In a parity-filled, unpredictable 2025 season, perhaps no team matches their overall record better the Dallas Cowboys.
At 3-4-1, Dallas has been good enough to win (and in one instance, tie) shootouts. The Cowboys have also been porous enough defensively to get shredded by the likes of Denver, Carolina and the Russell Wilson-led Giants, with the last being the most damning fact of all.
It's been evident from the first week of the season: The Cowboys are an offensively driven team, powered by a unit capable of scoring enough to keep them in most games thanks in large part to the excellent play of quarterback Dak Prescott.
That's understandably not satisfactory for first-year coach Brian Schottenheimer.
"None of us have done good enough. Coaches, players, head coach, none of us have done good enough," Schottenheimer told reporters on Wednesday. "That's real. Our scorecard is what it is. That's not just defensively, that's offensively. We're a football team that's 3-4-1. You can take the stats on offense and shove 'em up your a-- as far as I'm concerned."
On one side of the ball, the stats are inspiring. The Cowboys rank second in total yards per game, first in passing yards per game and 13th in rushing. They're scoring the second-most points per contest in the NFL (30.8), giving themselves a chance nearly every week.
Prescott has compiled a season that might rival his best in his pro career, completing 70.3 percent of his passes for 2,096 yards, a 16-5 TD-INT ratio and a passer rating of 101.6, production good enough both in the box score and on tape to earn a top-five ranking in NFL.com's QB Index for most of the campaign.
Defensively, though, they've been a sieve. An inconsistent Broncos offense torched the Cowboys on Sunday for 44 points, 426 yards and a third-down conversion rate north of 50 percent.
When Dallas' offense crumbled (to the tune of two Prescott interceptions, a rare occurrence in an otherwise stellar season), the Broncos buried the opposition and reminded folks of the Cowboys' weaknesses.
"It is what it is. We want to win," Schottenheimer said. "People talk about, hey, MVP and this and that. Dak Prescott doesn't want to win MVP. He wants to win a Super Bowl. That's what we want to win. We're not there yet. We've not played that consistently, well enough to certainly be in that discussion, but that doesn't mean the journey stops. It certainly doesn't stop. You get more focused, you get more intentional, and we've got to do it together."
Dallas returns home to host Arizona -- a team battling its own offensive inconsistencies -- on Monday night before reaching the Week 10 bye. If Schottenheimer's squad is going to maximize their remaining chances, they'll need to start with a win over the Cardinals and continue the momentum against the lowly Las Vegas Raiders following the bye.
It's evident Schottenheimer is frustrated. We'll see if that invigorates his club as we arrive at the midpoint of the season.