DALLAS — Week 6 was another adventure for the Dallas Cowboys, but this time they got a 20-17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football for their trouble. The interconference battle represented just one game on the schedule, but it felt like there was much more riding on the outcome in Los Angeles.
The Cowboys couldn’t lose to go 3-3 and head into their bye week with consecutive losses, not with how the loss in Week 5 went down. A win was needed against a Chargers team that was getting back some of their best players and with Dallas playing against their former offensive coordinator.
The headline might have been Mike McCarthy against Kellen Moore, but the final score was a sign that neither play caller had brought their A-game. Both offenses struggled and 20 combined penalties made it an ugly game rather than the flashy one that was expected.
However, it was the Cowboys who made the biggest plays in the key moments to earn the victory. That started with the quarterback. The more-maligned-than-usual Dak Prescott had his best game of the season, throwing for 272 yards, accounting for two scores, and, perhaps most importantly, he didn’t turn the ball over.
Prescott got the ball rolling in the first quarter as the Cowboys’ offense finally showed their resiliency after going three-and-out to start the game and then seeing the defense allow a quick opening drive touchdown to Los Angeles. The offense answered with a nine-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in a touchdown on a fourth down play. McCarthy didn’t have a great game, but it was perhaps his best call on the night.
On fourth-and-1, Prescott kept the ball on the quarterback option and ran away from Chargers defenders for the 18-yard score. Utilizing Prescott’s legs, especially in the red zone, is something fans have been waiting to see and the touchdown was an example of why.
Things bogged down for the Cowboys for the rest of the first half, however. The Cowboys should’ve scored more points, but wide receiver Michael Gallup continued the rough start to his season when he dropped a beautiful ball from Prescott at the goal line that should have resulted in a touchdown.
The drive would stall out when the offense failed on another fourth down try with the tush-push play deep in Chargers territory, but things got worse on Dallas’ next possession.
The Cowboys had moved the ball deep inside the 15-yard line with eight seconds left in the half, and the team had two timeouts. Instead of being aggressive and going for a touchdown, McCarthy made one of the more cowardly calls in NFL history by electing to allow the clock to run down and kick a field goal despite a clear opportunity to take a shot at the end zone.
Regardless of the decision to kick and take a three-point lead into halftime, the Cowboys were still in a battle against a team that was struggling as much as they were. Both teams had failed fourth down attempts and were racking up the penalties, with an outlandish total of 20 flags (Dallas 11, Los Angeles 9) by the end of the game.
The Chargers kicked a field goal to tie the score at 10-10 on their second possession of the second half, but the Cowboys answered those three points with seven of their own. When things got tight, Prescott rose to the occasion.
On a third-and-11 at their own 24-yard line, Prescott escaped pressure and found running back Tony Pollard across the middle and Pollard broke tackles on his way for a 60-yard gain. That catch and scamper was an improv-play that proved to be one of the biggest in the game. Six plays later Prescott lofted a ball that settled in wideout Brandin Cooks’ arms for a two-yard touchdown. It was Cooks’ first touchdown with the Cowboys, and it was a big one.
The score was set up by Prescott’s heads up throw and Pollard’s game-breaking ability, things the Cowboys count on for their offense and a combination that hasn’t been able to get going as often as expected a third of the way through the 2023 season.
Up 17-10 in the fourth quarter, things took a turn for the Cowboys when Jalen Tolbert tried to recover a loose ball on a punt after the Cowboys had halted another Los Angeles drive. Tolbert thought the Cowboys had touched the ball on the punt and tried to recover but return man KaVontae Turpin never touched it and Tolbert couldn’t gain control as the Chargers recovered. Deep in Dallas territory, it took the Chargers just four plays to cash in and tie the game at 17-17.
With the momentum evaporated, the Cowboys needed their offense to make some plays to win the game and they came up with a 14-play drive that ran almost five minutes off the clock. On the game-winning series, Prescott converted on a third-and-six to WR CeeDee Lamb, who caught all seven of his targets for first downs and backed that up with an 11-yard strike to Cooks on third-and-nine.
Though Dallas couldn’t punch it in to give themselves more breathing room, rookie kicker Brandon Aubrey knocked connected on a field goal to force the Chargers to score to tie the game with an opportunity to win it with a touchdown in the remaining 2:19 on the clock. With the offense stepping up, it was up to the vaunted Dallas defense to close it out.
Micah Parsons ruined Los Angeles comeback plans with the Cowboys’ only sack on the fateful final drive. The star defender split a double-team to take down quarterback Justin Herbert and forced the Chargers into a rushed play on third down.
After the sack, it felt like chaos struck Moore’s Chargers on offense, and the next play saw cornerback Stephon Gilmore snare a game-clinching interception.
The Cowboys got the much-needed win to get out from under some of the bad vibes after their dismal performance in San Francisco. In what seemed like a win or else scenario for the Cowboys, the team answered the bell. Prescott played lights out, delivering in the big spots, and the defense held an explosive offense to just 17 points. The best defender for the Cowboys also showed up when it mattered most, while the offseason acquisitions also paid off. Both Cooks and Gilmore made big plays in key moments to help get the win.
It wasn’t pretty and questions for the head coach remain, but that didn’t stop the Cowboys from showing their ability to bounce back once again. Dallas needed a win, and they succeeded. The team now goes into their bye week with their heads held high and with a big sigh of relief.
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