Mike LaFleur looked beat up.

Emotionally, of course. The Cardinals had just escaped with a 33-30 win in Dallas in overtime – somehow – which was joyous and exhausting at the same time, just for how the game played out alone. But head coaches don't really get to live in the moment, no matter what they might want. The win? Huge. The decision to change quarterbacks? Well-timed. The belief his team still had despite a 2-5 record coming into the game? Intact.

"I don't know if there are any words I can say about this team," LaFleur said, pride clear in his voice.

But the big picture looms. Injuries washed over the Cardinals like a tidal wave on Sunday. Running back Jeremiyah Love's ankles didn't hold up. Wide receiver Kendrick Bourne will miss time. What happens with rookie left tackle Jayden Williams, who hurt his knee and was already a replacement for Paris Johnson Jr., is in the spotlight.

And then there is the quarterback situation. Business is business (and fans are fans), but LaFleur does think about the humans involved. He wasn't ready to say Gardner Minshew would start next week in Seattle over Jacoby Brissett, but it seems likely.

"I know what the story is going to be and so does (Jacoby)," LaFleur said, before reiterating for a third time postgame, the offensive problems are a "collective."

Minshew, for a game at least, was excellent. It didn't hurt that Tyler Allgeier turned into what everyone hopes Love will be, breaking off huge runs even though he was literally the only available running back in the second half. It didn't hurt that Michael Wilson made plays despite that ribs injury. (Yet another thing to monitor.)

Minshew postgame was, well, Minshew. Wearing a bucket hat over his long hair, noting that he's been told nothing concrete about next week, saying only that he'll be ready for whatever. They had just won a game. For him, in the moment, he could enjoy the win.

"We'll enjoy that plane ride right now," Minshew said. "That'll be awesome."

-- Because of the QB change and the late dramatics and Wilson's big play, Allgeier's headlines probably got pushed to the side a bit. But make no mistake, that was the guy the Cardinals wanted when they signed him as a free agent. His 147 yards rushing were a career-high, and for whatever anyone else did, without Allgeier's 63-yard TD run on Minshew's second snap, it doesn't feel like the Cardinals could've mounted the comeback.

Allgeier also had 44 yards on five catches and another key TD.

"From top down, just whenever we needed a push, we needed sparks, being able to just do that, I think it was it was awesome," Allgeier said. "My first touchdown had Reggie (Virgil) and Simi (Fehoko) end up doing two awesome blocks and then just end up scoring right behind them. We knew we needed to win this damn game, and then we ended up winning."

The Cardinals will need more of that if Jeremiyah Love is down. We will also have to see the status of Bam Knight after being drilled in the helmet too. But that's for Monday.

-- Chad Ryland has never shied away from standing up and answering questions after a game, regardless how it went. The kicker would've been there if the missed extra point had cost the Cardinals a win, and he was there with his roller coaster of an ending. His extra-point miss was his first since Dec. 28, 2024.

"It was really fun to be a part of another one that ends like that," Ryland said. "Obviously, it shouldn't even have gotten to that point, and you've got to be better as a unit. But I'll tell you what, man, you got to applaud the fellas in this locker room for fighting, the defense for getting a stop, and then the offense obviously getting us into range when we needed to there in overtime. We go have a chance to redeem ourselves and knock it down.

"I think that's a testament to the guys that we have in this locker room, which is the most cliché thing you can say, but it's not cliché when it's true, right?"

-- The Cowboys have given up at least 20 points in 15 straight games. It didn't seem like the Cardinals were going to be able to get there, until the dam burst, Minshew wielding the hammer to take it down.

-- Trey McBride had to make catches late, but ended up with a solid day: seven receptions, 72 yards and a touchdown. His seven catches – one came in overtime – keeps alive his 7-catch streak at 10 games now. He joins Antonio Brown (14) and Cooper Kupp (11) as the only players ever to have such a streak.

-- The Cardinals defense allowed season-lows in yards (261) and rushing yards (93), a week after the Cowboys went for 204 rushing yards against the Eagles.

-- Defensive lineman L.J. Collier played well, including a big pass batted down in overtime. But he also had a crucial personal foul midway through the fourth quarter, after a third-down stop, that cost the Cardinals five minutes of game clock, three points and made things much harder.

"L.J. is smarter than that," LaFleur said. "Some guys you have to talk to in the moment, some guys you just know. I've already talked to L.J. and I love L.J., and he know he made a mistake right there for the team, but I trust him.

"All you have to do is look in L.J.'s eyes. That can't happen. But I trust L.J."

-- Wide receiver Michael Wilson, his ribs an issue but not stopping him from his best game of the season, wore a weary smile of joy after the game.

"Football is such a microcosm for how life is," he said. "Playing through some rib stuff, didn't feel like I played great in the first half. Could have made a play when Gardner gave me a great opportunity on the slant-and-go (that was overturned to an incompletion.) At that point, you know I'm feeling pretty (expletive) about how I'm playing, how the game is going.

"But the thing you can do is just the next right thing. Mike continued to trust me on the game-tying drive, and I just continue to make plays, and when he called that play, it was a dream look."

Time to fly home. A happy kind of flight.