DALLAS — The Christmas trees have come down, the hangover that some may have had from New Year’s Eve has hopefully dissipated, and the postmortem over the ending in the Dallas Cowboys’ wild Week 17 win should also be done.
The craziness from the controversial ending doesn’t matter as the Cowboys are now 11-5, and in first place in the NFC East, controlling their destiny.
It’s simple, if the Cowboys win their Week 18 finale, they’ll win the division, be the No. 2 seed in the NFC, and host a playoff game. That’s what the victory over the Detroit Lions meant, a shot at the NFC East crown and avoiding being on the road in the wild-card round of the playoffs. For a team that thrives at home, the 20-19 win became a bigger deal than it was before the weekend was over.
Here’s what else we learned about the Cowboys in Week 17’s narrow win:
Prescott continues to impress at home
The Cowboys are a different team when playing at AT&T Stadium, and that holds true for their quarterback as well. Dak Prescott threw for 345 yards and two touchdowns in the victory, his first 300+ yard game since Week 12, which also came at home. Four of Prescott’s five 300-yard passing games have come at home this season, and he’s thrown for 22 touchdowns against just three interceptions in Jerry World during the 2023 campaign.
Prescott made big plays in the win, and they came at critical moments. The 92-yard touchdown to wide receiver CeeDee Lamb wasn’t the only key play Prescott made, but it was his biggest. The veteran signal caller has been close to unstoppable while playing at home this year and he ate up the Lions’ secondary.
Cooks makes the plays in key moments
Lamb might be the WR that the Cowboys consistently throw to, but Brandin Cooks is the receiver that Prescott routinely goes to in big moments. One drive in the fourth quarter demonstrated just how important Cooks is to the offense.
The Cowboys were down 13-10 early in the final quarter and facing a third-and-five at their own 41-yard line. They couldn’t afford to give the ball up and go back on defense, they needed to move the chains, so they dialed up a play to get Cooks open. Prescott dropped back and lofted a strike to Cooks, who only had a little bit of separation near the sideline, but still came down with the 21-yard gain and gave the offense a new set of downs.
Five plays later, Prescott again threw a perfect ball to the corner of the end zone and Cooks came down with the game-winning touchdown.
While Lamb might have almost 1,000 more receiving yards than Cooks, the veteran WR has made more crucial catches in crunch time this season. That’s not an indictment on Lamb, but rather a sign as to how good Cooks has been when Prescott and the offense needed to make a big play.
Lawrence is playing at a Pro Bowl level
Dallas’ defense has had trouble stopping the run, but DeMarcus Lawrence is still thriving as one of the league’s best defensive ends against the ground game and that was on display against the Lions. Lawrence had three tackles for a loss and blew up running plays for a Detroit offense that had been running all over defenses.
The Lions had been averaging over 140 yards per game on the ground and even though they mustered 125 against the Cowboys, Lawrence led the charge in limiting the damage. Lawrence’s three tackles for a loss and 3.5 run stops were tops for the defense and he was recognized by Lions head coach Dan Campbell in the win.
The play of Lawrence was one of the reasons the Cowboys were able to hold the Lions to just 19 points, eight less than their season average coming into the game.
Wilson on the rise
Veteran safety Donovan Wilson struggled to get back to the form that had the Cowboys making him a priority free agent to re-sign early in last offseason, but he’s playing his best football at the right time.
Wilson has had back-to-back double-digit tackle performances for the first time this season in the last two weeks, and he forced a key turnover against the Philadelphia Eagles in the Week 14 win that started to turn the tide in the division.
Against the Lions, Wilson stepped up to lead the defense in tackles, had a pass defensed and came up with the big takeaway in the fourth quarter. With the Lions down by four points with just over two minutes remaining, Detroit quarterback Jared Goff threw a quick out that was intercepted by Wilson for his first pick of the season.
Wilson read the play like a book and made the diving catch that should’ve put the game away. Chaos ensued after, but it was Wilson’s best play of the year as he continues to look better each week.
Do you think the Cowboys proved their mettle with the Week 17 victory? Share your thoughts with Ben on Twitter @BenGrimaldi.
