And we’re off
As this game readies for a delayed kickoff, Dallas receives the opening kickoff. Watch whether the Cowboys can get any semblance of a running game going. They have averaged 75.3 rush yards per game this season — dead last in the league.
What happened to Dallas’ vaunted defense?
Through their first four games under defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer this season, the Cowboys rank 26th in total defense (355.3 yds/gm) and are tied for 27th in scoring defense (26.0 points/game). The defense has stood strong in each of Dallas’ two wins but have been torched in both losses.
Zimmer took over for Dan Quinn, who was the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator for the last three years (2021-2023) before taking the head coaching job in Washington this offseason.
SNF to kick off at 9:45 p.m. ET
With rain and thunderstorms passing over Pittsburgh, tonight’s “Sunday Night Football” matchup is expected to start at 9:45 p.m. ET.
The game went into a weather delay before the start of the first quarter. If it starts at 9:45, the game will have been delayed by nearly 90 minutes. Buckle up, it’s going to be a late one, everybody.
Mike Tomlin not ready to name a permanent QB
Prior to Week 4, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was asked about naming a permanent starting QB moving forward. However, he said there was “no need” to do that at this time:
“There’s no need… When (Russell Wilson) gets to an appropriate point of health and we have a decision to make, I’ll make it and I’ll announce it and I’ll be really transparent about it. But until then, I don’t care how many ways you guys ask me, I got no intentions of making the decision that’s unnecessary at this juncture.”
This week, Tomlin was asked if they would continue to go with Fields when Wilson returns from his calf injury.
“There’s a potential for that,” Tomlin said. “But we’re not there as a I stand here today.”
Steelers riding with Justin Fields
This offseason, the Steelers signed QB Russell Wilson and traded for QB Justin Fields, sending the Bears a conditional 6th-round pick. Wilson, who dealt with a calf injury throughout preseason, was named the starting quarterback ahead of Week 1.
However, Wilson is yet to play this season due to his injury, with Fields thrust into the starting role and winning his first three starts for Pittsburgh before the Week 4 loss at the Colts.
In his three NFL seasons prior to this one (all with Chicago), Fields only won more than three games once (5-8 in 13 starts last season).
This season, Fields has completed 70.6% of his passes for 830 passing yards with three passing touchdowns and one interception. He also has 145 rushing yards and has scored all three of the Steelers’ rushing scores this season.
Cowboys TE Jake Ferguson stepping up
Jake Ferguson is second on Dallas in catches (16) and third on the team in receiving yards (159), having played in three games (he missed Week 2 vs. New Orleans with a knee injury). Since his return from injury, Ferguson has a team-high 13 catches for 144 yards (second on the team) over the last two games.
CeeDee Lamb living up to big offseason contract
The star WR leads Dallas in every major receiving category this season (20 receptions, 316 receiving yds, 2 receiving touchdowns), which he also did each of the last two seasons. In the Week 4 win at the Giants, he had season highs in catches (7) and receiving yards (98) and scored on a 55-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter.
Last season, Lamb posted career highs in receptions (135 — most in the NFL), receiving yards (1,749 — second in NFL behind Tyreek Hill) and receiving touchdowns (12 — third in the NFL behind Hill and Mike Evans), earning his first All-Pro selection and his third straight Pro Bowl nod.
▪ Lamb’s 135 receptions and 1,749 receiving yards were Cowboys’ franchise records (passing Hall of Famer Michael Irvin’s 1995 marks), and he became the 4th Cowboy with three straight seasons of 1,000+ receiving yards (Irvin, Terrell Owens and Dez Bryant).
Mike McCarthy’s Cowboys facing pressure to get over the hump
At 2-2, the Cowboys are off to their worst start since 2020, coach Mike McCarthy’s first season in charge and the only year in his tenure in which Dallas missed the playoffs (finished 6-10 in 2020).
After Dallas’ Week 2 loss vs. the Saints, owner Jerry Jones said McCarthy — who is in the final year of his contract — would be judged on postseason success.
“ I don’t think where (McCarthy ) is with his contract has anything to do with [the Week 1 win at] Cleveland … or how we played (in Week 2 loss vs NO ). We’re trying to get this team ready and in place to really make a run at the playoffs . … If we’ve got any albatross around our neck, it’s that we’ve been a good-to-very- good team during the season over the last four to five years with Mike, and we haven’t done well in the playoffs. So let’s trade some challenges during the season for doing well in the playoffs, if you want to look at it that way.”
Matchup of historic NFL teams
The Cowboys and Steelers are two of the NFL’s most storied teams, and this week, they’ll meet on SNF for the first time.
• Dallas and Pittsburgh have combined to win 11 Super Bowl titles (six for Pittsburgh, five for Dallas) and made 16 Super Bowl appearances (eight for both teams).
• The two teams have met in three Super Bowls, making Cowboys-Steelers the most common Super Bowl matchup in NFL history. They played each other in Super Bowl X in the 1975 season, XIII in the 1978 season and XXX in the 1995 season. Pittsburgh won the two Super Bowls in the 1970s, while Dallas took the 1990s matchup.
• The Cowboys and Steelers are the top two teams in wins in the Super Bowl era. The two teams are also first and second in regular season win percentage in the Super Bowl era (Dallas leads with .598, while Pittsburgh is 2nd at .590).
Since the Super Bowl XXX meeting nearly 29 years ago, DAL and PIT have met just six times, with each team winning three.