The Dallas Cowboys came into their Week 4 trip to Houston desperately needing to respond after the painful loss to Baltimore. It wasn’t always pretty this week and Houston’s defensive front made life extremely difficult for Dak Prescott, while the Cowboys defense once again struggled to prevent explosive passing plays.
Yet Dallas remained within striking distance throughout the game, helped considerably by Houston’s mistakes and found the way to win 34-30 on the road. Here are this week’s winners
and losers from the Battle for Texas.
Winner: CeeDee Lamb
At this point it almost feels repetitive putting CeeDee Lamb in the winner column. But what else are you supposed to do? When Dallas needed someone to get the offense moving, Prescott looked toward 88.
Lamb entered Sunday having produced consecutive 100-yard games and ranked fourth in the NFL with 309 receiving yards through three weeks. Houston knew exactly where the football was likely to go and still struggled to cover him.
His biggest play came immediately after halftime. Dallas opened the third quarter trailing 16-6 and desperately needed something to change the feel of the game. Prescott went deep to Lamb for 30 yards, moving the Cowboys inside the Houston 10-yard line. Javonte Williams scored two plays later and suddenly a ten-point deficit had become three.
Houston has one of the better secondaries Dallas will face, and Derek Stingley Jr. is among the best cornerbacks in football. It didn’t matter to Lamb and becoming the center of the Cowboys passing game again. He ended the day with 17 catches for 189 receiving yards and the game winning touchdown. What a day!
Winner: Brian Schottenheimer
Brian Schottenheimer took plenty of criticism after the Baltimore game. It’s only fair he receives credit for what happened in Houston. Dallas went into halftime trailing 16-6. The offense had managed only two Brandon Aubrey field goals, Prescott was constantly under pressure, and Houston’s defensive front was dictating the game.
Whatever Dallas was doing wasn’t working. Then the game changed. The Cowboys scored 14 points in the third quarter and another 14 in the fourth, turning a ten-point halftime deficit into a 34-30 victory. That’s where Schottenheimer deserves credit.
Rather than stubbornly continuing with an offensive approach Houston had successfully disrupted, Dallas found better ways to get the ball out of Prescott’s hands and into its best players. CeeDee Lamb became the focal point. Javonte Williams continued getting opportunities around the goal line. Dallas sustained longer possessions and started finishing drives rather than settling for field goals.
The result was four second-half touchdowns after failing to score one during the opening 30 minutes. That is an adjustment and better play-calling. Hats off the coach, he came through for Dallas when they needed him most.
Winner: Javonte Williams
Maybe Week 3 wasn’t a one-off after all. Javonte Williams finally broke out against Baltimore with 98 rushing yards, and he has carried that momentum straight into Houston.
The Cowboys offensive line has had major problems protecting Prescott, but the running lanes have been considerably better. Williams took the advantage scoring three touchdowns and rushing for 62 yards.
Williams ran with patience against Baltimore. Against Houston, he showed off the same combination of vision and physicality, including a 13-yard run late in the second quarter and several productive early-down carries.
Loser: Pass protection
This was always going to be the matchup that could decide the game, and this week Houston won that battle. The Texans entered Sunday possessing one of the NFL’s most dangerous collections of pass rushers.
Will Anderson Jr. already had four sacks through three games, while Danielle Hunter remains one of the league’s most accomplished edge defenders. Dallas knew exactly what was coming. Knowing about it and stopping it are two very different things.
Every Cowboys offensive lineman surrendered at least two pressures today, and Prescott was rarely allowed to become comfortable in the pocket. The problems haven’t come from only one position, either.
Jadeveon Clowney and Jaden Crumedy combined to bring Prescott down on Dallas’ opening possession. Later, Houston turned up the pressure even further. Prescott was sacked on consecutive plays late in the second quarter, first by Jamal Hill and then by Anderson and Hunter combining to collapse the pocket.
Houston was able to win around the edge, through the middle and with different rushers. T.J. Bass was driven backwards by Anderson on one particularly ugly rep that resulted in Prescott going down at a crucial time. Three sacks on the day and double-digit pressures is enough to say this was a bad day up front for the Dallas offensive line in pass protection.
Loser: Explosive plays allowed
Here’s the frustrating part about the Cowboys defense. It can play several good snaps and then erase all of them with one terrible one. Houston demonstrated that almost immediately.
On the Texans’ very first offensive play, Stroud found Nico Collins deep down the middle for 45 yards. Houston went from its own 15-yard line to Dallas territory in one snap. The drive eventually finished with Collins catching a seven-yard touchdown.
Later in the opening quarter it happened again. Houston faced second-and-one from its own 17. Stroud went deep to rookie Jaylin Noel, who broke free for 52 yards before DaRon Bland eventually got him down at the Dallas 31.
Those two completions alone accounted for 97 yards. Collins then added another 18-yard reception during the second quarter as Houston continued finding space beyond the first level of the Dallas defense. By the early third quarter, Stroud was averaging over 11 yards per pass attempt. That’s the problem.
Dallas can stop the run. It forced Houston into third down. It occasionally got Stroud off schedule. But if one coverage mistake immediately turns into 40 or 50 yards, all of the good work that came before it meant very little.
The Cowboys have already been forced to shuffle their secondary because of injuries, and Joey Porter Jr. only arrived in Dallas this week. Those are legitimate explanations. They aren’t excuses for continually allowing explosive plays. And even on the final throw for Houston to make a last-second winning play, Cowboys hearts were in their stomachs knowing this fact.
Until Dallas finds a way to make opponents earn their yards instead of giving them away in huge chunks, this defense is going to remain incredibly difficult to trust.
