They are more common in the NFL than anyone cares to admit. You have to win some games that you are not supposed to. This is true because, another thing we try to avoid in reality, you will inevitably lose some games that you should win.

No one is going to act like the Super Bowl was won on an early October night in Pittsburgh. This is especially the case when you are fighting a shadow the size of your worldwide brand the way that the Dallas Cowboys are.

Ultimately the Cowboys won on Sunday night and did so against a Pittsburgh Steelers team that refused to take advantage of the opportunities they were being given. Consider that Dallas, thanks to Dak Prescott, turned the ball over three total times. In the Mike McCarthy era it was only the fourth time that they have done so and gone home as the winners.

As we always do we have put together some thoughts about it all now that we have had a day to reflect on it (with not much sleep given the delay nonsense).

These are difference-making wins

As noted, these wins are massive. They are difference-makers. Quite literally, they turn a 10-7 season into an 11-6 one. You have to find a way to grind these out.

Being capable of doing this is the mark of a great team. This isn’t to say that the Cowboys are a great team, but if they want any chance of being regarded as one when we have fallen back and are wearing hoodies on a regular basis, then they have to stack together wins like this.

What’s more is that things have obviously been rather bad for Dallas on the injury front. Consider that Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, DaRon Bland and Brandin Cooks were all absent from this game. Toss in Caelen Carson if you’d like. Recall then that Marshawn Kneeland left early and that Tyler Guyton also exited before tension fully rose. Finally, remember how little the front office did to the roster (the one we just acknowledged the several weaknesses to) over the course of the offseason. It was a tough scene to say the least.

Yet somehow, some way, the Cowboys won. What’s more is that they won on a night when their quarterback was probably rather upset with the way he played individually for all but the game’s most critical moments. I’ve seen many equate it, in general spirit, to the infamous win against the Buffalo Bills in 2007 when we were far less jaded than we are these days. You don’t need a reminder that the 2007 squad won 13 games and a big reason for that was stacking together the ones that they were not supposed to have.

This was a massive deal and a huge piece of evidence that the Cowboys can say enough is enough and go out and get a win. We did not know if they had that in them. Clearly, they do.

The defensive performance was incredibly surprising and impressive

Prior to Sunday night you did not need to look far to find disparaging information or statistics about the defense. It is or was not hyperbolic to call them one of the worst defenses in the NFL.

A lot of this could have been (and was) diluted down to effort. Dallas was among the worst tackling teams in the NFL through the first four weeks of the season which suggested that they were fine watching opposing players run past them into the arms of congratulations while they were left feeling sorry for themselves. Enter Mike Zimmer.

Let the record show that I remain skeptical of this overall hire and situation, but you cannot deny that Zim had the ‘boys ready to rock in Pittsburgh. Was there a single missed tackle? If so it was inconsequential. And even if the Cowboys did have an oopsie or two we can be forgiving enough of that given the number of toys that Mike Zimmer did not have to play with that he was originally promised.

It was a masterclass at making lemonade with the proverbial lemons.

Ensuring a .500 record at the bye week is a very underrated thing

The Cowboys have a winning streak going for the first time this season, but if we are honest with ourselves it is unlikely to grow as they have a date with the Detroit Lions on Sunday afternoon. Consider that the Cowboys are home underdogs to Detroit as far as opening odds are concerned.

While the Cowboys are undefeated on the road this year, they are looking for their first win in their building since they beat these very Lions in the penultimate game of the regular season last year. Anything is possible and “any given Sunday” and all of that jazz, but it would not be shocking for Dallas to lose.

This is why getting this win, stealing it to our earlier point, was so critical. With the bye (a very necessary one) following the Lions game the Cowboys are assured of entering it with at worst a .500 record. The San Francisco 49ers will wait for Dallas coming out of that which as we know is a test among tests for this group, but all of that and what lies beyond it would look and feel and honestly be a lot more treacherous if the Cowboys came out of their off week with a 2-4 record.

The Dallas Cowboys improved to 3-2 with Sunday night’s upset victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. It may seem odd to say this about a team that’s won 60% of its games this year, but this win is the first one that’s really offered reason for hope about the remainder of the season. Given the opponent and other circumstances, it’s the first 2024 victory that forced Dallas to dig deep for success.

In Week 1, the Cleveland Browns were little more than a sparring partner. While they did boast an elite defense last season, it hasn’t been nearly as good this year. And thanks to offensive line injuries and the continued struggles of QB DeShaun Watson, Dallas was able to bully an opponent that couldn’t even get its gloves up.

The win over the New York Giants wasn’t so one-sided, but that’s only because it was a contest of who could play worse. Dallas barely put down their NFC East rivals thanks mainly to Dak Prescott, who wasn’t even in top form, being a better quarterback than Daniel Jones. Barely beating the Giants was hardly cause for celebration.

While Pittsburgh has its issues, they presented a far more respectable opponent. They entered Sunday night with a 3-1 record, home-field advantage, and expectations to win by an overwhelming majority of analysts. When the game was delayed an hour due to weather, it felt like certain doom for a Cowboys team whose mental toughness has been rightfully questioned this year. The field conditions would also have seemed to lend itself to the Steelers’ style of play.

Then came the injuries for Dallas. Already missing Micah Parsons, DaRon Bland, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Caelen Carson, the Cowboys’ defense lost Marshawn Kneeland early in the game. With Brandin Cooks missing his first game since going to IR, Dallas also saw Tyler Guyton go down and Zack Martin go out for a portion of time.

We knew the Cowboys were in an uphill battle going into the game, and the climb only got steeper with the various circumstances. When Dallas allowed turnovers and a blocked field goal to rob them of points on three different drives, it felt like they’d shot themselves in both feet. We just kept waiting for the Steelers to finally take advantage.

But they didn’t. In spite of everything, including themselves, the Cowboys just kept fighting. Mike Zimmer kept finding ways to MacGyver a capable defense out of limited resources. After a month of tough sledding and limited opportunities, Rico Dowdle was in attack mode on every touch. Jalen Tolbert fought through obvious pain to get back on the field for the game-winning touchdown. And despite his own mistakes and brotherly friction with his star receiver, Dak Prescott stepped up on that final drive to seal the deal for his team.

We haven’t said this often lately, but give Mike McCarthy credit for the heart his team showed. We still saw some classic McCarthy booboos with dumb decisions on when to challenge and not challenge calls, or not taking a shot at the endzone on 3rd-and-long when you’re already well within Brandon Aubrey’s range. But watching Dallas show little fight in the losses to New Orleans and Baltimore (until very late), and this one having plenty of reason to go the same way, we saw a different personality in the team’s performance.

Does it mean anything going forward? It might; it’s amazing how much teams respond to renewed confidence or the perception that the outside world doesn’t believe in them. Dallas has both going for them this week, still seen as the underdog ahead of a big NFC showdown with the Detroit Lions. But if they build on what they did in Pittsburgh, especially in the run game, then the Cowboys may finally find the balance they need to be consistently competitive.

Bethenny Frankel was in town last week for who knows what reason and popped out for dinner. Naturally, someone pointed her towards the perfect place: Mister Charles. Honestly, can you imagine recommending anywhere else in Dallas to her?

In a video posted to her TikTok, Frankel calls it “bougie AF” from a corner booth on the light side of the restaurant and proceeded to rate every dish, after calling select dishes on the menu “serious.”

Frankel was a fan of the Ossetra caviar and egg salad on toasted brioche and the grilled cheese with truffled cheddar and prosciutto from the canapes menu. She referred to the corn and truffle beignets with chive creme fraiche from the appetizers section as “a sexual experience.” From the pasta menu, she ordered the truffle scarpinocc, and at that point the restaurant rated a 10 from her. However, she lowered it to 9.25 moments later, saying the ravioli edges were “too al dente.”

Mister Charles’s Chef Brendan Frankel (no relation, although she did note their shared last name) came out to serve the main course, which was the restaurant’s most expensive cut of beef — a Japanese A5 wagyu strip served with truffled potato and grilled maitake mushrooms. The steak is reviewed by Frankel to be “another level” and deserving of an 11.

Frankel also ordered the seared diver scallops with brown butter from the fish menu. The latter further dinged the restaurant’s score for not being crispy on the outside and being served “warm, not blazing hot.” For her, they are only an 8.

In the end, Frankel gave the restaurant a 9.

There’s a little connection beyond their shared last names with Frankel and the chef: she posted in another TikTok from Dallas that she was staying at the Mansion, where he was the chef before joining Mister Charles. Sadly, we did not get a TikTok review of the new chef at the Mansion.

Glad Dallas didn’t let her down.