The Dallas Cowboys improved their record to 5-3 after a 37-18 win against the New York Giants. That was the sixth straight victory for the Cowboys over the Giants. They will host the Minnesota Vikings (6-3) on Sunday night at AT&T Stadium.

Quick Notes

After missing the game Monday night, Leighton Vander Esch was limited at Wednesday’s practice. There is hope that he will be improved enough to return to game action on Sunday. For Minnesota, Adam Thielen did not practice and is not expected to play.

Ezekiel Elliott said after the game on Monday that his 140-yard performance was the easiest 140 yards he has had in his career.

Dalvin Cook comes into this week leading the league in rushing. Dak Prescott will enter Sundays game 4-0 against Kirk Cousins in his career and Cousins is 1-6 in his career against the Cowboys.

Stock Up

Sean Lee

We saw “prime” Sean Lee in his first extensive action of 2019. Lee had nine total solo tackles and assisted on three more. He added in a pass defense and was a key part of the defense that held Saquon Barkley to 28 rushing yards on 14 carries. Every time Barkley got the ball, Lee was right there and was able to complete the play, which can be tricky when you talk about tackling Saquon. After Lee was on the field for 61 snaps, he was listed on the injury report Wednesday due to a pectoral injury. Lee says that he should be good to go, but that will be worth monitoring throughout the week.  

Hello there Sean Lee pic.twitter.com/MpIvqxY5z9

— Tom Downey (Cowboys have $15.5 M-ish in Cap Space) (@WhatGoingDowney) November 5, 2019

Xavier Woods

What we have seen the last couple of weeks from Xavier Woods is what we all imagined after his incredible training camp. Against the Eagles, he had an interception in the 4th quarter and on Monday, he had another interception that set the Cowboys up to kick a field goal to take the lead before halftime. He also forced a fumble. The latest performance earned him an NFC defensive player of the week award, which is the first Cowboys safety to earn the award since George Teague in 1996.

Xavier Woods playing very well tonight pic.twitter.com/GcJUXNsXP8

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) November 5, 2019

Stock Down

Anthony Brown

Anthony Brown returned to the field on Monday after missing one game with a hamstring injury. However, Brown was only on the field for five defensive snaps as Jourdan Lewis has made it impossible to keep him off the field.

Penalties

The Cowboys are averaging 8 penalties (7th most in the NFL) for 79.9 yards (2nd most in the NFL) per game. On Monday, the Cowboys committed 10 penalties for 104 yards. There is a level of subjectivity that plays a part in penalties, but far too often the Cowboys penalties are killing drives and taking points off the board. You can look at penalties, along with untimely turnovers as to why the Cowboys have started slowly in 6 of 8 games. Randall Cobb had another touchdown taken off the scoreboard on Monday night due to a questionable holding call.