CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Cowboys gave up field goals at the end of both halves – none bigger than the game-winner as time expired.
Like all games, the Cowboys had chances to win. Here are a handful of key plays that led to the outcome.
Drive stalls after the leap – The Cowboys appeared to be rolling to the end zone on their second drive, especially after the incredible leap-and-run by George Pickens down to the Panthers' 7. But after a solid 3-yard run by Javonte Williams to the 5, the Cowboys had two straight incompletions. The third-down miss would've been a great play, but Dak Prescott's pass was slightly behind Ryan Flournoy, who had a defender draped on him, and the pass was broken up. After the great play by Pickens, the Cowboys managed only three more yards – resulting in just three points.
Couldn't recover two fumbles – One of the craziest plays of the game occurred before halftime, and it saw the Carolina offense put the ball on the ground twice. Neither one of them was recovered by the Cowboys. The Panthers ten had a third-and-18 at the Cowboys' 45-yard line and picked up 8 yards on a pass to Tommy Tremble. That allowed the Panthers to kick a 55-yard field goal at the end of the half, which proved to be something we'd see again.
Prescott's fumbled snap leads to FG – With the Cowboys driving for the go-ahead touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, Prescott fumbled the snap on first-and-goal from the 8-yard line. He was able to recover the ball back at the 10, but that play changed the course of the series. Prescott and Pickens misfired on second down with the ball sailing over the receiver's head, and the Cowboys eventually had to settle for a field goal.
Two negative plays 8:00 mark – The Cowboys had grabbed the momentum back after a big defensive stop and had the ball in good field position with about eight minutes left in a tie game. But the first two plays went in the wrong direction. A pair of short passes to Williams resulted in a loss off 12 yards. The Cowboys weren't able to make a dent once facing a third-and-22 and had to punt. As it turned out, they never got the ball back.
Pass interference on Elam – The Dallas defense was on the verge of making its second key stop late in the fourth quarter and had the Panthers in third-and-7 at their own 17-yard line. But just like the officials had called most of the day, the Cowboys this time were flagged for pass interference on Kaiir Elam. That gave Carolina an extra set of downs, and after a huge fourth-down conversion to receiver Hunter Renfrow, the Panthers were able to run the ball down the Cowboys' throat again to kick the chip-shot field goal for the win.
