CeeDee Lamb’s historic night and Javonte Williams’ scoring outburst propel Dallas to a gritty victory, narrowly surviving a last-second Hail Mary to reach the brink of .500.
After a near-record performance by CeeDee Lamb and a hold-your-breath incomplete Hail Mary, the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday survived a thriller over the Houston Texans, 34-30, and can get over .500 for the first time this season Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
My Top 10 Whitty Observations:
10. Q & A – Welcome to the party, Quinnen Williams. Just when the criticism murmurs were starting to simmer about his relative absence, the NFL’s second highest-paid defensive tackle (behind only the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Carter) showed up big-time with two tackles for a loss and a sack.
9. WILLIAMS GONE WILD – Javonte Williams only had 62 yards rushing, but scored three touchdowns on the ground in the second half alone.
It’s still cringy that he wears Tony Dorsett’s No. 33. But check this out: During his Hall-of-Fame, 12-year career “Touchdown Tony” scored three times in a game only once … in 1979 against the Minnesota Vikings.
8. CEEDEE NO. 2 – CeeDee Lamb put on one of the greatest receiving performances in the history of the Cowboys’ franchise.
He caught 17 passes for 189 yards and the game-winning score, the second-most catches in a game by a Cowboy behind only Jason Witten’s 18 against the New York Giants in 2012.
"I want Schotty to know that I got his back,'' Lamb said. "I'm with him. I'm one of his strongest soldiers. It's just going to battle with each other. Once you have that confidence and know who you're going to battle with, just shoot your gun.
"And I feel like we shot it today. No pun intended."
7. SCHOTTY SIGHT – Speaking of the head coach ...
OK, he gets credit for ditching the multiple markers stuffed in his visor. But what’s with Brian Schottenheimer’s biggie-sized play sheet? It’s a gigantic binder (adorned with a Cowboys’ star), which screams that giant, top-line “E” on the eye chart.
Nothing subtle about it. I’ve got a “big screen” TV smaller than the coach’s cheat sheet.
6. WHEW! – Admit it, you were holding your breath as C.J. Stroud’s Hail Mary landed in the back of the end zone on the game’s final play.
Truth to be told, we couldn’t even tell where the ball ended up, could we? Upon the seeing the replay, safety Malik Hooker made the cardinal-rule gaffe of not knocking the ball down but instead trying to intercept it. The ball went through both of his hands, but somehow – thankfully – hit the turf incomplete.
5. GOTIAH? – Dak Prescott’s “Greatest Offense There Is” gets off to slow starts, but there’s no denying its second-half prowess.
In the last three games the Cowboys have scored 18, 20 and 28 points after halftime. They produced touchdowns on four of their five second-half drives in this one.
Maybe re-brand it the “Greatest Offense There Is After Halftime”?
4. OVERLOOKED AND UNDERRATED – The Cowboys don’t win this game without Karami Lassister’s two pass-interference penalties that led to a touchdown in the third quarter … without Jason Pitre’s dropped interception on the first play of Dallas’ final drive … without Jake Ferguson’s 7-yard diving catch on 4th-and-4 … without Dak’s heady throwaway with Texans’ rusher Will Anderson in his face with 47 seconds left. A sack there might have signaled overtime. Instead, he hit Lamb on the next play for the game-winner.
3. SMALL STEPS – Schottenheimer vowed to be “better” in his late-game management after last week's boneheadedness in Brazil.
And he was.
After taking the late lead with 40 seconds remaining, Brandon Aubrey kicked the ball deep near the goal and forced the Texans to return it. The strategy ran a precious five seconds off the clock.
Think five seconds doesn’t matter? Think about last week’s last-play loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Or consider that the Texans would have had enough time for another Hail Mary.
2. PARTY TIME – Thanks the hundreds of long-time fans and followers who showed up to The Maverick Bar in Carrollton to watch the game and support me and Mike Fisher. You came from Longview, Reno, New York, Georgia and even as far away as Newfoundland!
Honored to host you … and a win!
1. DAK-TASTIC! – Give Prescott credit. In the first half he had happy (nervous) feet in the pocket. He delivered passes a beat late. But in the second half he looked the quarterback who finished second in the MVP in 2023.
He completed 20 of 25 for 248 yards including the 12-yard, game-winning touchdown missile to Lamb with 40 seconds remaining. ... leaving Houston with a bandaged hand (he's got a cut there from being stepped on) ... and a winning smile.
“There’s nothing like winning, and I wanna say it fixes all the problems but it doesn’t. It makes you feel good, at least for a day or so. But at this point, you know, we got to turn the page and get ready for Thursday.''
