Javonte Williams' Late TD and CeeDee Lamb's 195 Yards Lift Cowboys Past Colts 27-23

Dallas outgained Indianapolis by 237 yards on Sunday, and for about 90 seconds late in the afternoon that number looked like a punchline. Spencer Shrader had just drilled a 50-yard field goal, the Colts led 23-20 with 1:37 left, and the Cowboys were one bad possession away from coughing up a fourth-quarter game for the second week in a row.

Dak Prescott needed 29 seconds. He found Ryan Flournoy for 46 yards, two Indianapolis penalties moved the ball to the 1, and Javonte Williams walked in with 1:08 remaining. Rookie safety Caleb Downs then picked off Daniel Jones with 35 seconds to go, and the Dallas Cowboys escaped Lucas Oil Stadium with a 27-23 win over the Indianapolis Colts. Dallas climbs to 4-5. Indianapolis, two days from the trade deadline, falls to 2-7 with its fifth straight loss.

A Strip-Sack, Then a Takeover

The afternoon opened with a gift for the home team. After Brandon Aubrey put Dallas up 3-0 with a 45-yard field goal, Laiatu Latu strip-sacked Prescott on third-and-8 and Caden Curry recovered deep in Cowboys territory. Rookie running back Seth McGowan finished the short field with a 2-yard run, the first touchdown of his NFL career, and Indy led 7-3.

Dallas answered with patience. A 15-play, 65-yard march ate seven minutes and ended 52 seconds into the second quarter, when Prescott hit Jake Ferguson for a 10-yard touchdown on fourth down. Both offenses then traded punts for most of the quarter until the Cowboys got the ball back with under a minute to play in the half. Four plays and 75 yards later, CeeDee Lamb hauled in a 44-yard touchdown with 21 seconds on the clock, and Dallas carried a 17-7 lead into the break while the home crowd booed its own team off the field.

Indy Claws Back

The third quarter became a kicking exchange. Shrader hit from 47, and Aubrey answered from 28 after Lamb failed to get both feet down on what would have been a second touchdown. Then, with 1:17 left in the quarter, Jones flipped a short pass to Ashton Dulin, who made two defenders miss and sprinted 55 yards down the sideline to make it 20-17.

Dallas lost Ferguson to a left knee injury in the third quarter, and the mistakes kept piling up. Early in the fourth, Lamb caught a pass, realized nobody had touched him, got up and ran inside the Colts 15, then lost the ball. The original ruling was down by contact. Indianapolis challenged, won, and took over.

The Turning Point

The Colts had real momentum until Quinnen Williams wrecked it. With Dallas clinging to 20-17 and just under 10 minutes to play, the defensive tackle shed a block, dropped Jonathan Taylor for a loss and jarred the ball loose. Linebacker Shemar James recovered inside the Dallas 20.

That takeaway ended up being the margin, because the Colts' next two possessions both stalled into field goals instead of touchdowns. Shrader tied it with a career-long 59-yarder with 5:56 left. Aubrey, usually as automatic as kickers get, missed a 50-yard try wide left after a bad snap and hold with 3:30 remaining. Shrader then put Indy in front from 50.

What came next was partly by design. On the decisive drive, Colts coach Shane Steichen let Williams score rather than let Dallas drain the clock from the 1. "Yeah, we let them score," Steichen said. "I mean they've got four shots from the 1-yard line so we have a chance to get the ball back. If not, they're bleeding the clock." Indianapolis did get it back, but an intentional grounding flag left Jones facing third-and-22, and Downs jumped the deep ball for the first interception of his career.

Lamb Carries the Load

Lamb was the best player on the field: 10 catches for 195 yards and a touchdown, the second-highest receiving total of his career, on a day George Pickens sat out with a hamstring injury. Prescott finished 21 of 34 for 335 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, good for a 114.2 passer rating.

The ground game did its part too. Javonte Williams ran 20 times for 101 yards, his second 100-yard game, and Tyler Goodson added a career-high 77 yards on 12 carries against the franchise that used to employ him. Dallas rushed for 179 yards and held the ball for 35:43. "We got it done," Prescott said. "It wasn't the prettiest, it wasn't the best second half from the whole team, but we got it done."

Quinnen Williams finished with seven tackles, three tackles for loss and a quarterback hit, and Rashan Gary added a sack. Brian Schottenheimer did not hedge. "If there's a better interior defensive lineman than him in the league, I haven't been around one in a long time," Schottenheimer said.

For Indianapolis, Jones went 20 of 34 for 180 yards with a touchdown and the pick. Taylor managed 46 yards on 13 carries, and with both players mentioned in trade talk, this may have been a goodbye. "I just hope they appreciate and know that I appreciate them," Taylor said of Colts fans. Keenan Allen's four catches gave him 1,095 for his career, one more than Tim Brown, moving him into eighth place on the NFL's all-time receptions list.

The Numbers Behind It

• 508 to 271 in total yards, Dallas.
• 14 penalties for 153 yards on the Cowboys, including an unsportsmanlike conduct flag on inactive linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, who ran onto the field in street clothes to celebrate a takeaway.
• 3 of 13 on third down for the Colts, with none converted through the air.
• 2 lost fumbles for Dallas, one by Prescott and one by Lamb. The defense took the ball away twice to even the ledger.
• 16 tackles for Colts defensive back Hunter Wohler, who started in place of the injured A.J. Haulcy.

What It Means

Dallas has won two of its last five, and this one came a week after the Cowboys blew a 14-point lead and lost to Arizona in overtime. Two weeks ago, Javonte Williams and Prescott ran over Philadelphia in a game that looked like a turning point. This one was uglier, but at 4-5 the Cowboys will take it. "It's good to clean things up with a win," Prescott said. Dallas opens a three-game homestand when it hosts San Francisco on Nov. 15.

Indianapolis hosts Miami on Nov. 15, though the more important date is Tuesday's trade deadline. The Colts also lost linebacker Jaylon Carlies (neck) and right tackle Jalen Travis (knee) in the first half, and neither returned.

Brother Versus Brother

Fifteen members of the Downs family made the trip to watch Caleb line up against older brother Josh, a Colts receiver, for the first time since their Georgia prep days. There was trash talk long before the final snap. The younger brother got the last word.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes as reported by the Associated Press and DallasCowboys.com.