In the NFL, teams are only given a finite amount of opportunities to win football games. Failure to take advantage of these opportunities separate the playoff contenders from the doldrums of the NFL.

The Dallas Cowboys (2-3) squandered their winning opportunity Sunday night, as they lost a grueling 19-16 game to the Houston Texans (2-3) in overtime. It's becoming readily apparent that Dallas is lacking in some of the critical areas that are necessary to be a serious playoff contender.

The ebb and flow of the quarterback's play gives the offense a 'Jekyll and Hyde' feel. The high-priced pass protection fails to hold up against the upper-echelon pass rushes in the NFL. The wide receivers fail to generate separation on isolation routes, putting more pressure on the pass protection to hold up and causing the quarterback to hold the ball for longer than he should. And to top it all off, the head coach is stuck inside a bubble of conservatism that has proven to be ineffective and inefficient.

The Cowboys may be just a game below .500, but the team has somehow looked much worse for long stretches thus far this season, and Sunday night was no different. With that in mind, let's take a look at a few things we learned from Dallas' loss.

1. Cowboys still in the thick of the NFC East race...to their detriment

Despite all that is currently ailing this Cowboys, the team is still right in the thick of the NFC East race. The New York Giants (1-4) are a bumbling mess with the general manager and head coach stuck in a time vortex where Eli Manning is actually good. The shine of the Philadelphia Eagles' (2-3) Lombardi Trophy has waned, as the team has struggled to recreate the magic from a year ago. The Washington Redskins (2-1) have actually looked the most competent so far, but they still far from a playoff lock.

While this is undoubtedly beneficial for the Cowboys in the short term, there's an argument to be made that it's actually to Dallas' detriment.

The Cowboys need to make wholesale changes to their team, especially on offense, but the mirage of a potential playoff birth may prevent Dallas from making the necessary changes. It's been the same song and dance for nearly all of Jason Garrett's tenure with the Cowboys. In his seven full seasons as head coach, the Cowboys have finished 8-8 or 9-7 in four of them.

This has given Dallas the belief it is close to getting over the hump to becoming a perennial playoff team and Super Bowl contender, leading to tinkering with its personnel and coaching staff rather than making large-scale changes that are necessary for the Cowboys to reclaim its throne atop the NFC.

Garrett's best trait as a head coach is his ability to stave off the hot seat despite governing a team that has just one playoff win and two playoffs berths during his tenure. Garrett's conservative and process-based approach has equally kept Dallas from hitting rock bottom and prevented the franchise from reaching its potential.

Wasted potential tends to get coaches fired, and it may be time for Garrett to receive his walking papers.

Even though no one wants to endure the plight of a 4-12 season, it'll give the Cowboys front office the push it needs to make the tough decisions. Not only is it time to consider moving on from Jason Garrett as head coach, but it may be time for the franchise to stick its toes into the quarterback pond during the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

That isn't likely to happen as long as the Cowboys are within range of a playoff berth, no matter what the circumstances may be. The Cowboys will likely meander through this season, much like others, and finish somewhere between 7-9 and 9-7, missing the playoffs by a game or two and giving Dallas a viable reason to not make extensive changes to their personnel and coaching staff.

When Jones bought the Cowboys, he made it abundantly clear that he would not settle for average with his sights clearly set on winning as many Lombardi Trophies as possible.

Does anyone think that this combination of coaching staff and personnel has the Cowboys on track to winning a Super Bowl?

Didn't think so. It's time for Jones to stop settling for average.

2. Future of Cowboys defense looks bright with Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch

Lost amidst the loss was the stellar play of Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch. Both linebackers were all over the field Sunday night, providing a glimpse into the future of the Cowboys defense.

Vander Esch led the Cowboys with 13 combined tackles and seven stops, but Smith wasn't far behind with 12 combined tackles and six stops.

Vander Esch has played exceedingly well since stepping in to replace an injured Sean Lee, allowing the Cowboys defense to stay effective in Lee's absence -- something that rarely happened in previous years. The reason the rookie linebacker has been effective is his mastery of the fundamentals. Vander Esch routinely reads his keys and takes good angles to the ball carrier, allowing him to make plays all over the field, just as he does here:

On this play, the Cowboys are in their nickel defense (four defensive linemen, two linebackers, five defensive backs) to combat Houston's 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end and three receivers). Vander Esch's alignment is stacked behind the nose tackle Antwaun Woods. Once the ball is snapped, Vander Esch quickly reads the interior offensive line into the backfield to identify the direction Houston is running the ball, allowing him to quickly flow play-side and stay ahead of the second level block from the back-side offensive tackle.

From there, Vander Esch's displays the vision to identify and hit the alley to the ball carrier among all of the chaos, allowing his considerable athleticism to take over as he runs down Deshaun Watson before the Texans quarterback can get into the end zone.

Even though Jaylon Smith doesn't have the basics down as well as Vander Esch, his freakish athleticism puts him in position to make plays that nearly every other linebacker on the planet wouldn't dream of. This clutch stop of fourth down is a great illustration:

Here, the Texans are in a 4th-and-goal situation at the Cowboys' half-yard line with Smith spying the Texans quarterback. Once the ball is snapped, Smith begins to mirror Watson's movement. After getting a tad out of position because of Watson's eyes, Smith begins his pursuit once Watson starts to break the pocket.

From there, Smith's incredible burst takes over as he is able to catch up to and cut off Watson before he's able to get into the end zone, preventing the touchdown and forcing the Texans to turn the ball over on downs.

Even with the Cowboys offense needing to make widespread changes, the defense's future looks bright thanks to Vander Esch and Smith, who are both under 24 years old.

3. Cowboys made the right choice at kicker

The Cowboys coaching staff and front office received a ton of undue criticism when it decided to keep 28-year-old rookie kicker Brett Maher in lieu of the perennially accurate Dan Bailey on the 53-man roster.

Through five games it looks like the Cowboys made the right decision. With Bailey struggling to make the easiest field goals with Minnesota (he missed a 28- and 45-yard field goals Sunday), Maher has been excellent for the Cowboys, making 11 straight field goals after missing his first attempt of the year, going three-for-three against Houston.

Bailey did atone for his earlier misses with a game with a 52-yard field goal to beat the Philadelphia Eagles (how nice of Bailey to still help out the Cowboys even when he's not on the team), but he no longer looks as automatic as he did in previous years. Maher, on the other hand, looks comfortable and confident with his kicks.

It's easy to critique many of the decisions from the coaching staff this season, but the decision to keep Maher over Bailey is certainly not one of them.

John Owning writes about NFL player evaluation for SportsDayDFW.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnOwning.