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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Let this be yet another reminder if you're one who truly looks at the point spreads before the games.

The spreads are for betting purposes only – they're not for the common fan to use as a guide on which team is better and by how much.

At least I hope that's not the case. I seriously hope none of these oddsmakers ever believed the Panthers were better than this Cowboys team in any way.

And to be fair, it's not all about who is the better team and by how much. We've seen too many times, even this year, that games are won and lost all the time by teams with less talent.

However, this wasn't one of them.

The Panthers might have been three-point favorites, but I don't think anyone thought Carolina was a field goal better than Dallas – on this day, or any day this season, or the last few years, for that matter. Sure, the Cowboys have had a tough year, but it's not to that level.

For me, this game was all about if the Cowboys were going to respond the right way following a demoralizing loss to the Bengals that all but the shut the door on any chance of making the playoffs.

So now you go to Carolina, where it's the coldest game of the season, to face a Panthers team that isn't really winning but is playing hard and playing teams much better than the Cowboys to a closer score.

The stars were aligning for the Panthers to come out and get over the hump and win this game and beat a Dallas team that can't catch a break when it comes to injuries.

I heard a great analogy before the game, something we will see a lot over the next two weeks. That games like this are similar to the college bowl games. Sometimes it just comes down to which team is happier to be there, or in this case which team has more desire to win.

But then, like with everything in sports, it still comes down to talent, and more specifically, the amount of playmakers a team has. The Cowboys had much better players despite losing a key player seemingly every week – this time it's Trevon Diggs for the season.

But they still had CeeDee Lamb, who is playing through a shoulder injury and still was the best offensive player on the field.

The Cowboys still had Micah Parsons and Osa Odighizuwa on defense with Parsons getting another multi-sack game. To me, though, Osa's sack and forced fumble on the first play of the third quarter was the difference – and put a stop to any false hope the Panthers might have had to win this game coming out of halftime.

Let's be honest, the Cowboys ended the first half in a very 2024-ish way – just one of those "Are you kidding me?" type finishes where Cooper Rush fumbled the ball with a chance to go up either 13-0 or 17-0. Instead, the Panthers not only get the ball, but then a bust in coverage gives Carolina an 83-yard touchdown to shockingly stay in the game down just 10-7.

And to get the ball to start the third quarter, the Panthers had a chance to capitalize, but Osa's sack on the first play, which resulted in a fumble recovery, was the wakeup call Dallas needed. The Cowboys got the ball back, scored on a touchdown pass to Jalen Tolbert, followed that with another stop and another score, and it's 24-7, where it should be.

Now, before we get too far down the road here, let's not mistake my tone for pumping any kind of sunshine into this season because the Cowboys were not only better than the Panthers, but showed it on the field.

In fact, there was hardly any sunshine at all during this game; maybe for like 10 seconds in the second quarter, and that was it. You can argue that's how much sunshine we've seen overall this year.

But for those who are somehow wanting the Cowboys to "tank" these games and lose to get a higher draft pick, sorry, but the team doesn't deserve it.

If you're one who always loves to use the Bill Parcells line of "You are what you're record says you are," then just embrace it here as well.

No, the Cowboys aren't better than they're 6-8 record because they're 6-8 for a reason. But at the same time, they're not worse than this and don't deserve a top-five pick or even a top-10 pick because they simply don't suck that bad.

Not everything is black and white. There's a ton of gray – some might even say about 50 shades if you want to take it there. Personally, I'm just saying there's a difference between being a really good team and a really bad team.

I think the Cowboys are right in the middle, and that's probably how this season is going to end up – probably about 7-10, maybe 8-9. That won't be good enough to make the playoffs. That won't be bad enough for a high draft pick.

But games like Sunday are a reminder that they've still got some talented players, and these coaches aren't giving up on the season just because the hill is probably too steep to climb.

Like it or not, the Cowboys are still trying to win games. And until every playmaker on this team is out with an injury, they should have enough talent to compete with just about anyone, and definitely beat the bad teams in front of them.

Even if Vegas technically called it an "upset."