Cowboys 2025 Season in Review

Dak Prescott threw thirty touchdown passes and finished fourth in the entire league. Fourth. On a seven-win team. Here's how this offense climbed into the top five in expected points added, why the defense dragged the whole thing into the ditch, and the single number that explains why Dallas watched January from the couch. Seven and nine and one. Missed the playoffs, fifth among NFC non-playoff teams. The offense smashed. The defense got muffed. That's the 2025 Cowboys in one breath.

The team-level split is almost cartoonish. The offense finished plus one hundred seven expected points added — fifth in the league, eighty-eighth percentile. The defense? Plus one hundred seventy-one point nine expected points added allowed. Dead last. Thirty-second of thirty-two — and remember, on defense you want that number negative. A big positive means you got carved up. Turnover differential tells the same story: just eleven takeaways all season, thirty-first in the league. The week-to-week ride was pure boom-or-bust — a forty-forty tie with Green Bay, a forty-four to twenty-two demolition of Washington, a forty-four to twenty-four loss in Denver, a thirty-four to seventeen flop at the Giants to close it out. When the offense was on, Dallas could beat anybody. The rest of the time, it was a track meet they couldn't win.

Now let's talk about the passing offense, because this is where Dallas lived. Plus one hundred seven point three expected points added on six hundred fifty-eight dropbacks — fourth in the league, ninety-first percentile. Two hundred sixty-seven point eight passing yards a game. Prescott's completion percentage over expected was plus four point four, third among qualified starters, and the protection held up — thirty-one sacks allowed, eighty-fourth percentile. Prescott went four hundred of six hundred for four thousand five hundred fifty-two yards, thirty touchdowns, ten interceptions. The moment that captured it: Week 7 against Washington, third and eleven from their own fourteen, Prescott hit KaVontae Turpin in stride for an eighty-six-yard touchdown — plus seven point nine seven expected points on a single snap. That's a top-five passing offense doing top-five passing offense things, and the chemistry with George Pickens — ninety-three catches, fourteen hundred twenty-nine yards, nine touchdowns — was the engine all year.

Now let's dig into the rushing offense, because nobody saw this unit coming. Four point six yards a carry, ninth in the league, seventy-fifth percentile. Twenty-one hundred thirty-six rushing yards, one hundred twenty-five point seven a game. The expected points added was a hair below water — minus nine point three on four hundred sixty-five carries, league-average efficiency — but the volume, the yards per carry, and the red-zone punch were all real. Javonte Williams carried this group: two hundred fifty-two attempts, twelve hundred one yards, four point eight a clip, eleven rushing touchdowns — eighth in the league in rushing scores, with plus one hundred fifty-six point five rush yards over expected. Steady floor, not boom-or-bust. Williams gave Dallas a real second gear on early downs and finished drives at the goal line.

Next up, the pass defense — and brace yourself, because this is where the season fell apart. Plus one hundred thirty point eight expected points added allowed through the air. Sixth percentile, near the floor of the league. Thirty-five sacks, thirty-first percentile. Just six interceptions all year, part of the eleven total takeaways that ranked thirty-first. Two hundred sixty-five point nine passing yards allowed a game, thirty-five touchdown passes surrendered. Third-down stop rate was sixth percentile — they could not get off the field. Sam Williams forced a Jalen Hurts fumble in the Week 12 win over Philadelphia that flipped a tie game, but the season-long verdict is the verdict: worst pass defense in football by expected points added, and there's no spin that fixes it.

And the run defense was no better. Plus forty-one point one expected points added allowed on the ground — ninth percentile, near the bottom of the league. Two thousand one hundred fifty-three rushing yards allowed, one hundred twenty-six point six a game, twenty-four rushing touchdowns surrendered. Per carry, opponents averaged plus zero point zero nine expected points every time they handed it off. No standout, no anchor, no week where the front held up against a real rushing attack. Forty-four to Denver, forty-four to Detroit, forty to Green Bay in that wild tie, thirty-four three different times in losses. When you can't stop the run and you can't stop the pass, a top-five offense gets you seven wins. That's where Dallas landed.