with 2022 Offensive Rookie of the Year Garrett Wilson. The 25-year-old caught 10 balls for 84 yards against the Buccaneers and six catches for 82 yards against the Dolphins, scoring a touchdown in each game. Rookie second-round tight end Mason Taylor, the son of former Dolphins’ legend Jason Taylor, is at 6 foot, 5 inches and 251 pounds going to be a task for the Cowboy defense. Taylor caught five passes for 65 yards against the Dolphins in Week 4, though he was limited in Thursday’s practice with an ankle injury. If he does play, he will be an issue for a defense that allowed the Packers’ Tucker Kraft to catch five passes for 56 yards in Week 4. Wilson and Taylor will be a problem for a Cowboy secondary that has allowed long gainers and big yardage to the likes of Malik Nabers (9 catches, 167 yards, two touchdowns), Wan’dale Robinson (8 catches, 142 yards, two touchdowns), Rome Odunze (3 catches, 62 yards, touchdown), Luther Burden (3 catches, 101 yards, touchdown), and Romeo Doubs (6 catches, 58 yards, three touchdowns) all season. Notice how all season makes it seem like we are further into it. Although we are just four weeks in, in many ways it seems like longer for the lackluster Cowboy defense. The Cowboys will win this game if their offensive line holds up and if their defense can string together a couple of stops, the latter of which just has not happened yet in 2025. The Jets can win this game by getting their running game going with both Hall and Fields and getting big plays down the field, which the Cowboys have given up many of this season. Jet star defensive tackle Williams can also be a game wrecker on Sunday especially playing against what could be a reserve offensive line with the starter Steele being the only exception at right tackle.

The Cowboys and Jets last faced each other on September 17, 2023, with the Cowboys emerging victorious 30-10. The Cowboys though have lost their last two road games against the Jets at MetLife Stadium - 27-24 in the 2011 season and 24-22 in 2019. Jets’ head coach Aaron Glenn has a history with the Cowboys, having played cornerback for the team in 2005 and 2006 under Bill Parcells. You know that he will have his team ready to play especially with the group looking for their first win.

Sunday afternoon figures to be another high scoring game. The Cowboy defense all season has shown nothing to indicate that they will be holding offenses down anytime soon. Fields is an explosive player as is Wilson, and Hall is a dynamic running back. The Jets will score points against a generous Cowboy defense that is banged up. The No. 1 offense in the league figures too though to score its share on Sunday afternoon. 

Prediction: Cowboys 34 Jets 31