The Dallas Cowboys have quietly climbed the national rankings heading into Week 8 of the 2025 NFL season.
While the surge isn’t enough to vault them into elite territory, it does reflect a growing confidence in Dak Prescott’s offense and a team starting to find balance.
Expanded Average Ranking Movement
To gauge Dallas’s progress, here are the Week 8 and Week 7 rankings from seven major outlets, with the change shown:
Power Ranking Movement from Week 7 - 8
Average this week (all 7): (17 + 16 + 18 + 20 + 17 + 16 + 19) ÷ 7 ≈ 17.6 ≈ 18th place
Average last week (all 7): (20 + 21 + 22 + 21 + 21 + 24 + 23) ÷ 7 ≈ 21.1 ≈ 21st place
Net change: ▲ ~+3.5 spots
Why the Cowboys Rose
Offensive resurgence
The win over Washington reignited confidence in the offense. Analysts pointed to the return of key contributors and smoother execution as reasons for the jump in the latest rankings.
For example, one outlet noted: “The return of wide receiver CeeDee Lamb was huge for their No. 1-ranked offense.”
Defensive flashes
While the defense still draws concerns, some improved performances offered a hint of progress. A recent report remarked that Dallas “finally produced complementary football — something missing for much of 2025.”
Team morale and identity
The perception of the franchise shifted slightly, from a team with high variance to one showing signs of consistency. That attitude change is often reflected in power-rankings momentum.
Why They’re Still Outside the Top 15
Even with their rise, the Cowboys remain outside the upper echelon because of historic defensive inconsistency. As one analysis put it: “They’re a perfect microcosm for 2025 — explosive offense, unpredictable defense.”
Until the defense stabilizes, analysts are hesitant to move them into the top 10.
Outlook: Can the Cowboys Keep Climbing?
If Dallas can maintain its offensive rhythm and continue tightening up defensively, there’s a real opportunity to climb into the No. 12–14 range in the coming weeks.
The balance between Dak Prescott’s efficiency and a reenergized run game has given the offense the spark it needed, while recent defensive adjustments are showing gradual results.
The next two games against playoff-caliber opponents will determine whether this surge is sustainable. Strong performances could move Dallas closer to the top-15 in outlets like ESPN’s rankings and Sports Illustrated’s weekly list.
A flat showing or defensive regression would likely undo the recent progress.
Momentum and strength of opponent carry significant weight in most power-ranking models.
If Dallas can string together convincing wins — especially against top offenses — it could solidify its place among the NFC’s more dangerous contenders by midseason.
Defense Controls the Season
With the expanded seven-outlet view, the Cowboys’ average ranking improved from about 21st to 18th, confirming that multiple major media outlets view them as trending upward.
The data supports the notion of a rising offense and improving overall look — but the ceiling remains capped until the defense becomes reliably good.
If the Cowboys can address that gap and win meaningful games down the stretch, they may finally solidify themselves as true NFC contenders.
We are still way down the rankings. The important thing is to keep consistency with our defense, as you correctly stated. Have to keep working on it, and hopefully the comeback of Overshown will help with that. Keeping our fingers crossed.
Dallas’ success this season depends on that defense! Jones really needs to concentrate in giving total support to his coaches, and right now Eberflus needs all the help that only Jones can provide.
a Dallas Cowboys fan, since the 70’s I don’t follow power ranking the Cowboys shuold be dropping
That just shows how much you know about football!! And another reason to say that your not a real Cowboys fan!! What kind of cowboys fan watches his team dominate another team that was just in the NFC championship game last season, and then say they should be dropping in the power rankings!? I’ll tell you…. I fake fan!! You are not a Cowboys fan, so stop lying to yourself and everyone else!! If you were a real fan, you wouldn’t keep saying stupid crap like that!! I think we should’ve been ranked higher than they have my Cowboys, but that’s just because I’m an actual Cowboys fan!! I really don’t understand why you keep coming on here making your stupid comments, it’s most likely that your a troll, saying your a Cowboys fan, but in reality your a eagles or Washington or even a giants fan!! But the least you can do is stop saying your a Cowboys fan and actually support the team your a real fan of, because your definitely not a Cowboys fan!! And another thing is, there’s no way you’ve even been watching football at all since the 70s, because you don’t know anything about football!! I wasn’t even born during the 70s and I know way more than you do, and I grew up without much, so I couldn’t watch football very much!! But I still know more about football than you do!! And that’s pretty bad considering you supposedly been watching since the 70s!! But that just proves that your whole Cowboys fan since the 70s crap is a lie!! So I think you should stop lying and stop making comments until you learn how football actually works and until you are a real fan!! Or you can at the very least stop making comments on Cowboys fan sites and start doing your comments on your real teams site, because again, you are NOT a Cowboys fan!!
You messed up on one of the rankings!! You have CBS sports having us ranked at 16 this week and 22 last week, but then you put it as a plus 4, but it should be a plus 6!! 16+4 is only 20, and we were ranked 22 and 16+6 is 22, so we actually moved up 6 spots, not 4!! It’s not that big of a deal, since it shows where we’re actually ranked, I just figured I’d mention it in case you wanted to fix it!!