Winners and Losers From Cardinals Upset Win vs Cowboys

A five-game losing streak is finally over for the Arizona Cardinals after a big win over the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football. It was a well-rounded performance for Jonathan Gannon's team, fresh off a bye week.

The offense was humming, with Jacoby Brissett getting his third straight start for the team. Defensively, Arizona surrendered just 10 points to a potent Dallas offense with no shortage of Pro Bowlers.

For a must-win game (something we will say for almost the remainder of the season), this was exactly the performance the Cardinals needed.

The win may not save the season, but it will hopefully mark a turning point to get everything trending toward the playoff berth many dreamed of and envisioned for the team over the summer. There was far more good than bad from this game, but we will touch on both either way.

Below is a shortlist of the biggest "winners" and "losers" from last night's win over the Cowboys. I tried keeping each to three, but you'll notice that some are groups rather than individuals.

A quick shout-out to the coaching staff, who all came well-prepared off a bye week. Gannon and Nick Rallis had a perfect game plan for the Cowboys’ offense, and Drew Petzing dialed up an offense that was routinely moving.

That said, let's get started with the man of the hour...

Winner: Jacoby Brissett

How many players in the league are bigger winners entering the week than Brissett? The journeyman backup has made the Cardinals' offense more than workable in his three starts and won his first game with the franchise in dominant fashion. For the Cardinals to turn their season around, they need to get far more consistent play from the quarterback spot than what they've had so far.

Brissett is supposedly the short-term option for the team while Kyler Murray recovers from injury, but he's only making life more difficult for the team as he continues playing. It should be expected that the team moves back to Murray once he's healthy again, but Brissett is giving the team every reason to stay committed to him.

Winner: Marvin Harrison Jr.

Marvin Harrison Sr. just spoke about his frustrations watching the Cardinals' offense, including the ability to get his son involved. Apparently, the team saw that, because Harrison was one of the most involved players on either side of the ball for the team. It was perhaps his best performance of the season, finishing with seven receptions for 96 yards and a score.

Not only did the offense feature Harrison, but the second-year man looked confident and crisp as he cooked up former All-Pro cornerback DaRon Bland all game. We've seen highs and lows from Harrison all year, with fans growing restless, but his performance against the Cowboys will hopefully be a sign of things to come moving forward.

Winner: Monti Ossenfort

Arizona's third-year GM has to be feeling on top of the world right now. The 2025 draft class was on full display, with Walter Nolen back healthy and on the field. The first-rounder recorded four tackles, including a sack and two TFLs, in his pro debut. Will Johnson still looks strong, but Denzel Burke came in relief for an injured Max Melton and recorded the game-ending interception. Even Cody Simon came in and punched the ball out of Javonte Williams' hands for a forced fumble.

It's the return on investment everyone was hoping for from this class, but his other draft picks looked good, too. We just talked about how Harrison balled out, but Paris Johnson Jr. continues ascending to the pinnacle of the league's best protectors. Garrett Williams was strong in his return from injury, too.

The cherry on top has been the elite production from free-agent signings Josh Sweat and Calais Campbell. This offseason was a busy one that we've been waiting to see complete results from, and this win over the Cowboys put more than one exclamation point next to them.

Loser: Kyler Murray

The rumor on the street was that the Cardinals "soft-benched" Murray in place of Brissett; however, Gannon shot that down in postgame interviews and affirmed that Murray is still their guy. Coach speak? Maybe, but last night didn't help Murray's chances to turn his season around.

To be perfectly clear, I do not think Murray has been benched (yet), and I firmly believe we will see him plenty more before the season ends. But Brissett has looked strong in three starts and just snapped the team's five-game losing streak. Murray needs to return to the field sooner rather than later, but a short week does him no favors.

Loser: Wide receivers not named "Marvin Harrison Jr." or "Michael Wilson"

Six players caught a pass for the Cardinals last night: two wide receivers, two tight ends, and two running backs. As you'd expect, Harrison and Wilson were the two receivers to catch passes, and backup tight end Elijah Higgins caught three passes. We didn't see the other receivers make much of an impact anywhere else, let alone on the box score.

We've had persistent questions about the Cardinals' wide receiver room all season, and fresh off a bye week, we saw no one besides the top two guys featured. We know that offensive coordinator Drew Petzing has a preference for using multiple tight ends, and that was perfectly evident in this game. It's really hard to envision the team receiving significant production from any receiver beyond Harrison and Wilson for the rest of the season, save for a few games here and there.

Loser: Cardinals' Offensive line

To call things as they are, the Cowboys' pass rush is not as good as the box score says they are. Dallas' defense has 20 team sacks compared to Arizona's 17, but I'd take the latter thanks to consistency and top pass rushers. The Cowboys have neither.

They still managed to bring down Brissett five times in the loss, with five different players. Protection continues to be a weakness for this offense, even against a low-tier pass rush. The Cardinals managed to win this game, but the schedule gets tougher and more physical.