The Dallas Cowboys finally got back into the win column Sunday, but nobody should mistake a 27-23 victory over the Indianapolis Colts for a complete performance. Dallas dominated the statistical categories that usually determine the outcome of a football game, outgaining Indianapolis by more than 200 yards, controlling the clock and producing over 500 yards of offense. Yet somehow, the Cowboys needed a touchdown with just over a minute remaining to escape with a victory.
That is the frustrating reality
of this team. Dallas has shown it can move the football and generate enough defensive stops to compete. What it still cannot do consistently is put all the phases together. The offense wastes opportunities, the defense gives up momentum-changing plays, and the entire team continues to shoot itself in the foot with undisciplined mistakes.
The Cowboys won Sunday, and at 4-5, they will gladly take it. But against a Colts team that had lost four straight games, this should never have been as close as it was.
Dominating the stat sheet means nothing if you cannot finish drives
Dallas finished the afternoon with 508 total yards of offense. The Cowboys also held a commanding advantage in time of possession, keeping the ball for 35 minutes. Dak Prescott threw for 335 yards and two touchdowns, completing 21 of 34 passes without an interception. CeeDee Lamb was spectacular, catching 10 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown. Javonte Williams added 101 rushing yards and a score, while former Colts running back Tyler Goodson contributed another 77 yards on the ground, a career high.
On paper, that is a dominant offensive performance. The Cowboys averaged 6.4 yards per play and moved the football at will for long stretches. Yet, somehow, after all those yards and all that success moving the ball, Dallas found itself losing with 1:38 left.
Dallas converted just 5 of 16 third-down opportunities, a 31.3% conversion rate. The offense also committed two turnovers, including a wacky Lamb fourth-quarter fumble that wiped out a huge play and a Colts error that could have sealed the victory earlier in the game.
The fumble was weird. It felt like the same kind of voodoo magic that rears its ugly head just as the Cowboys have a chance to win. Part of the malaise of the losing culture that this team is stewing in. The Cowboys also had to settle for field goals on multiple occasions, including another missed 50-yard attempt by Brandon Aubrey in the fourth quarter. Aubrey’s miss came after a bad snap, but it still wasted another possession in a game Dallas should have been controlling.
The defense continues to surrender momentum-changing plays
Christian Parker’s defense deserves credit for holding Jonathan Taylor to just 46 rushing yards on 13 carries, forcing two turnovers and ultimately delivering the interception that sealed the victory. Quinnen Williams also made a huge impact, forcing a Taylor fumble in the fourth quarter that gave Prescott and the offense another opportunity.
But the defense still struggled when the game entered its most important moments. After Dallas built a 20-10 lead in the third quarter, Indianapolis found a way back in with a 55-yard touchdown reception by Ashton Dulin. Cowboys fans had just seen this a week ago with Tyler Allgeier, then had to watch Dulin do it again. Dulin found space and never looked back after more questionable tackling reared its ugly head again in this game.
That kind of breakdown has plagued this defense throughout the season. Dallas can generate pressure, make tackles and occasionally force turnovers, but one missed assignment or poor angle seems to undo this defense any time the game gets close.
The fourth quarter brought even more problems. DaRon Bland was flagged for a 40-yard pass interference penalty after a deep throw from Daniel Jones, and Dee Winters followed it with a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty. Those two flags gave Indianapolis an enormous field-position advantage and helped keep the Colts’ comeback alive.
The Cowboys surrendered 16 points in the second half, including two long field goals from Spencer Shrader that gave Indianapolis its first lead of the afternoon. They finished with a positive note, of course. Rookie safety Caleb Downs made the biggest defensive play of the game, intercepting Jones’ desperation throw with 35 seconds remaining to preserve the victory.
One clutch play doesn’t erase the problems that came before it. Dallas still has to become more consistent defensively. Yes, there were some bright spots, even against a bad team, but this defense still hasn’t put together a complete game and regularly falls apart when the going gets tough.
The penalties are becoming a weekly embarrassment
If one statistic perfectly captures the Cowboys’ inability to play complementary football, it is the penalty total. Dallas was flagged 14 times for 153 yards against Indianapolis. One hundred and fifty-three yards! That is an absurd amount of free yardage to give an opponent, even in a game Dallas largely controlled.
Penalties repeatedly put the offense behind the chains and gave Indianapolis extra chances. Lamb had an 18-yard reception wiped out by offensive pass interference, while multiple flags on the same drive forced Dallas to overcome unnecessary obstacles just to move the ball.
The defense was equally guilty. Bland’s 40-yard pass-interference penalty and Winters’ unnecessary roughness call gave Indianapolis a chance to capitalize on mistakes instead of earning every yard. We’ve seen this before, though, haven’t we?
Dallas has struggled with discipline throughout the season, and the coaching staff has repeatedly talked about correcting those mistakes. Yet here we are, watching the Cowboys commit another double-digit penalty performance.
Dallas finally finished, but not because it seized the victory
There is something to be said for the way the Cowboys responded after Indianapolis took a 23-20 lead with 1:38 remaining. Prescott didn’t panic, and the offense finally produced the kind of clutch drive that has been missing in several of Dallas’ losses this season.
Prescott connected with Ryan Flournoy for a 46-yard gain, putting the Cowboys in scoring position. A pass-interference penalty moved Dallas to the 1-yard line, and Williams finished the drive with a touchdown run to put Dallas back in front.
Then Downs sealed the game with his first career interception, stopping Indianapolis’ final attempt to respond. That is complementary football in its simplest form: the offense scores when it needs to, and the defense makes the play necessary to preserve the lead. Dallas waited until the final minute to put those pieces together.
The Cowboys should be encouraged by how their stars played individually. There were legitimate positives, and the team deserves a sliver of credit for finding a way to win a game that could easily have slipped away. Alas, the larger concerns remain. Dallas still struggles to finish drives, still commits far too many penalties and still allows opposing offenses to hang around when it has opportunities to put games away.
Schottenheimer and his staff have to find a way to make these performances more consistent. The Cowboys cannot expect Prescott to throw for 335 yards and Lamb to approach 200 receiving yards every week just to survive against struggling opponents.
Sunday was a victory, and after the Arizona collapse, that’s a nice bounce-back, but it was also another reminder that this team still hasn’t figured out how to play a complete football game. The Cowboys dominated the stat sheet. They dominated time of possession. They had the better quarterback performance, the better rushing production and more than enough opportunities to put Indianapolis away, and they still nearly lost.
Until Dallas learns to make its offense, defense and special teams work together for four quarters, it will keep snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Winning is the objective, and the Cowboys accomplished that Sunday. But if this is what complementary football looks like in Dallas, they still have a long way to go.
