The Dallas Cowboys are back where they belong atop the NFC East after their dominant 33-13 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night.
Dak Prescott, Stephon Gilmore, Micah Parsons and Brandon "Butter" Aubrey, who made more NFL history by making field goals of the 60- and 50-yard variety and extending his consecutive made FGs streak to 30 start his career, were catalysts in the win.
Mike McCarthy deserves his own flowers for calling an excellent game and having his team ready to dominate despite being days removed from surgery to address acute appendicitis after he experienced abdominal pain on Wednesday.
While Prescott, Gilmore, McCarthy, Parsons and Aubrey snatched the Monday morning headlines, let's show some love for some previously-struggling Cowboys players who stepped up and helped Dallas dethrone their rivals, shall we?
3. Michael Gallup
Gallup's struggles this season are well-documented. Other than Jourdan Lewis, Gallup has arguably been the most criticized Cowboy in 2023. Early in the year, Dak Prescott had a low success rate when targeting Gallup, who, at the time, drew more looks than Jake Ferguson, Brandin Cooks and KaVontae Turpin.
Gallup has since been phased out of the offense. He's been out-snapped by second-year receiver Jalen Tolbert and his target share has plummeted.
While Gallup wasn't a focal point on Sunday, he came up with some clutch grabs, including a touchdown right before halftime that put Dallas up 24-6. Beyond the TD, Gallup made a big catch on third down in the third quarter and drew a pass interference on Darius Slay on a 3rd and 17.
He also made a beautiful 39-yard catch in the fourth quarter on a pass that had a 17.4% completion probability, per Next Gen Stats. It was arguably a more impressive throw from Prescott, but Gallup made a great over-the-shoulder snag and had the awareness to drag both feet in bounds.
We witnessed vintage Gallup on Sunday. His target share should remain minimal but this win proved he can make an impact in a limited role.
2. Donovan Wilson
The entire Cowboys safety trio came up with big plays, but none were bigger than Donovan Wilson's forced fumble of Jalen Hurts in the first quarter.
The Cowboys had just marched 75 yards for a touchdown on the game's opening drive and the Eagles' offense was driving. It took Philly just seven plays to get into the red zone when Wilson punched the ball loose on a Hurts scramble.
You can never predict a drive's outcome, but it really felt like the Eagles were destined to finish that drive with a touchdown.
Regardless, the turnover turned out to be huge. There's no telling how this game turns out if Philadelphia ties the game there at 7-7. Instead, Dallas regained momentum and kicked a field goal on the ensuing possession to go up 10-0. The fumble injected confidence into the defense and it showed throughout the game.
Wilson has taken his fair share of criticism this season, but he made arguably the play of the game Sunday night and deserves all the praise.
1. DaRon Bland
You can argue no Cowboys player's arrow was trending more down than Bland's coming into Sunday's game.
On Thanksgiving against the Commanders, Bland allowed eight catches on 11 targets for 110 yards. He salvaged that performance with a pick-six that broke the NFL record for most pick-sixes in a season, but he followed that with the worst game of his career -- and maybe the worst game played by a CB in the NFL all season -- when he allowed eight catches on 12 targets for 169 yards and a TD vs the Seahawks.
After two stinkers, Bland was back to his best against the Eagles. He allowed just eight yards on four targets and a 56.3 passer rating, per Pro Football Focus. He also allowed just 1.8 yards of separation and was a force against the run, finishing third on the team with five tackles, including two tackles for loss.
Bland deserves major credit for bouncing back from Week 13. All told, though, we should've seen this bounce-back coming after he made a clutch interception in that game despite laboring through the worst game of his career.
The 24-year-old is back and that is fantastic news for the Cowboys.