Pick Six: Getting the ball to 'number one threat' Brock Bowers will be pivotal in primetime game

Nov 14, 2025 at 04:05 PM

Levi Edwards

Digital Team Reporter

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Getting Brock Bowers more involved will be a key factor for Monday Night Football.

After missing three games with a knee injury, Bowers exploded against the Jacksonville Jaguars for 127 receiving yards on 12 catches and three touchdowns. Therefore, the assumption going into Week 10 against the Denver Broncos was he'd continue to see a high volume of targets.

But you know the common adage said when assuming.

Bowers finished Thursday Night Football with one catch for 31 yards and was only targeted three times.

"We have to get him involved," Chip Kelly said Friday afternoon. "He's obviously our number one threat out there, and we've got to continue to get him involved in terms of what we do. Jacksonville and New England were a good example. We didn't do a good job, I didn't do a good job in the Denver game.

The Cowboys defense is allowing an average of six catches and 55.5 yards against opposing tight ends this season. So, the Raiders could feel more confident taking shots with Bowers than they did against the stingy Broncos defense.

Big return for Cowboys linebacking corps

The Cowboys will be getting back linebacker DeMarvion Overshown for his season debut.

He's been out of action since suffering multiple knee injuries in Week 14 of 2024. Before the season-ending injuries, Overshown had emerged into one of the Cowboys' top defenders, totaling 90 total tackles, five sacks and an interception returned for a touchdown.

While Cowboys Head Coach Brian Schottenheimer has hinted that Overshown will be on a snap count, the linebacker been a full participant in practice and is expected to provide a spark in the Cowboys defense.

Cowboys bolster defense at the deadline

The Raiders offense will also be on high alert for the Cowboys' two latest additions made before the trade deadline.

Dallas acquired linebacker Logan Wilson from the Cincinnati Bengals and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams from the New York Jets. Along with the return of Overshown, Wilson adds strength in pass coverage to the linebacking corps, with 11 interceptions and 25 pass deflections in his career.

Williams will be paired alongside Kenny Clark and Osa Odighizuwa in the interior defensive line, with the latter two players having combined for 3.5 sacks and seven tackles for loss this season. Williams is expected to bring a X-factor back to the Cowboys pass rush. The former Jets tackle is currently second among all defensive tackles in run stop win rate (47 percent) according to ESPN Analytics.

"[T]here's not many teams that [have] the luxury of riches that they have at defensive tackle with Osa, Kenny and now Quinnen, so it presents some problems," Kelly said. "And I think, because you haven't seen them on tape and how he's going to deploy them, there'll be some adjustments that go on at the beginning of that game."

Preparation for Pickens

Eric Stokes has shared few tricks of the trade with his teammate Kyu Blu Kelly as they prep for Monday.

Kelly, coming off a two interception showing, will be tasked with lining up against George Pickens. The receiver, who Dallas acquired from the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason, ranks in the top five of all receivers in receiving yards (764) and receiving touchdowns (six).

Fortunately for Kelly, he'll have a scouting report on Pickens from Stokes, who was college teammates with the Cowboys receiver at Georgia. In their two seasons together as Bulldogs, they went 20-4.

"Rule number one, you got to hit the ball first," Stokes said of his advice to Kelly. "Because pretty much he always believes if he lays a hand on that ball, it's probably going to be his because he got strong hands, aggressive hands. His catch radius is unbelievable. He can make any catch look easy. ... I still tell everybody he [can] catch a lot of things you just don't see the normal person do."

It's also worth mentioning that Stokes has been targeted at an 11.1 percent rate, the eighth-lowest rate among outside cornerbacks (min. 100 coverage snaps), per Next Gen Stats. Therefore, Stokes could very well get some burn opposite his college teammate if warranted.

Cutting it loose on Dallas

Even with the offensive inconsistencies the Raiders have endured, Geno Smith has a good chance light up the Cowboys in front of a national audience.

While the Cowboys made some moves to bolster their defense as mentioned, the team has struggled against the pass all season. They've allowed the second most passing touchdowns (22), the fifth-highest completion percentage (68.5) and seventh-most passing yards (2,290) to opposing offenses. Additionally, they've allowed the second-most yards per attempt on downfield passes this season (13.4), per Next Gen Stats.

While Smith has struggled throwing the ball down the field, that was his forte before arriving to the Silver and Black. In 2024, he had a 98.6 passer rating with eight touchdowns on passes over 20 air yards. This season, it's dropped down to a 75.3 passer rating with a 2:2 touchdown to interception ratio.

With that in mind, now might be a good time for Smith to test the waters against the Cowboys secondary.

"I've got to cut it loose, man. Just don't think too much," Smith said. "Just go out there and cut it loose, play your game. Protect the football first and foremost. The last eight games of the season, I want to be the best in the league in terms of protecting the football. I mean, that's really what it is, and then just cut it loose, man. We've got to score points. We've got to score a lot more points than we have. We've got to pick it up.

Pressure under the bright lights

Neither the Raiders or Cowboys have won a primetime game this season.

The Silver and Black lost their previous primetime contest in 2025 on a tough 10-7 loss against the Denver Broncos in Week 10 and a 20-9 defeat to the Chargers in Week 2. The Cowboys are going into Monday Night Football with a 0-2-1 record in their primetime games. Like the Raiders, their last game played was also a defeat under the bright lights – falling 27-17 to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 9 – which also happened to be on Monday Night Football.

This will be the first time the Dallas Cowboys play a regular season game in Allegiant Stadium. The last time these two teams met was also in front of a national audience. The Silver and Black squeaked out a 36-33 overtime win on Thanksgiving Day in 2021, with Daniel Carlson making a game-winning 29-yard field goal at AT&T Stadium.

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Las Vegas Raiders offensive lineman Laki Tasi (79) walks out to the field for practice at Intermountain Health Performance Center.