But in the end they did what they had to, scoring a field goal from Greg Zuerlein in less than a minute to send the game into overtime before CeeDee Lamb ended his career day with a 35-yard touchdown for the To seal victory.
In total, the Cowboys ran 32 games of 17 from New England, finished with a 567 yard attack on the 335 of the home side and achieved a ball possession time of 39:27 to 26:51. And luckily, they got their way where it mattered most – on the scoreboard.
The Cowboys’ running game had intermittent problems and was 122 yards with Ezekiel Elliot earning just 69. He surpassed 1,500 career rush attempts during the day, the third highest in team record books and only the 15th NFL player to do so in his first 77 games.
But he also added 50 reception yards as part of the all-round air effort. Dak Prescott completed 70.6 percent of his passes for 445 yards, the sixth highest total of his career, with three touchdowns for a pass rating of 108.7.
And Lamb was the big beneficiary of that offensive attack as he caught nine passes for 149 yards, both personal bests, with two touchdown catches for the second multi-score game of his young career. In addition, he tied Herschel Walker as the fastest cowboys at 100 career receptions in just 22 games. In total, Prescott went into the win with eight different recipients.
For the first time this season, the Cowboys gave up two touchdowns in the first quarter, a start that would get them into a 14-7 hole.
When the team first had possession, nothing went right. A kick-off penalty put her on her own 12-yard line to start, followed by a questionable hold call on Tyron Smith and a questionable non-call on a possible late hit on Prescott. Dallas was then stopped at its own 34-yard line on both the third, fourth, and 1 to flip the ball on downs. Head coach Mike McCarthy challenged the place after the second attempt, but it was unsuccessful, the Cowboys also lost a break.
Given the great field position, the Patriots only needed three games to reach the end zone. Running back Damien Harris dropped a 21-yard win to open the streak before taking the ball two snaps later for the 4-yard score.
But after that disappointing start, the cowboys got rolling. After perhaps learning a lesson, this time they took to the air. Prescott did well on all six pass attempts, including completing 18 and 17 yards against Dalton Schultz and receiver Amari Cooper. However, the tight end Blake Jarwin became the top scorer by bringing in a 1-yard pass from Prescott to tie things up.
Unfortunately, the Patriots showed no signs of slowing down and only took four games to get 75 yards to the goal line. Completions of 14, 22 and 20 yards did the damage, the last being a Jones pass to tight end Hunter Henry for the touchdown.
Prescott finished the first 15 minutes with 161 passing yards, the most in the first quarter of the NFL that season and the third-most in the first frame in franchise history.
The Cowboys just couldn’t stop hurting themselves, making three red zone entries in the second quarter but not scoring a touchdown and worse, they flipped the ball twice.
They made a long 13 game drive that ate at 7:02 a.m. and reached the New England 16 yard line. But on the third and 9, Prescott tried to thread one into the expanse of Cedrick Wilson in the end zone, only to tip the pass away and land instead in the waiting arms of Kyle Dugger.
On their subsequent drive, the Patriots appeared to have their third touchdown of the game, only to have negated the game with their first penalty. It was Randy Gregory’s aggressiveness on the defensive end that resulted in the hold call, which was immediately followed by the next snap that Gregory actually got to the quarterback and not only sacked Mac Jones, but also forced a fumble. The award was brought back by rookie Chauncey Golston to end the threat and give Dallas the ball on its own 48-yard line.
The Cowboys almost touched down on their next streak, but Wilson was unable to hold a 12-yard pass to the right corner of the end zone. That made Zürlein kick a 30-yard field goal, Dallas now at four.
And then the tide seemed to turn. The Dallas Defense forced a punt from New England after a quick three-and-out, but Special-Teamer Luke Gifford broke the middle of the line and blocked Jake Bailey’s punt attempt. Gifford also grabbed the bouncing ball, then brought it to the Patriots’ 17-yard line. It was the Cowboys’ first blocked punt since Donnie Jones did the trick in Philadelphia on September 20, 2015.
Dallas even got to the 1-yard line and on a third attempt to cross the goal line, Prescott appeared to step in. But the officials decided him down, no profit. The Cowboys then tried fourth down, but this time Prescott lost control of the ball trying to jump over the top and New England won the fumble back in the end zone, the score remaining at 14-10 Break.
The teams exchanged punts early in the third quarter before Dallas finally found its offensive groove. Starting on their own 9-yard line at the 9:18 mark of the frame, Prescott and Co. worked their way down the field, with quarterback hitting Elliott for 18 yards, Noah Brown for 27 and Schultz for 20 more. Lamb eventually got the score, a 1-yard pass from Prescott to the 2,500. Touchdown was in franchise history and the most in the NFL since 1960.
When the clock went to the fourth quarter, Dallas was on the move again. They paused when Wilson regained his own fake punt return, but after that, Prescott sliced open the Patriots secondary, with Lamb 13, Elliott 12 and then Lamb again aiming for a big 33 yard win. They reached the 27-yard line in New England, but had to be content with a 45-yard Zürlein field goal.
But just as Dallas seemed to be in control of the game, the Patriots found something. After New England had basically been unable to do much since the first quarter, New England turned to their hasty attack by running the ball eight times in 13 games and munching at 6:50 a.m. Rhamondre Stevenson pushed his way into the game from the 1-yard line to give the Patriots the result and the 21:20 lead with 6:23 remainder.
Dallas had a chance to move forward again, and Prescott brought his troops within field goal range on the Patriots 33-yard line. But Zuerlein’s 51-yard attempt sailed far to the left, leaving any chance of victory in the hands of the Cowboys defense. They needed a hold.
Instead, they got so much more. That’s when Trevon Diggs caught a Jones pass that was wrong and the cornerback took the interception 42 yards back for his second pick-six of the season. There were also Diggs seven interceptions in six games, which related Hall of Famer Rod Woodson (1993) for the most interceptions in six games in a season.
The celebration didn’t last long, however, as on the next Patriots snap, Diggs bit a double pull from Kendrick Bourne, who picked up Jones’ pass and raced pristine 75 yards for the result. New England successfully turned the two-point conversion into a 29-26 lead.
But Dallas still had time and took over at 2:05 on the clock. At this point, Prescott was leading his team 40 yards in nine games, his pass to Lamb for 24 yards brought them to the Patriots’ 31-yard line with 24 seconds to go. Zürlein then came out for a 49-yard field goal, his attempt to send the game into overtime.
The Cowboys Defense first did their part in forcing New England’s inaugural possession of the extra frame. And then Prescott and Lamb got to work.
Starting from their own 20-yard line, the pair combined three of the seven plays on the drive, connected with passes of 14 yards, 7 for a first down, and then a big 35-yarder that Prescott Lamb looked low over the stroke Middle, the receiver struts untouched for the game-winning touchdown.
While all three division opponents had lost earlier in the day, the Cowboys achieved their fifth victory in a row and thus took a sovereign lead in the NFC East.
[ad_1]
