Jake Ferguson caught the ball on the one down Dallas had left. The Cowboys had already spent more than seven minutes answering a turnover, erasing their own mistakes and getting within 10 yards of a touchdown. They could have taken a short kick.
Instead, Ferguson’s catch gave them a lead, and the decision was a better piece of work than much of what followed in Sunday’s 27-23 win over Indianapolis.
The setting was uncomfortable. Dak Prescott’s strip-sack gave the Colts the ball near the Dallas goal line, and Indianapolis turned that gift into Seth McGowan’s 2-yard touchdown run. Dallas then started its response at its own 35 and had to build the long way.
Three Cowboys penalties erased first downs during the drive, while an Indianapolis unnecessary-roughness penalty helped restore some of the ground Dallas had lost.
The work took longer than the distance suggested. A penalty that wipes out a first down asks the offense to win the same patch of grass twice. Dallas kept its possession through those resets, and Indianapolis gave some of the ground back with a flag of its own.
It was a useful glimpse of what the Cowboys could do when Prescott had several ways to move the ball and the offense could afford to take its time.
Then CeeDee Lamb lost a yard on third-and-1. From the Indianapolis 10, a short field goal would have cut the deficit to 7-6. If the fourth-down pass failed, the Colts would have kept their four-point lead and taken over deep in their own territory. Dallas could afford to weigh the field position it would leave behind alongside the points it might gain.
Prescott threw to Ferguson instead. The tight end’s touchdown put Dallas ahead 10-7 and rewarded the entire possession rather than merely rescuing part of it. The wager was defensible because Dallas had already crossed a difficult stretch of football: it had absorbed its own flags, converted enough downs to keep the drive alive and forced Indianapolis to defend for more than seven minutes.
The offense had earned a chance to finish the job, even if the catch itself still had to be made.
The Cowboys converted only five of their 16 third downs, and the play immediately before Ferguson’s catch was a loss. There was a respectable case for taking three points while they were available. I still like the fourth-down call.
A failed play would have made Indianapolis cover a long field to add to its lead, and the goal line was close enough to give Prescott a reasonable chance to find Ferguson.
The rest of the game made those three points look increasingly expensive. Dallas led 20-10 after Brandon Aubrey’s 28-yard field goal in the third quarter, but Ashton Dulin’s 55-yard touchdown narrowed the margin. Spencer Shrader’s 59-yard field goal at 5:56 of the fourth quarter tied the game at 20-20. Aubrey then missed his 50-yard try, and Shrader’s 50-yarder at 1:37 gave Indianapolis a 23-20 lead.
