Cowboys Survive Lions Gamble

The Cowboys (11-5) survived a crazy finish that saw the Lions attempt three two-point tries, none of which were ultimately successful, in the final seconds of Dallas’s 20-19 win over Detroit (11-5) on Saturday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. The Cowboys survived a lineman-eligible two-point catch and an offsides from Micah Parsons, and got a career night from wide receiver CeeDee Lamb to escape the Lions and move into a tie for the top spot in the NFC East.

LAMB HAS SPECIAL NIGHT

Despite a fumble that cost Dallas a two-score lead in the second quarter, Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb had one of the best nights in franchise history.

Lamb went for a career high 227 yards, by catching 13 of 17 targets. It is the first time he has had more than 200 yards receiving in his career. It is the fourth best receiving day in Cowboys history, behind only Miles Austin (250 yards, 2009 vs. Kansas City), Bob Hayes (246 yards, 1966 vs. Washington) and Frank Clarke (241 yards, 1962 vs. Washington).

He also set single season franchise records for receptions with 122 and yards with 1,651, passing the 1995 season Michael Irvin had, where he finished with 111 catches for 1,603 yards.

He made the biggest play of the NFL season, the Cowboys season and Lamb’s career when he caught a 92-yard touchdown pass from Dak Prescott in the first quarter. It gave the Cowboys a 7-3 lead.

It is Lamb’s seventh game with over 100 yards receiving this season, and the 18th time he has done it in his career. It is also the sixth game with more than 10 receptions this season, and the 10th time he has done that in his four-year career.

OFFENSIVE LINE STRUGGLES CONTINUE

It was another tough night for the Cowboys offensive line.

With their starting group back intact, they gave up three sacks, eight tackles for loss and led the rushing attack to just 61yards on 21 carries – just a 2.9-yard average per carry.

Even with Tyron Smith back at left tackle, the Cowboys offensive line looked suspect at best. Smith gave up the first sack of the game, getting beat by Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson in the second quarter.

Smith also picked up the offensive line’s only penalty when he was called for a false start early in the game.

Center Tyler Biadasz was abused by Hutchinson on the Cowboys second sack allowed of the first half. Hutchinson shoved Biadasz back into quarterback Dak Prescott’s lap and the big defensive end easily took him down.

Hutchinson got a third sack in the fourth quarter when he beat Terence Steele cleanly on an inside move that gave Prescott no time to get rid of the football.

On Prescott’s only turnover of the first half, he was flushed from the pocket because of the Lions pass rush and was intercepted by Ifeatu Melifonwu while trying to squeeze another pas into CeeDee Lamb.

Left guard Tyler Smith was hurt in the second half, and was replaced by T.J. Bass., who held his own on the field.

RUN DEFENSE HAS TOUGH NIGHT

The Cowboys run defense was abysmal again on Saturday night.

Dallas allowed the Lions to rush for 125 yards on 31 carries, for just over 4 yards per carry.

David Montgomery led the Lions with 65 yards on 14 carries, while Jahmyr Gibbs had 43 yards on 15 carries.

Their best drive of the night came on the first of the second half, when the Lions ran the ball 10 times for 50 yards. Detroit finished the drive with a 3-yard TD run from Montgomery, the Lions first touchdown of the game.

The Lions went for 68 yards on the ground in the first half. Gibbs led the way with 31 yards on nine carries, while Montgomery had 20 yards on six carries.

After keeping the Lions in check on the first four drives of the game, the Cowboys run defense allowed the Lions running backs to chew them up for 45 yards on nine carries on drive No. 5. But it ended with a turnover on downs deep in the Dallas territory.

PASS RUSH AFFECTIVE ENOUGH

While the Cowboys pass rush only got to Lions quarterback Jared Goff once, they did put enough pressure on him to cause two interceptions.

Dorance Armstrong had the Cowboys only sack in the second quarter, but it was the interceptions by Jourdan Lewis and Donovan Wilson, on in each half, that sealed Dallas’ 11th win of the season.

Goff, who had been sacked 28 times coming into Saturday night’s game, was able to move around just enough to avoid the Cowboys rush most of the night.

But he threw two errant passes, one in the first half that Lewis got his hands under on a screen pass. The second came late in fourth quarter and the Cowboys holding onto a 17-13 lead, as Wilson dove in front of tight end Sam LaPorta and pinned the football between his forearms as he hit the ground and rolled over onto his head. The ball never touched the ground, and the Cowboys took over and turned it into a field goal and a 20-13 lead with 1:41 to play.

Goff finished with 271 yards passing on 19 completions. He did throw one touchdown late in the fourth quarter but was errant on the two-point pass that counted.

POLLARD CONTINUES STRUGGLES

If not for an 18-yard run in the second half, it would have been running back Tony Pollard’s worst game since he rushed for 30 yards in the Cowboys 20-17 win over the Chargers in Week 6.

On Saturday night, the Lions held Pollard to just 49 yards on 16 carries, which was just 3.1 yards per carry on the night. He did have that 18-yard run in fourth quarter, but he also had xx negative runs in the win over Detroit.

Pollard was also non-effective in the passing game, catching just one of three targets for no yards.

Pollard was held on 50 yards rushing for the fourth time this season, it is also the eighth time he was held to an average below 4.0 yards per carry.

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BIG HUGE GIANT MONSTER Play of the Game

It was a comedy of errors before the Lions finally went for and failed on a two-point conversion in the final seconds to seal the victory for the Cowboys. After taking a 20-13 lead, the Cowboys allowed the Lions to drive the length of the field in the final 1:41, and with no timeouts, and score a touchdown with just a few seconds to play in the game. The Lions went for two and seemed to get it on pass from Jared Goff to offensive tackle Taylor Decker, but after a lengthy discussion by the officials it was determined the Decker didn’t report and it was a foul. After the five-yard walk off against Detroit, the Lions went for it again and this time Micah Parsons jumped offsides on an incomplete pass from Goff. The moved it back to the two-yard line for a third try, and Goff was short on his pass to tight end James Mitchell.

UNSUNG Play of the Game

The Detroit Lions were just a few inches at the beginning of a third-down play in the first quarter from taking a 5-0 lead, instead when it ended the Cowboys had the lead. On third and 13 from the Cowboys 8, somehow quarterback Dak Prescott avoided a sure sack by Lions defender Derrick Barnes by ducking under and allowing Barnes to slide by to the inside. Still in the end zone, Prescott took two steps to his right and heaved a ball that CeeDee Lamb hauled in at his own 45 and ran untouched for a 92-yard touchdown and the Cowboys first lead of the game. Lamb, who lined up on the right side of the formation ran a deep crossing route, that he turned up and back to the right as Prescott escaped his trouble. Lions safety Brian Branch fell as Lamb made his turn and the Cowboys leading receiver was free for the touchdown.