Cowboys find run game, late redzone touchdown for confidence-boosting win at Steelers

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The latest chapter of the Cowboys and Steelers rivalry was another classic.

So much of the Dallas Cowboys season was potentially hanging in the balance throughout a Sunday Night Football game at the Pittsburgh Steelers that played on well into the night thanks to a lightning delay earlier in the evening. It was hanging in the balance when a defense already without top defensive ends Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence lost rookie edge Marshawn Kneeland to a knee injury early in the first quarter. It was hanging in the balance when two trips to the red zone in the first half yielded just one Brandon Aubrey field goal, and a third in the second half came up empty on a blocked field goal. It was hanging in the balance when rookie left tackle Tyler Guyton exited the game and forced left guard Tyler Smith out to tackle, with T.J. Bass then taking his spot at guard, and even Brock Hoffman having to come in briefly for Zack Martin at right guard.

Finally, it was certainly hanging in the balance when Rico Dowdle - poised to be one of the stars of the night - fumbled a second-and-goal handoff from inside the one-yard line in the final minute that forced Dallas back to the four-yard line. Dak Prescott scrambled to recover the fumble and earned the Cowboys two more chances to win the game, but their third-and-goal play would quickly come and go with an incompletion in the middle of the end zone to Jalen Tolbert, who was hurt on the play. The Cowboys needed a timeout to get Tolbert back on the field for a do-or-die fourth down, but did so with their second-year receiver lining up wide opposite CeeDee Lamb.

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Prescott was forced to retreat and go through his full progression to find Tolbert at the pylon for his seventh catch of the game, and biggest of his career to win the game for the Cowboys. The win marks the second straight for Dallas on the road in Pittsburgh, with both coming on touchdowns with less than a minute to play. With the previous one coming in 2016 when Prescott was a rookie, looking to make a statement that his Cowboys team could be taken seriously, this one in 2024 may have something of a similar effect with such an undermanned squad winning in Mike McCarthy’s Pittsburgh homecoming.

This team desperately needed a win that showed they have fight left in them led by McCarthy, and earned just that with so many odd bounces and obscure penalties swinging the balance of the game in all four quarters. The Cowboys made the final swing and that is the most important takeaway to reach 3-2 before returning home. The Cowboys are now a game behind the 4-1 Commanders who won again in convincing fashion on Sunday.

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As the NFL continues to be a game of inches on a weekly basis, the Cowboys found a way to fight for every inch needed in the big spots of this back-and-forth game that truly had a little of everything. It was a second straight win in the “just find a way” category for the Cowboys, never knowing when a play on offense, defense, or special teams is going to change momentum. Doing so against the Giants on a week four Thursday night saved the Cowboys from a disastrous 1-3 start, and now starting their first win streak of the season in week five goes a step further in showing what this team’s identity can be in an effort to repeat as NFC East champions.

The 34th all-time meeting between these historic franchises will take a while to fully sort out before the Cowboys move on to a home game against the Detroit Lions, but for now here are some notes on how the team found a way to come out on top on Sunday night Monday morning.

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• For the third time this season, the Cowboys elected to receive the ball first, but unlike the other opening drives ending in punts, they managed to take an early lead on Brandon Aubrey’s 55-yard field goal. The drive stalled as soon as the Cowboys were faced with a third-down attempt, and appeared to be an early sign that Prescott was going to have to continue fitting throws into tight windows and deal with lack of separation from his skill players against a defense that has single-handedly won games for the Steelers this year.

Using fullback Hunter Luepke as the motion man to identify if the Steelers were in man or zone defense, the Cowboys got the man coverage look they wanted and targeted undrafted free agent cornerback Beanie Bishop working against Tolbert inside. Bishop was able to come around Tolbert at the catch point and knock the third-down attempt away to force a field goal attempt.

Obviously, Prescott’s confidence in Tolbert, and all of his pass catchers, did not waver because of plays like this throughout the game. Dallas held up enough in pass protection despite injuries up front to complete deep shots to Tolbert for 48 yards, KaVontae Turpin for 34, and both CeeDee Lamb and Jake Ferguson for 27 later in the game.

This was a game where McCarthy’s offense needed to show more creativity and life, and although some familiar season-long issues still plagued them, the Cowboys appeared to have a coherent plan for a Steelers defense capable of wrecking the game and executed just enough to pull out a morale-building win.

• It wasn’t only the Cowboys who came into this game not at full strength, as the Steelers offense was missing running backs Jaylen Warren and Cordarrelle Patterson. Their opening script still called for plenty of runs to attack the edges of the Cowboys defense though, testing how well Dallas could hold up without Parsons or Lawrence. A Mazi Smith holding penalty and Trevon Diggs’ missed tackle in space against Najee Harris on their opening drive had the Steelers on the move early. Faced with a 3rd-and-8, the Steelers still stuck with the run game and pitched the ball outside to Aaron Shampklin, who was stopped short by Chauncey Golston and forced a field goal attempt that tied the game for Pittsburgh.

Golston filled in very well with five tackles for Mike Zimmer’s defense on the night, more than doing his job of setting the edge and allowing linebackers DeMarvion Overshown and Eric Kendricks to clean up plays. Golston also benefited from strong play on the interior from Smith and Osa Odighizuwa to win one-on-one battles and shed blocks to make splash plays.

The Dallas defense also saw Tyrus Wheat flash as a speed rusher with some juice bending the corner and pressuring Justin Fields. Zimmer will be relying on both players’ differing skill sets to continue throwing new looks at opposing offenses and get them behind the chains, where the Cowboys held the Steelers to three of 12 on third down.

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• Chris Collinsworth said at one point during the broadcast (which jokingly turned into an impromptu Good Morning Football by the end) that fans would be amazed how much NFL football can be broken down into simple terms. In the spirit of that, my own Collinsworth-ism from this game is that the Cowboys offense is at their best when going forward.

Now, of course, the goal of any offensive play is to gain yards or “go forward”, but the Cowboys made a pointed effort to both attack vertically in the pass game and run north-south against a Steelers defense that previously thrived on negative plays. Long down and distances have been immensely difficult for the Cowboys to overcome on offense this season, but they did so on their first drive that reached the red zone and ended in a potentially backbreaking turnover. After a Turpin reverse that lost six yards and set up 3rd-and-14, Lamb made his longest catch of the night in coverage along the sideline to convert. This was just one example of a more lateral play that didn’t work for the Cowboys, with others being short yardage attempts to Ezekiel Elliott that came out of heavy personnel and called for Elliott to patiently wait for a hole to develop before hitting it. This has been difficult for Elliott and his lack of burst upfield, but the Cowboys may have seen enough to continue relying on Dowdle and Luepke in these situations going forward.

Three plays after Lamb’s clutch catch, Dowdle had his longest run of the season for 12 yards to convert another short-yardage opportunity. Dallas did a good job staying out of third down on this drive, but when finally faced with an obvious passing situation the Steelers unleashed T.J. Watt and Nick Herbig to combine for a sack on Prescott and jar the ball loose to end the drive with no points.

Nobody could have known yet that this would be a consistent theme of the game, with the Cowboys repeating the routine two more times. Driving into the red zone and coming up empty twice more hung over their heads all night as a possibly catastrophic way to lose this game, but the defense stood tall. The Steelers ran just a combined 10 plays with two punts and the end of the first half on the three drives that started after the Cowboys red zone turnovers.

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Trevon Diggs and Jourdan Lewis were the most trusted members of a Cowboys secondary still missing rookie Caelen Carson and DaRon Bland. Once the Cowboys established that their depleted front seven could still handle the run, Diggs had his way with Steelers top receiver George Pickens while Lewis was called on in timely situations to work against big-play threat Calvin Austin.

Forcing Fields to hold onto the ball for just an extra tick at times made the difference in safeties Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson getting to their spots in coverage, truly making this a game where the Cowboys forced Justin Fields to beat them and instead saw their QB Prescott make the bigger plays in crunch time to win.

• Another thing the Cowboys did on offense at perhaps a higher level than they have all season is dictate their matchups against the Steelers secondary with formations and motion. Rico Dowdle’s second receiving touchdown of the season to put the Cowboys ahead 13-10 in the fourth quarter came with the starting running back lined up in a tight slot position. This was the same position KaVontae Turpin lined up in for a 35-yard completion that should have led to more points for the Cowboys if not for a blocked field goal in the third quarter. Both plays took advantage of safety Deshon Elliott, who has adapted to being more of a run defender in the box for the Steelers as Minkah Fitzpatrick is their deep coverage safety.

It was also Elliott that ended up in coverage on Tolbert for the dramatic game-winning touchdown, a look the Steelers ended up in after calling a timeout once the Cowboys lined up the first time to go on fourth and goal. On the first play that never happened, it was Lamb in the slot looking to get a favorable matchup over the middle. Out of the timeout, Lamb went back outside along with Tolbert, but the Cowboys still had both Turpin and Ferguson inside to create traffic and a possible easy throw for Prescott. With some pressure off the snap, a quick throw was not possible and Prescott had to extend the play long enough for Tolbert to win one final time using speed and leverage to get in front of Elliott and secure the touchdown.

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It has been no secret that this Dallas Cowboys season is going to depend on quite a long list of young, somewhat unproven players getting extended playing time due to either injury or lack of depth. The Cowboys have been waiting for a moment like this from a player like Tolbert, truly making the most of an opportunity with this being just the first of at least four games that Brandin Cooks will not play in.

It’s hard to understate the confidence boost not only Tolbert’s deciding play can give this team in the larger picture of a road win at an AFC contender, but all of the plays that led up to it also turned in by the likes of rookie linebacker Marist Liufau or even sixth-round draft pick Ryan Flournoy, who made his team debut and was in on the tackle on the final kickoff of the game.

The Cowboys are finding ways to get these players experience no matter how it has to come, with John Fassel’s special teams being a great place in particular for the latest draft picks to see the field. Having a win like this under their belt now may just change the entire complexion of a 2024 season that felt on the ropes coming into the night, and again several times throughout a game with five lead changes.