Cowboys Survivor Pick: A Weakness Two Teams Just Exploited

When opponents start sharing a blueprint

The most dangerous thing for a survivor pick isn't a single bad game — it's a pattern. And the Cowboys now have one. Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans openly admitted that Houston borrowed Baltimore's plan to go after the same Dallas weakness, and it worked for a second straight game. In his words, "We saw a weakness."

For anyone weighing the Cowboys as a safe survivor pick, that quote should carry more weight than any single box score. When one coach publicly credits another's game plan and says it exposed a repeatable flaw, every opponent on the schedule is watching the film too.

Why this shifts the Cowboys' survivor-pick value

Survivor is about certainty, not upside. You're not trying to win a game — you're trying to avoid losing one. That makes a known, exploitable flaw the exact kind of thing you want to steer around.

Two teams in a row attacking the same spot tells you this isn't noise. It's a soft point opponents can reliably target, which means the Cowboys' floor is lower than their talent suggests. Until Dallas shows it has patched the issue on the field, treating them as a lock is a gamble on your pool life.

How to use this in your decision

• Fade for now if you have other options. With a publicly acknowledged weakness that's been hit twice, the Cowboys are not the kind of worry-free name you build a survivor run around.
• Watch the next game closely. If Dallas adjusts and shuts the weakness down, their pick value can recover quickly. A single clean performance against a team that tries the same plan would be the signal.
• Save them for a spot that fits. The right matchup and a confirmed fix could turn Dallas back into a usable pick later in the season.

It's also a reminder to keep a few teams in reserve. Burning a strong future option on a Cowboys week that suddenly looks shaky is how good NFL survivor pool entries go out early.

The takeaway

When an opposing coach tells you exactly where the cracks are, believe him. The Cowboys have a flaw that's now been exploited in back-to-back games, and that lowers their reliability as a survivor pick until they prove the fix on the field. If you don't need them this week, let someone else sweat it out — and check the rest of our NFL survivor pool picks for cleaner paths forward.

New to the format or want a fresh entry to work these reads into? You can start a free survivor pool and put this discipline to use.