Surprise, surprise: First Take regular isn’t impressed by Cowboys’ win over Chargers

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First Take host Shannon Sharpe says he doesn’t think Monday’s win against the Chargers was impressive. Here’s why he’s wrong.

We get it: it’s cool to roast the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys may be America’s Team, but they’re also the team everyone loves to hate on.

No other team in the NFL gives rival fans as much pleasure when they lose. Stephen A. Smith, basically the face of ESPN, has even turned Jimmy Johnson’s “how ’bout them Cowboys!” phrase into a stick to figuratively beat fans over the head with every time the team loses.

No other team generates clicks when they lose quite like the Dallas Cowboys. Even when they do win pundits and experts are reluctant to offer out even a morsel of praise.

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First Take regular isn’t impressed by Cowboys win over Chargers

The Cowboys suffered a devastating loss to the 49ers in Week 5 and were rightly lambasted by the media. However, the team were able to bounce back on Monday night against the Chargers to get their season back on course.

It was a solid if not spectacular win that provided a glimpse as to what the Dallas offense can be under Mike McCarthy.

With that said, First Take regular Shannon Sharpe still isn’t impressed by the Cowboys’ 20-17 victory.

When asked if it was an impressive win by Molly Qerim, Shannon replied, “Impressive win? No. A good win? Yes.”

Sharpe went on to highlight the Cowboys’ total of 14 penalties as cause for concern, calling it either “dumb” or “undisciplined.”

The former TE pointed out that the Cowboys are also 29th in red zone scoring, third worst in the NFL. However, he admitted the team got the nasty taste out of their mouths from the 49ers loss, but that it still wasn’t impressive.

“Was it a good win? Yes. Was it impressive? Nah, you’re not impressive when you have 14 penalties, 11 of them accepted, and you got two-for-four in the red zone. You did what you needed to do.”

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Here’s why Sharpe is wrong about the Cowboys

The thing is, it was an impressive win, and here’s why.

Firstly, Dak Prescott showed he’s still capable of being a duel threat quarterback that can run the ball and win games. Prescott threw for 272 yards and a rushing touchdown – the longest touchdown run of his career (18 yards) and the longest by a Cowboys QB since 2010.

However, the most impressive thing was the Cowboys coming through a “must-win” game. The Cowboys have now won eight straight games in the regular season following a loss and are an impressive 10-1 after a defeat since 2021. They bounced back this week in arguably the biggest game in the NFC this season.

They were also able to capitalise on the Eagles and 49ers losing when past iterations of this team would have failed to take that opportunity. That takes mental strength.

The Cowboys now head into the bye week with their tails up when just last week it seemed like the end of the world. They’re in touching distance of their widely lauded NFC rivals, when most media outlets would have you believe the Cowboys are miles off it.

If the Cowboys stack up ‘unimpressive’ wins like Monday’s for the rest of the season they’ll be in a pretty good spot.