ARLINGTON, Texas — Every game is entertaining when you’re the Dallas Cowboys.
But rarely are they as thrilling as the 20-19 win that Dallas enjoyed over the Detroit Lions in Week 17. The Monday Night Football on Saturday night contest had it all -- record-breaking players, trick plays, a tribute to a Hall of Famer and, of course, a controversial ending to tie it all together.
This is why the Cowboys are so enthralling, and why they’re still hard to trust late in the season.
After a couple of weeks that casted doubts on their playoff chances on the road, they were behind early at home to the NFC North champion Lions, got a huge play to take the lead and were inches away from building on that lead -- but fumbled, then struggled to get the offense back in gear before a flurry of activity at the finish that eventually allowed them to earn the victory.
Whew.
Perhaps with an assist for the officials, or perhaps with an assist from the Lions trying to be a little too cute, the Cowboys eventually claimed their final home game of the year to finish a clean 8-0 at home on the season -- even if this game was anything but clean.
Head coach Mike McCarthy made it clear that he wasn’t going to allow Jimmy Johnson to be the coach people would be talking about on this day, despite the latter finally earning his long-awaited spot in the Ring of Honor. A boneheaded decision by McCarthy brought on the late-game chaos that almost cost his team the win, and it’s why the Cowboys are still at arm’s length when it comes to believing in their big game prowess.
The Cowboys were down 3-0 and in the shadow of their own goal line on third down facing the prospect of the game getting away from them when quarterback Dak Prescott avoided a sack and lofted a perfect pass to wide receiver CeeDee Lamb for a 92-yard touchdown. It was the second-longest receiving score in Dallas history and it set Lamb up for a career day.
The emerging superstar finished with 13 catches for 227 yards and a touchdown on his way into the team’s single season record book.
The next wild series came in the second quarter when the Lions used a fake punt to continue a drive and then decided to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the four-yard line. But the pass play went incomplete, and the Cowboys got the ball back without surrendering a point after the special teams failure.
That sequence was one of the themes of the game for the Lions. Their questionable fourth down decisions, and calls on when to be aggressive, would come back to haunt them.
Detroit managed to put a drive together in the third quarter and took the lead on a three-yard touchdown run from David Montgomery -- to which the Cowboys responded with a field goal of their own to tie the game heading into the fun-filled fourth quarter.
The Lions took the ball 63 yards down the field to grab the lead right back from the Cowboys, but it was only a three-point lead because Detroit head coach Dan Campbell chose this time to be more passive. The offense had a fourth-and-three at the Dallas seven-yard line and Campbell decided to kick it.
Prescott then took one series to prove what a foolish choice that was, marching the offense down the field on a nine-play, 75-yard drive that ended in a perfect touchdown pass to wide receiver Brandin Cooks. That score was only made possible after the QB-WR duo hooked up on a key 21-yard completion on third-and-five. After a slow start to the season, Cooks continues to prove his worth in big moments.
The Cowboys held the 17-13 lead until late in the fourth quarter when it appeared as though the Lions had one more shot to win the game.
That’s where things started to get nutty.
Dallas safety Donovan Wilson came away with a big interception and it felt like the Cowboys would seal the win with just 2:05 left to play and the Lions having just two timeouts left. Yet McCarthy went full Bizarre Time Management McCarthy.
After one pass play was called and completed to force Campbell to use one of his timeouts, McCarthy called for another pass on second-and-14 with 1:55 remaining -- and not even a safe throw, but a deep shot down the sideline on an option route that fell incomplete. The mind-numbing mistake cost the Cowboys 40 seconds and gave the Lions the ability to stop the clock on the ensuing third down and keep time to mount one last drive to tie or win the game.
Instead of 1:01 left, there was 1:41 left, plenty of time to drive down the field, even without timeouts.
Compliments of McCarthy and defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, Dallas almost lost the game.
Quinn sent his unit into a prevent defense to allow big chunks of yards after the Cowboys held one of the best offenses in the league to just 13 points through 58-plus minutes, but Quinn decided to go conservative late. It was a mistake that almost cost the Cowboys. The Lions would score on a Jared Goff to Amon-Ra St. Brown connection to make way for the big confusion late.
Campbell went for two-points instead of tying the game, and his insistence of trying to be a bit sneaky got his team caught up.
First, the Lions converted to win the game on a throw to a lineman that was not called as eligible so the officials threw the flag to call it back. Then the Cowboys’ best defender Micah Parsons went offsides on the retry when it looked like the defense had gotten the stop to win it. Finally, on the third two-point try, the Dallas defense got the stop without any penalties.
It was a wild ending to a game that wasn’t played particularly clean by either playoff-bound team.
Cowboys fans feel like they got one back after a few years of poor officiating. Dallas haters likely think the team benefitted from a confusing call.
Either way, games rarely come down to one play, and this one didn’t either. The arguments can be left for the fans, but all that matters is the Cowboys came away with a win and finished undefeated at home.
The controversial ending can’t take away from a few things we know about the Cowboys.
One, Prescott had another outstanding performance, throwing for 345 yards and two touchdowns to keep himself in front of the MVP conversation.
Two, the Cowboys have one of the league’s top receivers in Lamb, who is having perhaps the best season by a Dallas receiver in franchise history.
And three, Dallas made plays every time they were asked to win over a good opponent -- something everyone has been demanding of them all year.
Johnson said it best on his big night when he brought back his old catch phrase from the glory years: “How ‘bout them Cowboys!?”
One half of football later, and the Dallas Cowboys remain a spectacle.
They also happen to be 11-5 and Week 17 winners over a team that they could meet again next month.
Do you think the Cowboys will parlay their home success to postseason glory? Share your thoughts with Ben on Twitter @BenGrimaldi.