Lions rout Cowboys
By Elwyn Henderson
The 3-2 Dallas Cowboys returned to AT&T Stadium Sunday afternoon looking for their first win at home in 2024 as they entertained the Detroit 3-1 Lions who came into Arlington looking to avenge a loss last December when a mistake by an official cost them a victory they should have gotten. They accomplished their goal in a laugher, winning the game 47-9 in front of 93,644 fans.
Dallas won the coin toss and elected to receive to begin the game. Following a touchback Dak Prescott brought his unit on the field at the 30 for their first possession of the day.
Prescott was moving the offense down the field, but threw an interception at the Detroit 7 that appeared to end the drive. Fortunately for the Cowboys, the Lions were called for defensive holding before the pass, resulting in a 5-yard penalty and keeping the drive alive at the Lions 18. In 3 downs the ‘Boys managed just 2 yards, bringing in Brandon Aubrey for a 34-yard field goal attempt. The kick was good and Dallas took a 3-0 lead with 11:21 left in the opening quarter. The drive was 9 plays, 54 yards and took 3:39.
Aubrey’s ensuing kickoff was downed in the end zone and Jared Goff brought the Detroit offense on the field at their 30 to begin their first drive of the game.
Thanks to a 45-yard Goff completion, it took little time for the visitors to respond and get on the scoreboard. The possession was a 5-play, 70-yard drive that took just 2:15 off the clock. The score came on a 17-yard TD run by David Montgomery with 9:06 left in the first quarter. Bates hit the PAT and Detroit led 7-3.
Dallas began their second possession of the game at their 30 following a touchback of the Bates kickoff following the score.
Prescott moved the offense down the field to the Detroit 7 and it looked as though the Cowboys would take the lead, but Dak made a bad throw and was intercepted I the back corner of the end zone by Brian Branch with 4:34 left in the quarter and ending the drive and putting Goff and company back on the field at their 20.
Goff led his team down to the Dallas 25 where Bates booted a 40-yard field goal with 13:28 left in the first half and putting Detroit up 10-3. The drive was 12 plays, 58 yards and took 6:06 off the clock.
Following a touchback of Bates next kickoff, Dallas promptly went three-and-out and Bryan Anger punted the ball away from the Dallas 30 to the Detroit 32 and after a 5-yard penalty on Dallas the ball was moved up to the 37 where Goff went to work once again.
Thanks to a little razzle-dazzle play, it took just 51 seconds for the Lions to find the end zone for the second time. Goff took a snap, handed it off to David Montgomery to tossed it to Ennis Rakestraw, Jr who then pitched the ball back to Goff. He then connected on a 52-yard TD pass to Sam LaPorta with 11:39 left in the first half. Bates kicked the extra point and Detroit led 17-3. The drive was 3 plays and 63 yards and the Cowboys found themselves in a 17-3 hole with no real idea of what to do to get back into the game.
Their next possession resulted in another three-and-out and Goff brought the Lions offense back on the field with 10:17 left in the half to go back to work.
Goff moved the team down the field but Dallas got a big sack on a 3rd down, forcing a Bates 48-yard field goal with 3:57 left until halftime, moving the score to 20-3 in favor of the Lions. The drive was 11 plays, 39 yards and took 6:20 off the clock.
Dallas failed to pick up a first down on their next possession and went for a 4th and 2 at their 38. A pass for KaVante Turpin fell incomplete and the ball turned over on downs to Detroit with under 3 minutes remaining in the half.
Goff moved the visitors into the end zone once again, taking 6 plays and 2:03 to score the TD after the short 38-yard drive. The score came on a 1-yard run by Montgomery with 36 seconds left in the half. Bates nailed the extra point and the round
looked to be on with Detroit leading 27-3.
The Bates kick after the score was returned 78 yards by KaVante Turpin down to the Detroit 30, giving Dallas one final chance to add points before the first half concluded. On 4th and 10 from the 30, Aubrey came in and kicked a 47-yard field goal with 8 seconds left in the half, bringing the score to 27-6 in favor of the Lions. The drive was 4 plays, 1 yard and took 28 seconds off the clock.
Aubrey’s kickoff went out of the end zone for a touchback. Goff came out and took a knee and the teams headed to their respective locker rooms with the Lions set to receive the second half kickoff.
The second half kickoff resulted in another touchback and Goff brought his teammates back on the field at their 30. It took just 5 plays and 2:25 for the Lions to move the 70 yards into the end zone for another touchdown, turning the game into a blowout. The score came on a 37-yard TD pass from Goff to Jameson Williams with 12:35 left in the third quarter. Bates extra point kick was good and Detroit led 34-6.
The next Dallas possession began on their 28 after a return by Turpin. The fans in attendance were hoping the team’s fortunes would change so they could get back in the game, but it wasn’t in the cards on this day. Although they moved the ball down to the Lions 32, they had to settle for a 50-yard Aubrey field goal, bringing the score to 34-9.
Detroit began their next drive at their 41 after a 36-yard return of Aubrey’s kickoff. Goff moved his charges down to the 6 yard line and Dallas got a sack back to the 14 on a key 3rd down, forcing 33-yard Bates field goal with 5:26 left in the third quarter, advancing the Lions lead to 37-9.
Dallas began their next kickoff at their 30 following another touchback. Prescott led the offense down to the Detroit 30, but Ryan Flournoy was hit and fumbled the ball and Detroit recovered. The Lions moved down to the Dallas 15 and Bates kicked a 33-yard field goal with 14:35 left in the game.
Prescott and company began their next drive on their 28 after the kickoff return by Turpin. The possession lasted only 4 plays as Prescott was intercepted by Brian Branch at midfield and he returned the pick to the Dallas 4. On the next play Goff found Amon-Ra St. Brown on a 4-yard TD pass with 13:18 left in the game. Bates kick on the extra point try was good and the Detroit lead was 47-9. The drive a 1-play, 4 yards and took 4 seconds.
On the next Dallas possession Cooper Rush came in at quarterback to see if he could change the Cowboys fortunes and get the team into the end zone. Rush moved the ‘Boys down to the 5-yard line and after taking a time out Rush threw an interception in the end zone to Kerby Joseph with 8 minutes left in the game and Detroit got the ball back at their 20.
Hendon Hooker came in to relieve Goff at quarterback. Dallas, with most of their starters still on the field managed to sack Hooker on a 4th down play and Rush brought the Dallas offense on the field for what would be their final possession of the game with just over 4 minutes left in the game.
Dallas moved down to the Lions 29 where another fumble gave the visitors the ball back at their 33 with 2:17 left in the game. Detroit ran out the clock and walked off with a 47-9 victory.
Coach Mike McCarthy really didn’t have any solid explanation for the humiliating loss when he met with the media after the game.
“How do I explain it? I think clearly, you know, number one, we were beaten today. They’re a very good team. I think you know the facts are, they’re further ahead of us right now at this time in Week Six. A lot of moving parts, but I think just staying to the obvious facts, we’re not taking care of the ball, we’re not taking it away. I mean, that’s number one on the list of basics as far as how we train, where we put our time. We got to start there. I didn’t do a very good job today. As far as some of the answers that our guys needed. We needed to score points coming into it was the mindset, part of taking the ball and getting out there starting fast. Red zone and third down was a huge issue again today. It was going to be an emphasis for us as a staff anyways on the bye week. So, we got to be better, better there situationally. But, you know, I think it’s like any game, it starts up front. They won the battle at the line of scrimmage, clearly won the turnover ratio battle. You’re not going to beat anybody with those kinds of numbers. We got to get back to basics as far as how we play, where we train, where our emphasis is, you know, off the pad. Now the other part of it is, we’ve got a lot of moving parts as far as players in-and-out. I think it’s going to serve us very well moving forward. I’ve been in this spot before with young players playing early. You can see the connection was definitely not as high as you’d like it to be, but we’ll improve in that area through these guys playing. The benefits of playing so many young guys this early will come forward, but that team’s playing very good right now. They’re a very good team. They were hot coming in here. They’re further ahead than we are right now. We’re 3-3.”
When Prescott came in for his presser following the loss he didn’t have much of real explanation either.
“Started off the first two drives, felt great. Go down, get a field goal. Second drive, feels good as well. Get down there. Anticipated a little too much. A little too early. A guy made a great play, initially driving on the flat. He’s got the flat in man. Threw it early. Zero blitz was protected however, I let it hang a little bit. A guy comes off of that and makes a great catch. You can’t turn the ball over in the red zone. And then from there, I don’t feel like there was really another positive play after that for us to build off, to get anything going. Very frustrating.”
The bottom line is that this team has MAJOR problems that will be VERY HARD to fix soon, and yet it will have to get fixed soon or the entire season is going to be long and disappointing the fans and the team and ownership alike. The one positive currently is that Dallas has their bye week next week. Sadly, another negative is that coming off the bye they have to travel to San Francisco to take on the 49ers, a team they have had not recipe for victory over in their last several meetings, including two years in a row in the playoffs. Hopefully, somehow they can put humpty dumpty back together again and salvage the season before it gets too far gone.
