Eagles edge Cowboys
By Elwyn Henderson
After a successful road trip last Monday night against the Philadelphia Eagles that moved their record to 3-4 on the season, the Dallas Cowboys returned to AT&T Stadium in Arlington Sunday for a noon matchup against the 2-5 Arizona Cardinals. Coming into the contest the Cardinals had won 8 of the last 9 meetings between the two teams and had never lost at AT&T Stadium. The trend continued again Sunday. After going into overtime tied at 30, both teams went three-and-out on their first possession before the visitors got a walk off field goal to grab the 33-30 victory.
Dallas won the coin toss to begin the game and deferred to the second half. The Cardinals went three-and-out on their first possession and after a Blake Gillikin punt Dallas set up for their first possession at their 12.
The Cowboys faced a 4th and the length of the ball at their 31 and Brian Schottenheimer left the offense on the field to go for a first down. Mack Wilson, Sr. burst through the line and dropped Javonte Williams for a 1-yard loss back at the 30 and Arizona set up in great field position for their second possession.
The Dallas defense forced a 4th and goal from the 1 and the ‘Boys came up with a gargantuan stopped and Dak Prescott brought the offense back out at their 1 for their second possession of the day.
The offense wasn’t able to do anything and Brian Anger punted the ball down to the Arizona 45. After a holding penalty the ball was moved back to the 35 and the Cardinals offense returned to the field.
Jacoby Brissett had a pass bounce off his intended receiver and Shemar James, Sr intercepted the pass at the 38 and returned the pick to the Cardinals 5.
Williams was hit and he neared the goal line and James Mitchell, just elevated from the Practice Squad, recovered in the end zone for the Cowboys for a touchdown. Brandon Aubrey added the PAT and Dallas took a 7-0 lead with 2:33 left in the first quarter. The drive was 2 plays, 5 yards and took under a minute.
After the ensuing Aubrey kickoff Brissett and his team set up shop on their 21.
The Cardinals faced a 4th and 1 at the Dallas 44. Brissett picked up the first down on a quarterback sweep to keep the drive alive. The Cowboys defense sacked Brissett on a key third down and Gillikin punted the ball down to the 15 where it was fair caught with 12:21 left in the first half and Dallas went on the offensive again.
Prescott and company put an 85-yard TD drive together over 12 plays and 7:05. The score came on a 9-yard TD pass from Prescott to Ryan Flournoy with 5:16 left in the first half. Aubrey added the extra point and the good guys advanced their lead to 14-0.
The visitor’s next possession began at their 25. The first play of the possession was a 20-yard pass from Brissett to Kendrick Bourne. The Cards moved down to the Dallas 19 and on a 4th and 7 Chad Ryland kicked a 37-yard field goal to get Arizona on the board with 1:13 left in the half, bringing the score to 14-3. The drive was 11 plays, 56 yards and took 4:03 off the clock.
Tyler Goodson returned the kickoff after the score up to the Dallas 47 and the ‘Boys had a chance to put their 2-minute offense to work to add to their lead. It wasn’t in the cards, as Prescott was sacked for a 10 yard loss. Anger punted the ball away and the Cardinals had one more chance in the first half as they began at their 19.
They drove to their 44 where the ball was fumbled and Dallas recovered at the Arizona 46. After a 1-yard run the Cowboys used their final time out and Aubrey came in to attempt a 61-yard field goal. The kick was wide right and the half ended with the Cowboys up 14-3.
Dallas received the second half kickoff and set up shop. Prescott drove the team down the field, taking 15 plays and 8:23 and moving 70 yards before Aubrey nailed a 37-yard field goal with 6:37 left in the third quarter.
Arizona went three-and-out in their next possession and the Cowboys set up at their 39 after a Gillikin punt. Unfortunately, the possession resulted in an Anger punt and the Cards went back on offense at their 30.
It took just 2 plays and 30 seconds for Arizona to get their first TD of the game. Tyler Allgeier broke through the middle of the line for a 63-yard score with 57 seconds left in the third stanza. Ryland added the point after and the visitors narrowed their deficit to 17-10.
After the kickoff return by Goodson the Cowboys went back to work at their 38.
On the first play of the possession Prescott hit George Pickens on a 37-yard pass down to the Arizona 26. Two plays later Evan Hull was called for pass interference at the 2 on a pass intended for Flournoy and Dallas had a 1st and goal from that point.
Williams was dropped for a 2-yard loss on the last play of the third quarter and on 2nd down Williams was dropped for another 1-yard loss, bringing up a 3rd and goal from the 5. Prescott ran around right end into the end zone with 14:20 left in the game for a TD. Aubrey added the extra point and Dallas was back up by 14, leading 24-10. The drive was 6 plays, 62 yards and took 1:57.
Arizona’s next possession began at their 20. Allgeier had another long run and suddenly the Cardinals had a 1st and goal. Gardner Minshew II hit Allgeier on a 6-yard scoring pass with 10:47 left in the game. Ryland added the extra point and the Dallas lead was cut to 24-17 with 10:47 left in the game. The drive was 7 plays, 80 yards and took 3:33 off the clock.
The Cowboys moved down to the Arizona 17 before having to settle for an Aubrey 35-yard field goal with 3:54 left in the game, moving the lead to 27-17. The 15-play, 56-yard drive took 6:53 off the fourth quarter clock.
The Cardinals came right back down the field and Minshew hit Trey McBride on a 15-yard scoring strike with 2:11 left in the game. The drive was 6 plays, 58 yards and took 1:43.
After the extra point the Cowboys lead was down to 27-24 and the Cardinals announced they would try an onside kick. The kick was illegally touched before going 10 yards and Flournoy picked it up and returned it to the 25. There was a 5-yard penalty added 5 yards and the possession began at the 20.
Facing a 4th and 20 Aubrey came in to kick a 41-yard field goal. The kick was good with 1:09 left in the game, moving the score to 30-24. The drive was 4 plays, -3 yards and took 1:02.
Arizona pulled a rabbit out of the hat, beginning their next possession at midfield. They moved the ball down the field and scored with 6 seconds remaining when Minshew hit Michael Wilson on a 13-yard strike to tie the game 30-30. Ryland’s PAT kick was wide left. The drive was 8 plays, 50 yards and took 1:03.
Dallas got the ball back and ran one play and time expired in regulation.
Dallas won the coin toss for the OT period and elected to kick to start the 10-minute overtime.
Aubrey’s kickoff was taken at the 35 after a touchback and Minshew led his group out.
The Cowboys defense forced a three-and-out and after Gillikin’s punt Jonathan Mingo returned the ball up to the 29 and Prescott brought the offense out hoping they could get a score. It wasn’t to be, as Prescott was sacked on a third down play and Anger came in to punt the ball back to the visitors.
The Cardinals moved the ball down to the Dallas 24 and on a 4th and 3 Ryland came in with a chance to end the game with a 42-yard field goal. The Cowboys took a time out to try to freeze Ryland. It didn’t work as the kick was good with 2:53 left in the OT period, giving Arizona a 33-30 win. The victory moves them to 3-5 on the year and loss puts Dallas at the same 3-5 record.
A disappointed Coach Brian Schottenheimer met with the media after the inexcusable loss and was asked what happened in the second half after the team looked so good in the first half.
“Well, I think it was a tale of two halves for sure. What I told the guys is, we obviously have to learn to finish in all three phases. We had a chance to do it a lot of different ways. Got to get stops on defense. Had a four minute opportunity that we didn’t seize to try to put the game away. Had a chance for a long field goal before the end of the first half. I think it’s all three phases; it really was a tale of two halves. And the second half was not good enough. And when you have people down, you need to finish them. And that’s the most disappointing thing.”
Shortly after Schotty’s presser ended Dak Prescott came in to take questions from the media in the room. He was asked about the frustration of not being able to stack wins so far this season.
“Yeah, it’s frustrating. You want to stack wins. You want to show that you can put back-to-back days ahead. People tell me often, good game this or that. I go, ‘yeah, we got to do it again.’ What’s in the rear-view mirror doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. It’s what’s in front of us. We can check the side mirrors here and there. But, we’ve got to focus on what’s important now, this moment, this play, this game. And if you do that, you have the chance to stack wins. We didn’t tonight. That’s what’s frustrating about it. We had the opportunities to put them away on offense. Obviously, defense had opportunities to stop them and we just didn’t get any of it done as a team.”
The Cowboys will travel to Indianapolis this weekend to take on the Colts before returning to AT&T Stadium on November 15th to take on the San Francisco Forty Niners for their first of three home games in eleven days. The following Sunday they will host the Tennessee Titans and four days later on Thanksgiving Day, November 26th they will entertain the Philadelphia Eagles.
The 2026 season is not totally lost at this point but they will have to turn things around quickly or it will be. Stay tuned….more drama from the Cowboys to come.