Cowboys vs. Texans: CeeDee Lamb's 17-Catch Homecoming Sinks Winless Houston in a Week 4 Thriller

CeeDee Lamb came back to the city he calls a second home and treated the Houston Texans' secondary like a group chat he was running: 17 catches, 189 yards, and the last word with 40 seconds left.

The Dallas Cowboys erased a 16-6 halftime deficit and beat the Texans 34-30 on Sunday, with Dak Prescott hitting Lamb for a 12-yard touchdown to finish an 11-play, 74-yard drive after Houston had retaken the lead with 2:23 to play. Dallas evened its record at 2-2. Houston fell to 0-4, and the franchise's 25th-season anniversary celebration at halftime turned out to be the high point of its day.

A First Half Dallas Would Like to Delete

Houston punched first and punched fast. Nico Collins turned the game's opening snap into a 45-yard catch-and-run, then finished the 85-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown from C.J. Stroud. Brandon Aubrey answered with field goals of 39 and 50 yards, and Ka'imi Fairbairn matched with a 51-yarder.

Then the kicking game turned into a horror movie for Dallas. Will Anderson Jr. blocked Aubrey's 62-yard attempt, Fairbairn cashed in from 39, and Aubrey's 65-yard try in the final minute of the half sailed wide left. Fairbairn hit from 54 at the gun, and the Texans jogged off up 16-6, just in time for a ceremony honoring franchise greats including Andre Johnson, Arian Foster and DeAndre Hopkins.

The second half belonged to the visitors. KaVontae Turpin opened it with a 48-yard kickoff return, Lamb broke free for 30 yards, and Javonte Williams ran in from the 8. Houston struck right back when Jaylin Noel returned a kickoff 53 yards and Collins caught his second touchdown, a 22-yarder, for a 23-13 lead.

Dallas kept swinging. George Pickens hauled in a 53-yard bomb over Kamari Lassiter, Lassiter was flagged for pass interference on third down to set up first-and-goal at the 1, Jadeveon Clowney dropped Williams 3 yards behind the line, and then Lassiter was flagged again, this time for holding on fourth down. Williams plunged in from the 1 on the next snap to make it 23-20.

The Cowboys took their first lead early in the fourth on a 14-play, 81-yard grind that Prescott ran like a metronome: per the team's website, he completed all nine of his throws on the drive for 89 yards, five of them to Lamb for 69. Williams finished it from 2 yards out for a 27-23 edge.

Houston had one more counterpunch. Facing third-and-14 at the Dallas 27, the Texans dialed up a hook-and-ladder, Dalton Schultz to David Montgomery, and it rolled all the way to the 6. Woody Marks finished the drive with a 6-yard touchdown run for a 30-27 lead.

Prescott then went 74 yards in 1:43, converting a fourth down along the way, and found Lamb in the end zone. Stroud's final heave fell incomplete.

CeeDee Lamb Put on a Show

Seventeen catches on 21 targets is not a stat line. It's a workload. The Cowboys' website said it was the second-highest single-game catch total in franchise history, and the 189 yards pushed Lamb past Drew Pearson into fourth place on the team's career receiving yards list.

"I knew this one was a big one for him," coach Brian Schottenheimer said.

Prescott finished 32 of 45 for 335 yards and a touchdown without an interception, and he admitted the volume snuck up even on him.

"That's a testament to me not even realizing he had 17 catches. I'm the one throwing it. How do I not realize that?" Prescott said.

Williams deserves a parade float of his own. He managed just 62 yards on 19 carries, but he scored three times, a career high, and every one came after halftime. That is the difference between a moral victory and an actual one.

For Houston, Stroud threw for 347 yards and two scores with a 126.7 rating, and Collins, back after missing two games, went for 118 yards and two scores on seven grabs. Anderson was a menace with five quarterback hits, a half sack and the blocked kick.

Flags at the Goal Line and One Called Shot

If you want the hinge, look at that third-quarter goal-line sequence. Lassiter was flagged twice on the drive, and both flags handed Dallas a new set of downs at the 1. The second bailed the Cowboys out on fourth down, moments after Clowney had shoved them backward, and Williams scored on the very next play. Houston finished with 13 penalties for 90 yards. Dallas had six for 47.

Then there was the winner, which Prescott apparently saw coming before the snap.

"As soon as it was called," Prescott said, "I knew it was a touchdown."

Stats That Matter

• 28: Dallas points after halftime, following six before it.
• 4-for-4: Cowboys in the red zone. Every trip ended in seven.
• 399 to 397: Total yards, Dallas edging it. This was a coin flip decided by details.
• 62: Houston rushing yards. Per the Cowboys, it was the first time this season Dallas held an opponent under 100 rushing yards.

What It Means for Two Teams Heading Opposite Directions

Dallas lost at the Giants in Week 1 and dropped a 34-31 heartbreaker to Baltimore in Rio de Janeiro in Week 3, so a 2-2 record with a road comeback feels like a reset button. The schedule offers no breather: Tampa Bay visits on Thursday night. Cornerback Joey Porter Jr., traded from Pittsburgh on Wednesday, debuted with 24 defensive snaps and was targeted once without allowing a catch, according to the team.

"Man that's the main thing I was missing was to play football," Porter said.

Houston is the opposite story. Three of its four losses (36-31 to Buffalo, 19-17 at Indianapolis and this one) have been decided by five points or fewer, and none of that counts for anything in the standings. Next up is a trip to Tennessee in a meeting of 0-4 teams.

"Our guys moved the ball really well," coach DeMeco Ryans said. "We just did not play well enough defensively and it's really a bad feeling."

Lamb Has a Message for the Record Book

Lamb did not sound like a man satisfied with fourth place on any list.

"I'm looking forward to breaking more records. That's no nothing toward the guys that're ahead of me, but I'm coming," Lamb said.

That is not a threat. It's a release date.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes as reported by the Associated Press and the Dallas Cowboys (dallascowboys.com), which also supplied additional game notes.