Using the Salvation Army red kettles for touchdown celebrations has been common for the Dallas Cowboys over the years. During last year’s 45-10 Thanksgiving Day win over the Washington Commanders, Cowboys QB Dak Prescott and a few teammates ran over and grabbed turkey legs out of one of the kettles following a fourth-quarter touchdown.
It appears the Cowboys were set up for something similar Thursday. In the kettles this year: chicken nuggets. Inside of each kettle was a bag that contained a red box filled with nuggets shaped like the Cowboys’ star logo.
Maybe they were only there in case of a big touchdown late or one in a blowout victory. Thursday’s 27-20 victory over the two-win New York Giants was the Cowboys’ first home win since last December.
It would’ve been entertaining to see what the plan was for the nuggets, but unfortunately it just never happened. We didn’t find the nuggets until after postgame locker room availability so none of the players were asked about them.
Did we miss out on a potential Dallas Cowboys chicken nuggets TD celebration today? These were in the red kettles in the back of the end zones pic.twitter.com/D4sgu7sSWF
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) November 29, 2024
Bland’s timing
The timing of DaRon Bland’s return to action this season has been a significant storyline, especially after he suffered a setback which pushed things back a month. Bland finally made his season debut Sunday against the Washington Commanders and played again on Thanksgiving against the Giants.
Bland is a known playmaker, somebody who can not just intercept passes but also convert those interceptions to touchdowns. Bland hasn’t done that yet in his first two games but the timing of his return has been critical for the Cowboys.
Trevon Diggs has been inactive for the past two games due to injury. If Bland was still out as well, the Cowboys’ secondary would be left in pretty bad shape. Instead, Jourdan Lewis has been a consistent producer in the slot and the Cowboys found something in Josh Butler against the Commanders. Butler suffered a knee injury against the Giants that did not look good, but he filled in admirably in a spot that Caelen Carson, who is now on injured reserve, had struggled.
Butler’s status remains unknown but Diggs has the mini-bye week to get healthy. The Cowboys will face Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and the Bengals next Monday night at AT&T Stadium. Getting all three cornerbacks on the field together would provide a huge boost.
Curious sequence
Winning is the best deodorant, and because the Cowboys beat the Giants, a lot of the focus will go toward the positive developments that helped make that happen. But if the Cowboys had found a way to lose the game, there’s a sequence early in the fourth quarter that would have come under heavy scrutiny and raised the temperature of Mike McCarthy’s seat.
The Cowboys led 27-13, needing to burn as much clock as possible to reach the finish line. Rico Dowdle had showed in the first quarter how good things happened when he was involved, and how things could go stale if he wasn’t in the mix, such as what happened in the second quarter.
With just under 12 minutes left in the game, Dowdle popped off for 18 yards to give the Cowboys a first down, right around midfield. It felt like another five minutes could easily come off the clock as they incrementally moved forward and ate up the clock. Instead, Cooper Rush threw three consecutive passes (two incompletions) and the Cowboys punted with 10 minutes left in regulation.
The Giants are the Giants, so they turned that clock mismanagement into a three-and-out but it was a curious sequence nonetheless. On the Cowboys’ next drive, they fed Dowdle the ball on all four plays. On their final drive, there was a balance of handing the ball to Dowdle and throwing when necessary.
Injury updates
Micah Parsons pointed out during his postgame interview on Fox that the Dallas defense should be improving as it gets back Diggs (groin/knee) and DE DeMarcus Lawrence (foot). Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Friday morning on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas that Lawrence will “more than likely” be back for the Cowboys’ next game, Dec. 9 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Jones also added that WR CeeDee Lamb should be ready for Dallas’ next game. Lamb left Thursday’s game with a shoulder injury.
(Top photo: Sam Hodde / Getty Images)
