The one matchup the Cowboys have to win on Sunday

Posted by Admin October 3, 2026 NFL

Similar to what we talked about in week two against the Washington Commanders, it’s hard to imagine calling a week four game a “must win” game, but this game certainly feels like it.

The Cowboys sit in third in the division at 1-2. The Philadelphia Eagles take on the Los Angeles Rams this weekend, the New York Giants are playing the Arizona Cardinals, and the Washington Commanders do battle with the Indianapolis Colts. With a win in Houston, the Cowboys could potentially make up some ground in the division and gain a ton of momentum heading into week five.

In order to do so, the Cowboys offensive line is going to have to show up. Despite the Texans struggles on defense this year (19th in EPA/play) the Houston pass rush is still near the top of the league.

Will Anderson is playing like the best defensive end in the National Football League, ranking in the top 10 in both pass rush win rate and run stop win rate. Anderson moves around quite a bit in the Texans defense, but has played more on the left side of the defense through three games. That puts him across from Terence Steele on a majority of his snaps, making this a major mismatch for the Cowboys offense.

While most of the attention will be put on slowing down Will Anderson, his running mate Danielle Hunter is no easy matchup either for Tyler Guyton. Both Hunter and Anderson can change games as pass rushers and run defenders, and despite the Texans 0-3 record and slower start to the year on defense, they have completely wrecked games in the 2026 season.

While we are expected to see a heavy dosage of Anderson and Hunter (both playing right around 80% of the defensive snaps), old friend Jadaveon Clowney has been getting into the rotation as well and has flashed a similar skillset he showed with the Cowboys in 2025. He is questionable so we don’t know if he’ll play or not.

With Anderson and Hunter being the workhorses up front for the Texans, the Cowboys need to be able to wear them down with long drives and do their best to stay out of third-and-long situations. Given the Texans ability to get after Dak Prescott, expect the ball to come out quick on early downs, with extra-men allocated to protection (limiting their pass catchers) when they decide to take their shot or they face third-and-longs.

Similar to the week one game against the New York Giants, the Cowboys offensive tackles could make or break this game for the Cowboys. The Texans run defense has been stout through three weeks, so the Cowboys passing offense will likely need to have a big-game in order to come out victorious in a monster in-state week four matchup.