The Dallas Cowboys entered Thursday night in Detroit with a chance to win four games in a row and provide a serious boost to their building playoff hopes. That did not happen. They lost. At no point were they really close to not losing to be honest.
We should remember the positive equity that Dallas built up over their three-game winning streak and not dismiss it entirely. The Cowboys rallied and made matters impressive across this season, but it is hard to say that there is legitimate hope left after losing this game specifically. Dallas still has a chance and for all we know could get an enormous amount of help, but their already low odds took a serious hit by losing this game to this team.
The Cowboys are now 6-6-1 with a week and a half to rest and reflect over the gauntlet that they just ran. Maybe they pick up a ton of help, maybe they don’t. Either way it will surely be hard for them to look back on this game as they had a number of self-inflicted errors.
Below you will find our recap of it all as it unfolded. Deep breaths, everyone.
First Quarter
The Cowboys won the toss and deferred which put them on defense to start.
After speculation as to whether Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown would even play in this game… the very first play of it went to him for a 7-yard gain.
The Cowboys were able to get Detroit into a third down two plays later though, but unfortunately Jahmyr Gibbs was able to help them out of it. Gibbs was actually a point of frustration for the defense for a majority of this first possession, but as soon as the Lions reached the redzone things got a little bit tighter.
Donovan Ezeiruaku had a tackle for loss on second down with Detroit really threatening and then a play later James Houston (a former Lion) took down Jared Goff for the sack. The Lions kicked a field goal to start the scoring off.
SCORE: COWBOYS 0, LIONS 3 (Jake Bates 38-yard field goal)
The Cowboys took the field with purpose and clearly wanted to get on the board themselves. Dak Prescott was able to connect with George Pickens early on and with Jake Ferguson for an impressive conversion on a second and 15, but unfortunately the Lions defense forced a 3rd and 10 and were able to get the offense off of the field.
Brandon Aubrey was able to attempt a 57-yard field goal with a chance to equalize though, and thankfully we all know how those things tend to go.
SCORE: COWBOYS 3, LIONS 3 (Brandon Aubrey 57-yard field goal)
The Cowboys defense really began to show itself on the next possession. Dallas was getting consistent pressure on Jared Goff and on second down got to him so much so that he threw an incompletion that the officials initially let go as a fumble (it was clearly a forward pass). Ultimately it was a three and out which led to a punt and thanks to a penalty the Cowboys began the next drive inside of their own 5-yard line.
That field position wound up being treacherous. When the Cowboys were facing third down Dak Prescott was under pressure from the Lions defense and was sacked for what officials initially ruled was a safety. The call was looked at though and while the sack stood it was ruled that Prescott was not taken down for two Detroit points. The Cowboys punted it away and the Lions took over with tremendous field position to start.
It was the Dallas 42-yard line specifically where Detroit started and if you give one of the better offenses in the NFL that kind of start then they are usually going to find a way. Despite trying to involve Dan Skipper on offense again (let it go, Lions) and failing Detroit saw Amon-Ra St. Brown rip off a big play and eventually Jahmyr Gibbs punch it in for the game’s first touchdown.
SCORE: COWBOYS 3, LIONS 10 (Jahmyr Gibbs touchdown)
The first quarter ended with the Cowboys offense moving a bit.
Second Quarter
The Cowboys managed to put points on the board on their next possession, but it was incredibly difficult and required an enormous amount of effort.
It seemed like the Cowboys were trying with all of their might for even the tiniest bit of yards in different spurts and stretches. CeeDee Lamb finally made an appearance early on in the possession and KaVontae Turpin even had a handoff as well.
Despite those things the Cowboys had to settle for a field goal when Detroit got home on 3rd and 10.
SCORE: COWBOYS 6, LIONS 10 (Brandon Aubrey 42-yard field goal)
Things got weird on the next Lions possession. Dallas got lucky when Detroit had a false start on second down which made things tough for them. They picked up a ton of it, 13 yards to be exact, on the down, but on 3rd and 2 it looked like several Cowboys players jumped offsides. Jared Goff seemed to assume this as well as he threw a pass that had a low-percentage chance of being completed, the kind you throw when you believe you have a free play. Amazingly there was no penalty called and it was fourth down so the Lions punted away after a three and out.
It was on the next possession when the Cowboys finally flew too close to the sun. Dak Prescott hit CeeDee Lamb for a huge gain so things felt positive, but then he had an awkward pass that was ruled to be backwards that lost a ton of yardage. Soon enough he hit Jake Ferguson for a dump off on third down and Ferguson fumbled before it was all said and done.
This proved to be a great moment for the Lions. After a bit of a stutter start to their possession David Montgomery broke one off for yet another Lions touchdown on the night. It was a 35-yard run which was tough to watch.
SCORE: COWBOYS 6, LIONS 17 (David Montgomery touchdown)
It appeared soon enough that this was going to be the last Cowboys possession before halftime. Given that they deferred to start the game it presented an opportunity for them to double-dip.
George Pickens drew a huge pass interference penalty that was about to put the Cowboys within serious striking distance, but Jake Ferguson got called for illegal hands to the face. Pickens himself was called for a penalty before the drive was over, too.
Things reached a 3rd and 15 with the Cowboys at midfield with just over a minute left in the half. Detroit obviously wanted to give themselves a chance for points so they called a timeout right before the big-time moment.
The aforementioned Jake Ferguson was able to get 11 yards on third down and while the broadcasters thought that Brian Schottenheimer would go for it on 4th and 4 the Cowboys head coach elected to take the points and take the fight to the second half. Dak Prescott was seen on the broadcast wanting to go for it, but Brandon Aubrey made the kick look easy so the results somewhat justified the decision.
SCORE: COWBOYS 9, LIONS 17 (Brandon Aubrey 55-yard field goal)
The Lions made quick work of the possession they fought hard to ensure they received. They put themselves in position to attempt a 47-yard field goal as time expired before halftime.
It was good.
SCORE: COWBOYS 9, LIONS 20 (Jake Bates 47-yard field goal)
Third Quarter
It felt like the Cowboys had to score a touchdown to start the second half. Obviously doing so would have been ideal, but again it felt necessary given everything that happened in the game prior.
Unfortunately the worst possible thing happened. George Pickens ran his usual slant route and when the ball got to him it got tipped and that is never a good thing. The Lions were able to intercept it and take it back quite a ways. Jared Goff found Isaac TeSlaa for a touchdown… the entire thing happened within the first 45 seconds of the second half from a game clock perspective.
SCORE: COWBOYS 9, LIONS 27 (Jared Goff to Isaac TeSlaa touchdown)
The Cowboys went to work with the new pressure on top of them and were able to calm everything down. The offense came to serious life and before we knew it they were in the redzone.
Unfortunately CeeDee Lamb got shaken up and taken to the locker room which was obviously not ideal. The Cowboys did cap the possession off with a Javonte Williams touchdown to keep hope alive.
SCORE: COWBOYS 16, LIONS 27 (Javonte Williams touchdown)
It appeared that the Lions were going to walk away with points of some kind on their next possession. They were moving and grooving and only stumbled because Amon-Ra St. Brown dropped a pass from Jared Goff.
This is when things turned interesting. The Lions went out for their field goal… and it was blocked!
Sam Williams got the hand on it to keep the Cowboys in the game.
The next possession was another one that felt very difficult for the Cowboys. It seemed that they could not develop any kind of serious positivity. At one point Dak Prescott found Ryan Flournoy for a huge third down conversion, but George Pickens was called for pass interference off of a pick.
Dallas had to settle for another field goal. This one was from 63 yards out. Brandon Aubrey, though.
SCORE: COWBOYS 19, LIONS 27 (Brandon Aubrey 63-yard field goal)
The Lions took over with an 8-point lead and obviously it was a critical moment in the game. That goes without saying. It was their ball at midfield when the third quarter ended.
Fourth Quarter
Detroit was already close when the fourth began as noted. After a few minutes of back and forth thanks to some penalties they wound up settling for another field goal to make things a two-possession game once more.
SCORE: COWBOYS 19, LIONS 30 (Jake Bates 46-yard field goal)
The Cowboys did not waste any time as they traveled 70 total yards on 4 plays on their next possession. They clearly meant business.
A big reason for this whole sequence was a busted play that Dak Prescott and Ryan Flournoy exposed and capitalized upon for a touchdown!
SCORE: COWBOYS 27, LIONS 30 (Dak Prescott to Ryan Flournoy touchdown)
The Cowboys successfully went for two (shout out Jake Ferguson) to narrow the margin to 3 points. This felt all too familiar, obviously.
Unfortunately the Lions players get paid too and are good at their jobs. The Cowboys touchdown drive took just under 2 minutes of game clock to happen and the Lions’ took about 35 seconds more. It was a 10-point game once more.
SCORE: COWBOYS 27, LIONS 37 (Jahmyr Gibbs touchdown)
The Cowboys were moving with urgency and during their drive the Amazon Prime broadcast noted that their model predicted that Dallas had to score with at least 3:19 remaining on the game clock in order to have (in all likelihood) another possession. Given that Dallas was trailing by multiple possessions at the time this was certainly noteworthy.
As fate would have it the Cowboys scored with 3:42 remaining on the clock, although by way of a field goal and not a touchdown unfortunately.
SCORE: COWBOYS 30, LIONS 37 (Brandon Aubrey 29-yard field goal)
The Lions began just about at midfield thanks to a stellar return, something that happened a lot on the night, and Dallas was armed with three timeouts and the two-minute warning. It was up to the defense to save everything. What a sentence that was and is.
That did not happen. Detroit had a huge conversion to Amon-Ra St. Brown and soon enough another touchdown from Jahmyr Gibbs. It happened before the two-minute warning if you are wondering how quickly it all developed.
SCORE: COWBOYS 30, LIONS 44 (Jahmyr Gibbs touchdown)
The Cowboys rallied and were looking to pull off something incredible. Unfortunately another tipped ball wound up in the Lions hands and they were able to hit victory formation.
Ballgame.
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