Why the Pittsburgh Steelers will beat the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football in Week 5

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I pride myself on being the kind of Cowboys fan that can look at a Football game with an objective lens. If the Dallas Cowboys are most likely going to win, then I will tell you all why. But if the Dallas Cowboys are destined to lose a game, I will also tell you why that is the case.

This week's Sunday night football with the Pittsburgh Steelers is a case of the latter. The Dallas Cowboys are most likely going to lose this game.

This game does not "make or break" the Cowboys' season like many analysts want you to think. But that does not mean that this game with the Steelers isn't one of, if not the biggest test this struggling team has faced all season.

The Steelers are on fire right now

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The obvious reason to favor Pittsburgh to win this game is the fact that the Steelers are 3-1 while Dallas is 2-2. But the kinds of wins the Steelers have pulled off show that they are in a different tier than the Cowboys. NFL math usually doesn't work, but it can apply to this situation due to the fact that these teams do not have a common opponent yet this season. Pittsburgh beat Atlanta, Atlanta beat New Orleans, and New Orleans beat Dallas. If you want to go even further, Pittsburgh beat the Chargers, who beat Las Vegas, who beat Baltimore, who beat Dallas.

But the fact that the Steelers beat the Falcons tells the whole story. The Falcons sit at 3-2, with wins over the Saints, Eagles and Buccaneers. The Falcons have lost two games thus far: Pittsburgh and Kansas City. Atlanta lost by 8 to the Steelers, and by 5 to the Chiefs, meaning that Pittsburgh beat the NFC South division leaders by more points than the back-to-back super bowl champions did. There is no other way to put it: this team is for real.

Injuries

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As if they weren't already struggling enough, the injury bug has hit the Cowboys in a big way. It was known by the start of the season that DaRon Bland was going to miss several weeks, but Dallas found a temporary solution in the form of Caelen Carson. Unfortunately, Carson is now questionable for this Sunday's game, meaning the Cowboys have to go even further down the depth chart in what is already an uphill battle for this team. Additionally, the man playing alongside Carson in the secondary is also listed as questionable as Trevon Diggs winds up on the injury report for an ankle injury.

And that's just the secondary. Demarcus Lawrence has hit the IR, ruling him out of this game and at least the Cowboys' next three games after that. Brandin Cooks will also miss the next for games as he has wound up on the IR as well. But the biggest injury of all is the one to Micah Parsons, as he has been ruled out of this game for an ankle injury he sustained in Week 4 against the Giants.

The notable injuries for the Steelers? Alex Highsmith and Cordarrell Patterson. While the Cowboys could be missing their top three cornerbacks, their two best pass rushers and their WR2, the Steelers will only be missing a linebacker and their third-string running back.

Yeah, its not looking too great for Dallas right now.

Pittsburgh is a nightmare matchup for Dallas

The Pittsburgh Steelers have given up the third least amount of rushing yards per game this season, with an average of 86.6 per game. The Dallas Cowboys rank dead last in rushing yards per game with 75.3 total yards per game. Therefore, the only option on offense for the Cowboys will be to throw the ball. But as has been the case in the last couple of weeks, Dak Prescott might have trouble finding open receivers. Joey Porter Jr will be covering Ceedee Lamb for almost the entire game, which leaves Jake Ferguson, Jalen Tolbert, Luke Schoonmaker, Jalen Brooks and Ryan Flournoy as Prescott's other options. That is not the receiving core you want when you are going up against one of the AFC's very best.

It's been established that it's going to be a rough day on the offensive side of the ball for the Cowboys. But it's worth noting that on defense, it could get even worse. What was heralded as one of the league's premier defensive units not too long ago is now a bottom 10 NFL defense, as the Cowboys have given up the 8th most all-purpose yards per game with an average of 355.3 across their first four games. The Cowboys have also given up the 5th most points per game this season, with an average of 26 through their first four. Long story short, this defense is downright awful right now. But what makes Sunday night worse for the Cowboys is the fact that we have seen a very similar matchup play out, and it didn't exactly go in the Cowboys' favor. When the Ravens traveled to Arlington for their week 3 matchup with the Cowboys, Baltimore's offense thrashed the Cowboys defense early on, putting up 28 points in the first three quarters. Lamar Jackson threw for 182 yards and 1 touchdown while simultaneously rushing for 87 yards and another TD. Derrick Henry ran for 151 yards and 2 touchdowns as the Cowboys ended up losing 28-25. This game proved that the Cowboys' run defense problems get even worse when presented with a mobile quarterback who can run the football himself. Justin Fields ranks 5th among all QB's with 145 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns through the first four weeks. By no means is Fields anywhere close to the kind of dual-threat QB that Jackson is, but Fields isn't very far off and this style of QB has proved to cause problems for the Cowboys' defense.

Score prediction

This is one of those score predictions that I would love to be wrong about. But all indications are pointing to a blowout tonight at Acrisure Stadium. The Cowboys are outclassed on both sides of the ball, and are missing several key players due to injury. Expect Brandon Aubrey to hit a few field goals, but I do not believe that the Dallas Cowboys will score a touchdown in this game. This one should be a lop sided Cowboys loss, and Mike McCarthy should be on the hot seat if this game doesn't end up being his last as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys

Prediction: Cowboys 9, Steelers 37