FRISCO, Texas -- In a game where Dallas scored 24 unanswered points after trailing by three touchdowns, it's difficult to narrow down the many plays that it takes to get back into the game, much less win it.
As head coach Brian Schottenheimer alluded to following the game though, you can't win games in the first quarter, you can't win games in the second quarter, you can't win games in the third quarter, but you sure can in the fourth quarter.
In this week's edition of Tape Talk, we'll take a look at the four late fourth quarter plays that ended up being the biggest deciding factors for the Cowboys to tie their largest comeback in franchise history. Let's dive in:
Why effort, and special teams, matter
Special teams oftentimes gets overlooked simply for how procedural it usually is. One team punts on fourth down, the other gets a fair catch or a short return to get the offense on the field. One team kicks off, the other either takes a touchback or brings it out near where the ball would be anyways. That's how things are most of the time, but more often than not it's teams that break those procedures that end up winning games and that was the case for Dallas in this game.
Even though they had a couple special teams miscues earlier in the game, they cleaned things up at the perfect time. On this play, rookie UDFA S Alijah Clark puts forth an effort that will be played by high school, college and even NFL coaches for years to come to motivate their players to finish plays. Clark gets thrown down to the ground at the start of the play, but gets back up and continues heading upfield as he's constantly getting shoved and has to try to keep his footing while in pursuit of the punt. Somehow, he's able to keep his balance and take off, ending up without anyone in front of him and the returner along with a few of his teammates.
Several other things here to note: First, Bryan Anger couldn't have executed a better punt on this play if he tried. He sent it 48 yards from the Dallas 40 yard line to the Philadelphia two-yard line, and gave it great hang time to allow his teammates to get up the field. Then, C.J. Goodwin and Brevyn Spann-Ford do a good job of forcing the returner outside, Shemar James is able to slow him down, and in comes Clark (and Markquese Bell) to punch the ball free for Trent Sieg to fall on top of.
A look back at fourth and goal
After that huge turnover, the Cowboys had first and goal from the Philadelphia eight-yard line. Javonte Williams ran it for six yards down to the two to make it second and goal from that point. Dallas would go on to look to pass the ball on second and third down, coming up short on both, which set up fourth and goal from the two in a tie game with 3:46 left to play. Brian Schottenheimer elected to go for it, and Dallas couldn't convert. After the game, Schottenheimer said he would make the same decision again and credited the Eagles for making a good play against it. How'd they do it?
For starters, it looks like Dak Prescott wanted to go to the left side of the field here where CeeDee Lamb and Ryan Flournoy were lined up. It appears like they tried to execute a rub/pick route concept to get one of the two open, but Philadelphia's corners do a good job getting their hands on the receivers in press-man to muddy that up and essentially take it away, forcing Prescott to move to his next progression.
The problem was, once it looked like Prescott moved his eyes off the two receivers on the left side, the Eagles' defensive ends were beginning to get pressure on Prescott. His other options where a tight window throw to George Pickens, a check down to Javonte Williams where he would be one-on-one with a linebacker needing to pick up 5+ yards, and Jake Ferguson at the goal line. Ferguson is right in front of him as the defenders get home, so it's Prescott's best option and it falls incomplete. The plus for Dallas in this scenario was the Eagles offense, which had been struggling in the second half, now had to start at their own two yard line.
Cowboys secondary, Osa Odighizuwa come up big late
After being able to dig themselves out of their own end zone, the Eagles got themselves to third and two from their own 37 yard line after back-to-back tackles from DeMarvion Overshown on Saquon Barkley. On that third down play, Dallas' defensive line and their secondary both rewarded one another on a play where they needed to do it if they wanted to hold on and win this game.
Sure, Jake Elliott had missed a 56 yard field goal wide right earlier in the game, but you didn't want to let it come down to his leg on a game-winning attempt. Dallas' defense comes out in cover one, something they don't run a lot of, but executed well with DaRon Bland and Shavon Revel on the outside, and Trikwese Bridges in the slot. Bland gets his hands on AJ Brown and takes his route away, Revel is going step for step with Devonta Smith on the opposite side, Malik Hooker is right on top of the tight end in the middle of the field and DeMarvion Overshown is drifting towards the flat to account for the running back out of the backfield. Hurts has nowhere to go, similarly to how Prescott had nowhere to go on the fourth and goal play.
And because of that, you see why the Cowboys are reaping the benefits of the Quinnen Williams trade. He got double teamed at the second-lowest rate of the season on Sunday, but on this play Philadelphia sent two linemen his way leaving Osa Odighizuwa one-on-one with Pro Bowl guard Landon Dickerson. You can call it a coverage sack, an effort sack, a combination of the two or whatever else you can come up with, but Odighizuwa finally breaks free and gets Hurts to the ground for a 13 yard loss. At that point, there was no choice other than to punt for Philadelphia, versus the question of if they got it to fourth and one or so, if they would bring out the tush push.
Dak Prescott, George Pickens close it out
And then, Dallas' offense gets the ball back with less than two minutes to go and no timeouts. After near disaster on the first play of the drive with Jake Ferguson fumbling the ball out of bounds, a 19-yard pickup from Ferguson on third down and two sets Dallas up at the Philadelphia 46-yard line with :44 seconds remaining in the game and no timeouts remaining. Had Dallas not gone anywhere, it would've been around a 63-yard field goal attempt for Brandon Aubrey, so obviously you want to get it closer especially since he had missed a usually routine 51-yard field goal wide left earlier in the game.
So, Dallas goes to their bread and butter on this play: A three-step drop for Dak Prescott into a quick crossing route to George Pickens. A lot goes into making this play work, starting with Javonte Williams' massive blitz pickup on Nakobe Dean as Prescott is letting the ball fly. Williams had gotten beat by Dean earlier in the game in a similar situation, but this time he stands tall and gives his quarterback the extra tick needed to get the ball out of his hands.
Additionally, the corner who is following KaVontae Turpin in motion does the Cowboys a huge favor by running into Quinyon Mitchell, who was already in pretty soft coverage on Pickens, and knocks him off his path even just a little bit. Had Mitchell not been bumped by his teammate, he likely wouldn't have been able to break up the pass, but it may not have gone for as big of a gain as it did. With all kinds of space in front of him now, Pickens catches the ball at the 38-yard line in Philadelphia territory and turns upfield to get Dallas all the way down to the 22-yard line, essentially icing the game as Brandon Aubrey would kick the game-winning 42-yard field goal four plays later.
