5 plays that helped Cowboys eke out the win over Chiefs

The Cowboys are going streaking. They’ve now won three in a row, with the latest coming over the Chiefs on Thanksgiving. It was an incredibly close one all day long, and there were plenty of plays that had a massive impact, but these five are especially worthy of remembering.

Jadeveon Clowney sacks Patrick Mahomes

The game started off with plenty of action. An interception on the third play was followed by four straight scoring drives, with the Cowboys trailing 14-10. The Dallas defense, which had played so much better since the trade deadline, needed to make a stop.

After giving up a couple first downs, they got a break. A holding call backed Kansas City up on first down, and a short pass play brought up second and long. That’s when Jadeveon Clowney stepped up, displaying great hustle to run down Patrick Mahomes on his scramble attempt.

Even though this was the second quarter, it was a huge play for Dallas. The sack made it third-and-26, leading to a punt just three plays after the Chiefs had moved the ball into Cowboys territory. It also ignited the entire defense, as they wouldn’t allow a single score from here until the fourth quarter.

Dak Prescott finds Jake Ferguson on third down

After the defense forced a punt, the Cowboys offense needed to respond with a score to take the lead. You never know how many stops you’ll get against Mahomes, so taking advantage of each one is key to being able to win. But the Cowboys very nearly missed that chance.

Dak Prescott threw incomplete on second down to bring up third-and-seven, putting them in danger of going three-and-out. But Prescott found Jake Ferguson underneath on a mesh concept for an easy third down, picking up a total of 11 yards.

The Cowboys eventually scored a touchdown on Malik Davis’ breakaway run, but the drive could’ve ended in a hurry if Ferguson doesn’t make that play on third down.

George Pickens gets crazy

The third quarter featured both teams sitting in a holding pattern. Kansas City was shut out and Dallas added only a field goal to go up six. But the Chiefs scored early in the fourth quarter, taking a one point lead. The Cowboys needed to bounce back quickly.

Who else do you call up in that moment but George Pickens? Prescott looked his way on a third down in field goal range, and the star did the rest.

It’s hard to be surprised by anything Pickens does these days, but this one still took any fan out of their seat and on their feet. The explosive play set up first-and-goal, and got the Cowboys so close that even a 10-yard penalty didn’t stop them from scoring a touchdown just a few plays later.

Dak Prescott calls game, CeeDee Lamb delivers

Following the touchdown set up by Pickens’ big play, the Dallas defense forced a three-and-out, giving the ball back to Dak Prescott with nine and a half minutes left in the game. All they needed was a field goal to go up by multiple scores, ideally while killing some clock.

Prescott had other ideas; he wanted to go for the throat. On the very first play of the drive, he launched a missile towards Lamb, who did what he always does (unless the Eagles are also on the field, apparently).

It was a gutsy throw and a great catch, and it got the Cowboys in business right away. They would run six more plays, taking a little over three and a half minutes off the clock after the big catch, before kicking the field goal. That kick significantly boosted their odds of winning, but it was the play from Lamb that made the kick a near certainty.

George Pickens ices game on third down

An overlooked aspect was George Pickens fumbling the ball right before that field goal, and KaVontae Turpin’s hustle to recover the ball probably deserves its own entry on this list too. But Pickens, who had already had an amazing game, took a moment to atone for the fumble on the next drive.

The Chiefs had already used up all their timeouts, and a second down run was stopped quicker than expected, which meant Dallas would need to snap the ball once more – on third down – before the two-minute warning. Once again, Prescott turned to Pickens on a slant.

If the Cowboys had failed to convert this down, Kansas City would be getting the ball back with just over two minutes left, which is a terrifying proposition for any defense against Mahomes. The pass from Prescott and catch from Pickens never let that happen, coming in clutch in the biggest moment of the game.