The Dallas Cowboys won a football game on Thanksgiving Day. It never gets old.
America’s Team partook in their annual Turkey Day tradition and the Kansas City Chiefs were the team who dared square off against them. It marked patrick Mahomes’ first NFL start at AT&T Stadium and he will have to wait a while to try to get his first win. What a shame!
The Cowboys fell down 7-0 in this game, not quite the 21-0 hold they dug last week, but afterwards found a rhythm and settled. They were in control for most of the game as a result of that.
Dallas has won three games in a row for the first time in almost two years and they are north of .500 for the first time since Week 5 of last season. They have done a number of impressive things since emerging from the bye and conversations about the playoffs carry legitimate merit as a result of them.
Kudos to all involved for the Cowboys for managing the quick turnaround off of a high-intensity win last week. They have earned some time off, but they will be back soon enough as they visit the Detroit Lions (who lost on Thanksgiving Day) next Thursday night.
We will focus on that soon. For now, we celebrate.
Happy Thanksgiving! Well done, Cowboys!
Here is our recap of how it all happened.
First Quarter
The Chiefs won the toss and deferred which put the Cowboys on offense first.
Like last week this turned out to be a not-so-great thing. Under pressure on the third play of the game, Dak Prescott was intercepted and the Chiefs were already in striking distance after the return.
It took 3 plays for the Chiefs to take the ball away and it took fewer for them to score. On their second offensive play of the day Kansas City saw Patrick Mahomes hook up with Rashee Rice for the easy touchdown.
SCORE: COWBOYS 0, CHIEFS 7 (Patrick Mahomes to Rashee Rice touchdown)
The Cowboys did a great job of not letting the previous drive get to them as they appeared very comfortable when back on offense. Notably CeeDee Lamb looked particularly great which was awesome to see given last week’s struggles.
Lamb was indeed very consistent on the drive, so much so that he put an end to it with a touchdown to equalize things for the Cowboys.
SCORE: COWBOYS 7, CHIEFS 7 (Dak Prescott to CeeDee Lamb touchdown)
In the blink of an eye the Chiefs were back within striking distance. We knew all along this game would be like this in certain stretches.
The defense got Kansas City into a third down, but unfortunately Patrick Mahomes was able to scramble and move the chains. A few plays later the Chiefs were in a 4th and Goal situation and rolled the dice. They hit.
SCORE: COWBOYS 7, CHIEFS 14 (Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelce touchdown)
That was it for the first quarter.
Second Quarter
The Cowboys were able to grind out another impressive drive and this one was a bit more dramatic than the previous.
Part of the theatrics involved a fourth and short that Brian Schottenheimer went for around midfield. Dak Prescott converted by finding Jake Ferguson which kept the waters cool for a bit.
Shortly after that Prescott fired one off to George Pickens and it looked to be an easy conversion… except Pickens seemed to lose the ball in the infamous glare from the sun peeking into AT&T Stadium. Sigh.
The Cowboys ultimately had to settle for a field goal which was nice, but given the sun of it all it was a bit disappointing.
SCORE: COWBOYS 10, CHIEFS 14 (Brandon Aubrey 49-yard field goal)
Thankfully the Cowboys defense was able to rise to the occasion on the next drive. A big reason for this was a huge coverage sack against Patrick Mahomes that Jadeveon Clowney was the one to receive credit for. Whatever the case the Cowboys took over possession with a chance to go take the lead for the first time on the afternoon.
Dak Prescott was in quite a zone on this possession and was very smooth with moving the ball and offense down the field.
It was Malik Davis who capped it off, though. As Jim Nantz put it on the broadcast… number 43 took it 43 yards to the house for the first Cowboys lead of the game!
SCORE: COWBOYS 17, CHIEFS 14 (Malik Davis touchdown)
It looked as if Kansas City was going to find a way to score, but then the Cowboys defense stepped up. They delivered a stop for the second straight possession and forced a punt with about 20 seconds left in the half.
The Cowboys decided that was enough though and handed the ball off to Javonte Williams to send Post Malone to the stage for the Thanksgiving Day halftime show.
Third Quarter
As the Chiefs deferred to start the game they began the second half with the ball.
It was more of the same though, amazingly. The Cowboys defense stood tall yet again and forced a Kansas City punt. Unfortunately it was downed very deep in Dallas territory which made matters treacherous for the offense. The first two plays looked promising, but George Pickens couldn’t wrap up a third down pass and the Cowboys punted it right back.
Amazingly, the Cowboys defense did it again. They forced a fourth straight punt from the Chiefs offense. Imagine hearing those words in the middle of October. They would sound absurd.
Dallas took over with some serious aggression. KaVontae Turpin was involved out of the backfield, Javonte Williams ran hard, CeeDee Lamb drew a big interference call, and Jake Ferguson caught a touchdown… or so we thought.
Ferguson got his left foot down on two separate occasions, but he did not get multiple feet down which rendered his amazing catch moot. It forced the Cowboys to attempt another play on third down with a few minutes remaining in the third quarter and Dak Prescott was unable to connect with CeeDee Lamb. Given that there were three yards to go… Brian Schottenheimer decided to roll the dice once more.
Just kidding. Dak and the offense were trying to bait the Chiefs defense for a free first down and ultimately took a delay of game to send Brandon Aubrey out for a 36-yard attempt. It was good.
SCORE: COWBOYS 20, CHIEFS 14 (Brandon Aubrey 36-yard field goal)
It appeared as if Kansas City was about to draw points as the quarter came to a close.
Fourth Quarter
The dam finally broke as the Chiefs scored. It came on a fourth and goal decision where Kansas City decided to be aggressive and they were rewarded for it.
SCORE: COWBOYS 20, CHIEFS 21 (Patrick Mahomes to Rashee Rice touchdown)
The Cowboys offense took over for the biggest offensive possession of the game and given all circumstances arguably the season. Thankfully it was their finest hour.
Dak Prescott was well in control and this was when George Pickens finally woke up to a serious degree in the game. He had a massive pick up that put the Cowboys in a goal-to-go situation, but a penalty on Jake Ferguson made things complicated right away.
Never fear. Dak Prescott is here.
Given that Dallas trailed by one before the touchdown they went for two right after.
They got it. George Pickens. Duh.
SCORE: COWBOYS 28, CHIEFS 21 (Dak Prescott to Javonte Williams touchdown)
The Cowboys defense went to work AGAIN which was absolutely unbelievable to see. They forced Kansas City to punt and right away the Cowboys proved they wanted to win by executing a deep pass from Dak Prescott to CeeDee Lamb.
Dallas wound up settling for a field goal, but it gave them a two-score lead which mattered the most.
SCORE: COWBOYS 31, CHIEFS 21 (Brandon Aubrey 26-yard field goal)
The Chiefs would not go quietly as they continued to fight and got within field goal range rather quickly. These things are never easy.
They did not want to settle for a field goal, though. Kansas City picked up a touchdown to narrow the margin to 3 points.
SCORE: COWBOYS 31, CHIEFS 28 (Patrick Mahomes to Hollywood Brown touchdown)
It was time for the Cowboys to try and ice the game and that is exactly what it looked like they were trying to do. CeeDee Lamb continued to frustrate Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie as Brian Schottenheimer kept pressing all of the right buttons.
The Cowboys faced a 3rd and 2 and had to run a play before the two-minute warning. With a first down they would be able to hit the Landry Shift on the other side of it.
Dak Prescott hit George Pickens and that was it. Cowboys win!
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