The Arizona Cardinals opened the 2025 season at 2-0, then proceeded to drop five straight one-score games. The Dallas Cowboys haven’t had consecutive wins or losses yet, lurching between highs and lows and one surreal 40-40 tie. Both sides try to get right for a national audience. Here’s a quick primer on the teams, the telecast and the odds as we close out Week 9.
How to watch Cardinals at Cowboys
ABC is free over the air. “Monday Night Football” also streams on ESPN Unlimited.
What about the dispute between YouTube TV and ESPN?
As of Oct. 30, YouTube TV subscribers lost access to all Walt Disney Company channels — which include ABC and ESPN, plus the conference-specific ACC and SEC Networks. Disney and Google (YouTube’s parent company) failed to reach an updated agreement on carriage. Both conglomerates released statements about the stalemate on Thursday night. It’s a contentious development that hits right in the middle of football season, and it angered fans who had to find alternative ways to watch college football games that aired on ESPN’s networks over the weekend.
If a deal is not reached by the time “Monday Night Football” kicks off, YouTube TV users can still watch ABC with a broadcast antenna. They can also tune in to ABC and ESPN with a different provider or ESPN’s direct-to-consumer app.
The good and bad with each team
Arizona
Good: This five-game tumble means the good stuff is sparse. At least Jonathan Gannon’s group is efficient on third downs. Entering this week, the offense is fifth in third-down conversion rate, and the defense is sixth. Arizona also has one of the best tight ends in the sport. Through seven games, Trey McBride is No. 4 in TE receiving yards. Per SumerSports, he leads the position in target share and sits No. 2 in the total amount of expected points added (EPA).
The Cardinals defense has been more about limiting damage than making plays. But Josh Sweat has held it down on the edge. The prized offseason acquisition has five sacks in seven starts. He’s forced two fumbles as well; his career high in a season is three with the 2020 Philadelphia Eagles.
Bad: Whether Kyler Murray or Jacoby Brissett has been under center, this offense hasn’t found much of a rhythm. Arizona hits November tied for the fourth-fewest yards per play. The offensive line has allowed more than three sacks per game. Gannon said Saturday that Brissett will start but wouldn’t completely rule out Murray, who is dealing with a foot injury, from having a role on MNF. The skill-position talent beyond McBride leaves much to be desired, too. Marvin Harrison Jr. is averaging 56.6 yards per outing, which is a solid return for a WR2 but a disappointment for 2024’s fourth overall draft pick.
Dallas
Good: This is an easy lift. It’s the Cowboys offense, all of it. Dallas started Week 9 ranked second in points and yards per game. Dak Prescott leads the league in completions and QBR, while Javonte Williams is its fourth-leading rusher. CeeDee Lamb can wreck an opponent in vertical routes. George Pickens makes double-take grabs with regularity, like this:
ONE-HANDED TD CATCH BY GEORGE PICKENS
DALvsCHI on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/Pc10W00MMd
— NFL (@NFL) September 21, 2025
And this:
George Pickens doing George Pickens things
GBvsDAL on NBC
Stream on @NFLPlus + Peacock pic.twitter.com/E30tGkllVl— NFL (@NFL) September 29, 2025
Bad: Another easy call. It’s the Cowboys defense, all of it. Per TruMedia, Dallas’ D has allowed the chains to move on 52 percent of third downs, the worst rate of the current century. The offense may be second-best in scoring and yardage, but its other side is second-worst in both categories. Symmetry is awesome if you’re Wes Anderson, but it’s quite frustrating if you’re Brian Schottenheimer. Somewhere, Micah Parsons is cackling.
What we might hear on the broadcast
From the booth
Joe Buck and Troy Aikman take their usual posts. Buck hosted a fawning interview with Jerry Jones in 2016 as part of his “Undeniable” series. Aikman, of course, had a Hall of Fame career with the Cowboys from 1989-2000. He retired with three Super Bowl rings and demigod stature. This broadcast duo recently shot a light beer commercial at Lucky Dog Saloon in uptown Dallas. We’ll probably hear about the city’s barbecue culture, though Aikman follows a plant-based and low-dairy “pegan diet” that sounds exceptionally boring.
Aikman is not afraid to call out subpar quarterbacking — his Week 6 criticism of Caleb Williams was addressed in Chicago’s Halas Hall, and those comments came in a Bears win. The beleaguered Murray, even from the sideline, could be Aikman’s next target if Arizona’s struggles continue.
There’s a “ManningCast” on ESPN2, with Peyton and Eli Manning flipping between game analysis and celebrity cameos. Whoever runs the simulcast’s social media has teased a “New Heights” Manning-Kelce crossover.
Eli will almost certainly bring up the fact that he won the inaugural regular-season game at the Cowboys’ shiny stadium back in 2009. He signed the freshly painted walls, and for some reason, he put the 33-31 final score in quotes. Does the two-time Super Bowl MVP know how quotation marks work? Maybe we’ll find out together.
Arizona’s bumper music
Stevie Nicks (Phoenix) and Linda Ronstadt (Tucson) are Grand Canyon State greats. But they’re not getting much spin from a football production crew. The Cardinals earned a Marty Robbins “Big Iron” send-off during “Thursday Night Football” in Week 4. But the best fit is still “Sweetness,” a stadium-sized amp-up from Mesa’s Jimmy Eat World. Will anyone object to early aughts nostalgia? Maybe Marvin Harrison Jr., because he was born in 2002 (sheesh). Our long shot: “By the Time I Get to Arizona” by Public Enemy.
Dallas’ bumper music
Did we know that there was a Cowboys-commissioned team anthem with Kelly Clarkson in 2012? Well, we know now. Those Cowboys went 8-8, by the way. There’s also a song called “Here We Gooo!” that samples Dak Prescott’s pre-snap cadence. It has to be the first song that baits its listener into a neutral zone infraction. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Post Malone are usually evoked during Cowboys games, but we’ll give Monday’s spot to BigXthaPlug, who was born in Dallas and played football at Ferris High School. “Texas” feels like the first read.
Fantasy fusion team
Players to wear both jerseys, via Pro Football Reference
- QB: Steve Beuerlein, 1991-94
- RB: Emmitt Smith, 1990-2004
- WR: Kevin Williams, 1993-97
- TE: Jay Novacek, 1985-95
- FLEX: Sonny Randle, 1959-68 (with the Chicago and St. Louis Cardinals)
Our play sheet reads as follows … give the ball to Emmitt Smith. He’d run behind Leonard Davis, the three-time Pro Bowl blocker.
Cardinals at Cowboys odds
The Cowboys are in a weird place this year because of their 1-4 road record (that win was at the New York Jets, so, yeah). They’re a far better team inside “Jerry World” at 2-0-1. It makes sense that Dallas is favored at home here. The scoring total of 53.5 points is the highest mark for Week 9. We’re all trying to find the defense that did this.
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