The Dallas Cowboys played one of the most chaotic games of all time on Sunday.
The fourth quarter featured 41 total points and the winning team (Dallas!) possessed the ball three times in overtime.
It was a thrilling way for the Cowboys to pick up their first win of the season and first under the leadership of Brian Schottenheimer as head coach. Winning cures all and this 1-1 team now feels good about football for the first time in a while.
Below you will find our recap of it all broken down by quarter.
The Dallas Cowboys are 1-1! Let’s go!
1st Quarter
The Cowboys won the opening coin toss and chose to defer which put the Giants at work right away.
It was a strange possession to start a game. This was the case because the Giants had an extreme number of penalties going on. It was comical.
New York wound up in a 3rd and 25 situation from around midfield at one point because of them and actually pulled it off thanks to a 50-yard completion from Russell Wilson to Wandale Robinson.
They stalled a bit more though, partly thanks to more penalties, and settled for an opening field goal. All told the Giants gained 110 net yards thanks to 60 penalty yards. This was all on the first possession!
Once the Cowboys took over it felt like a ton of time had passed and the offense kind of looked that way. After three plays they were facing a fourth and short and decided to be aggressive.
Dak Prescott lined up under center and clearly was trying to provide a lot of smoke and mirrors in the name of drawing New York offsides. He hiked the ball at what he thought was the final second and successfully snuck it for a first down. Unfortunately Dak was a hair too late and the Cowboys were called for delay of game and had to punt it away.
New York made good on their second possession although they stalled out a bit. They were able to put another field goal on the board with a minute to go which made it 6-0 Giants.
2nd Quarter
On the first play of the second quarter Dak Prescott was sacked on 3rd and 7 which forced Dallas to punt. Not ideal.
Thankfully the Cowboys were able to force a quick punt to get the ball back. It is strange to say, but it felt pretty impressive that they were only down by six at this point what with everything involved.
Dallas showed signs of life on their next offensive drive. Javonte Williams began to move on the ground and Prescott found CeeDee Lamb for the first time through the air. Dak went airborne shortly after in the name of George Pickens in the endzone, but ultimately they couldn’t connect. What’s more is that Dak was sacked on third down again and Dallas had to settle for a 51-yard Brandon Aubrey field goal to make it 6-3.
The Giants proved pretty quickly that this would not be an easy day at the office for the Cowboys. As Russell Wilson began to find himself, he found Malik Nabers for quite the touchdown to give the Giants a 13-3 lead.
Thankfully the Cowboys offense was up for the challenge. Dak and Co. were in the redzone pretty quickly and George Pickens was a big reason why.
After a penalty kept Dallas’ drive alive near the goal line things got particularly wild from a penalty perspective. On 3rd and 9 the Giants were called for too many men on the field, roughing the passer, AND pass interference on the play in question. Unfortunately CeeDee Lamb was called for unsportsmanlike conduct as a result of taunting which made everything offset.
Nevertheless… Dak Prescott found KaVontae Turpin for the touchdown to make sure Dallas cashed in! The touchdown cut the Giants lead to 13-10.
The Cowboys defense decided it was time to get in on the fun and it was Kenny Clark who specifically did so with a sack of Russell Wilson. New York punted to set Dallas up with about 100 seconds to go with no timeouts before halftime.
Dallas got to about midfield and faced a long third down with under 20 seconds to go. Prescott hit Jake Ferguson for a short completion, but he was not able to get out of bounds and the half ended abruptly.
3rd Quarter
The Cowboys began the second half with the ball and the chance to go tie or take the lead. Unfortunately that optimism was short-lived. Prescott threw an incompletion on the first play and to a Giants defender on the second.
It looked like the Cowboys were going to get severely burned here. Thankfully for them Solomon Thomas stepped up once the Giants got inside of the redzone.
After a third and short failed for them the Giants decided to roll the dice on fourth down. They came up short.
The Cowboys took over after this gift and seemed determined not to squander it. KaVontae Turpin was a huge point of focus on the drive, but things didn’t truly open up until George Pickens drew a huge penalty.
It was then that Javonte Williams showed up for a huge touchdown to give the Cowboys a 17-13 lead.
Things picked up quickly for the Giants right away. Russell Wilson found Darius Slayton for a 52-yard gain which made things threatening.
The Cowboys were able to gather themselves and while New York acted as if they were going to go for it near the goal line on 4th and 5 they ultimately were content to take their field goal which made it 17-16 in favor of the home team.
Dallas began moving themselves and finished the third quarter in field goal range.
4th Quarter
Before any plays could be run in the final period Tyler Guyton was called for a false start. The Cowboys were suddenly facing a 3rd and 16.
Prescott was under extreme duress on the play, but thankfully he was able to salvage a two-yard gain after it all. Brandon Aubrey trotted out for a 44-yard field goal opportunity and was good give the Cowboys a 20-16 lead.
The Giants proved that they were not the team Dallas has beaten up on for a decade, though. After a penalty that moved things along for them the G-Men brought in rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart for a play. The broadcast even speculated that maybe this was going to be a designed run and the Cowboys may have been thinking that as well.
This assumption feels fair because Dart handed it off to fellow rookie Cam Skattebo who bursted through the heart of the Cowboys defense. He was taken down to the 1-yard line and on the next play Skattebo punched it in to give the Giants the lead back. 23-20.
Dallas did not take that quietly, though. On what was maybe the most impressive offensive drive of the season, especially considering the stakes, Dak Prescott found CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens each for some impressive chain-moving moments.
Miles Sanders capped it off with the go-ahead touchdown to put Dallas ahead 27-23.
The theme of not going quietly kept up. Despite disrupting Russell Wilson’s chemistry with continued usage of Dart… Brian Daboll saw his quarterback deliver an incredible pass to give the Giants the lead.
It came on fourth down which made it particularly gutting.
Things felt pretty grim for the Cowboys. It couldn’t end like this.
Dak Prescott made sure that this statement was true. He put together a masterful drive where CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens and Javonte Williams each had big-time moments.
George Pickens had the biggest one, though. This was his first touchdown as a Cowboy and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Dak Prescott does not play defense, though.
Russell Wilson found Malik Nabers for the go-ahead touchdown with under a minute left. Seriously.
It looked impossible for the Cowboys. It was impossible for the Cowboys.
Dak Prescott got them in range and set Brandon Aubrey up for a 64-yard field goal to tie.
HE NAILED IT.
To overtime!
Overtime
The Giants won the toss and elected to play defense first which put the Cowboys to work with 10 minutes on the clock. Notably the Cowboys trotted out without Cooper Beebe. The broadcast noted he had an ankle injury and was questionable to return, although he seemed unlikely to return based on the way the broadcast showed him. That will be something to monitor as we move forward.
Unfortunately the Cowboys couldn’t do much and were forced to punt it away. It did not feel great to put things in the hands of the defense given, um, literally everything.
The Giants did not capitalize, though. After showing signs of life initially, Russell Wilson finally erred. He had a pass slip out of his hands that went backwards on second down which made converting all but impossible. The Cowboys received the ball with a chance to win the game with any score.
But the Cowboys still could do nothing and it was feeling grim once more. Getting a second stop on defense felt impossible.
If what Russell Wilson gave on the first overtime possession was a gift… this one was wrapped and tucked under the tree. He lobbed this right up for Donovan Wilson to snag.
The Cowboys offense was aided by a huge George Pickens reception to put them in field goal range. Dak Prescott ran a bit more to make it more of a sure thing.
Brandon Aubrey walked it off!
Cowboys win!
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