Rico Dowdle’s historic day in Charlotte made possible by Dallas Cowboys’ defense
The Dallas Cowboys made Rico Dowdle’s NFL career possible, and their defense then made him one of the best running backs in the history of football.
On Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ex-Cowboy was a Hall of Fame running back.
In the Carolina Panthers’ 30-27 win over the Cowboys, Dowdle carried the ball 30 times for 183 yards. He caught four passes for 56 yards and a touchdown.
He is the first undrafted player since 1970 with consecutive games eclipsing 200 yards from scrimmage.
There are not enough four-letter, five-letter or eight-letter words in any language to accurately describe the level of horribleness that is the state of the Dallas Cowboys’ defense.
Since AI is so smart, let’s see what The Answer says.
“Google, describe the Dallas Cowboys’ defense.”
Google’s response: “The Dallas Cowboys’ defense is currently struggling with issues in several key areas, including an inability to generate pressure and communication breakdowns in the secondary.”
Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are clearly friends with Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, and/or their entire defensive line. The Google duo should be ashamed of themselves that their creation would come up with such a lame response.
No mention of a run defense that “has it in them” to produce some historic numbers — for the other team.
“They wasn’t buckled up,” Dowdle said of the Cowboys’ defense in a postgame press conference. He said earlier this week that this defense needed to be just that.
How would anyone know the difference?
No sign of Kenny Clark, Sam Williams
Defensive tackle Kenny Clark, acquired in the trade for Micah Parsons from the Green Bay Packers, stands 6-foot-3, 314 pounds. Against the Panthers, the world’s most powerful telescope could not see Kenny Clark.
Defensive end Sam Williams is playing himself not only off the Dallas Cowboys but out of the entire NFL. The linebackers exist only on paper.
In Charlotte, they all wore their Sunday best in allowing Dowdle to become “Emmitt Payton” and do whatever he wanted. Because that is the identity of the 2025 Dallas Cowboys defense: “Let them eat cake. And steak. Pork chops. Chicken. Fish. Lasagna. Ice cream. Fries. Whatever you want, it’s on us.”
Dowdle is a decent NFL back who deserved more of an opportunity than he had in his four years on the field with the Cowboys after they signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2020.
Few players had to juggle the maddening game of politics more than Dowdle did in 2024. After the Cowboys let Tony Pollard leave in free agency, the RB1 job should have gone to Dowdle.
Instead, the team signed an absolutely finished Ezekiel Elliott, and handed him the starting job despite the fact that he was done, and the better runner was Dowdle.
By the time then-head coach Mike McCarthy made Dowdle the starting running back in 2024, the season was gone. Starting in late November, Dowdle did have 100-yard rushing performances in four out of five games and repeatedly demonstrated that he was healthy, and a good NFL running back.
He finished the season with more than 1,000 yards rushing on a bad offense that lost its starting quarterback for the season in Week 9, and did not have good offensive line.
Cowboys let Rico Dowdle walk in free agency
Regardless, in the offseason the Cowboys signed Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders, and drafted Jaydon Blue, to be the runners of choice. However they want to spin this, keeping Dowdle was not a priority, and they let him walk.
He signed a one-year deal worth up to $6.25 million with Carolina, where in the first few weeks of this season he had been sharing time with former Oklahoma State star Chuba Hubbard. Once Hubbard suffered an injury, that created a bigger role for Dowdle, who is doing what he did with the Cowboys last season.
As much as Dowdle embarrassed the Cowboys on Sunday, signing Williams was a good move. He has been a good player for this team ... whatever that’s worth. Sanders is out for the season with a knee injury, and the coaches don’t trust Blue.
The mistake in this was believing Dowdle was at best a backup, which is ironic because the Cowboys believed enough in him to sign him after he went undrafted. And stayed with him after he dealt with a handful of injuries, including one to his hip that wiped out his entire 2021 season.
Rico is a nice NFL story, a tale of perseverance that is inspiring to see.
Even the most loyal Cowboys fan who requires prescription medication just to watch this team play on Sunday should be happy for a guy like Rico Dowdle.
What he did on Sunday is a wonderful moment he most certainly earned.
Also, the Dallas Cowboys’ defense is straight trash.
This story was originally published October 12, 2025 at 5:10 PM.
