ARLINGTON, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys entered their Week 6 showdown with the Detroit Lions with an uphill battle defensively without their top edge rushers (Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, Marshawn Kneeland), two of their top three corners (DaRon Bland and Caelen Carson) and top inside linebacker (Eric Kendricks).
Naturally, Dallas couldn’t keep up with Detroit’s top 10 scoring offense (26.0 points per game, eighth-best in NFL entering Week 6) given those injuries. The visiting Detroit Lions came out firing in their 47-9 blowout victory. The 38-point loss is the worst home loss for the Cowboys since owner and general manager Jerry Jones bought the team in 1989. Dallas looked similarly lifeless in a 45-7 loss at the Green Bay Packers in Week 9 of the 2010 season, the last game then-coach Wade Phillips coached for the Cowboys before being fired by Jones. Current coach Mike McCarthy is coaching out the final year of his original five-year contract in 2024.
The Lions have scored 89 points across their last two games, including the 42 they put up against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 4. This is their most points in any two-game span since 1962. They went up 27-6 at the half, quenching their thirst for revenge for their controversial 20-19 loss at AT&T Stadium against the Cowboys in Week 17 last season. Dallas became the second team in NFL history to have a halftime deficit of 15 or more points in four consecutive home games, including the playoffs, per CBS Sports Research. They joined the 2013-2014 Raiders in this notorious club. A chorus of boos, “Let’s go Lions” and “Jared Goff” echoed throughout the stadium all game long. Detroit scored on their first nine drives of the game, excluding the end of the first half kneel down .
The only thing that put a damper on Detroit’s day was Pro Bowl edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson’s third quarter leg injury that knocked him out the game and resulted in him getting carted off on a stretcher.
Lions running back David Montgomery got the scoring going early with a 16-yard rushing touchdown on Detroit’s opening drive. The rushing score marked Montgomery’s eighth game in a row with a rushing touchdown dating to last season, the longest streak in Lions history. He finished the game with 80 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries, averaging a robust 6.7 yards per carry. A strong start after re-signing on a two-year, $18.25 million contract on Saturday evening.
On the flip side, Week 6 marked the second week in a row that Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott made backbreaking red zone mistakes between the lost fumble and end zone interception intended for All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb at the Steelers in Week 5, and then he threw another interception intended for Lamb on Sunday against the Lions. Detroit safety Brian Branch undercut the throw aimed toward Lamb in the back left corner of the end zone. Branch hauled in a second Prescott interception in the second half as well as fumble recovery from Cowboys sixth-round rookie receiver Ryan Flournoy. He is now only the second player in Lions history to record two interceptions and a forced fumble in a single game, joining Dre Bly.
The Prescott-Lamb duo remains out of sync after Lamb’s contract holdout this offseason. Prescott threw for 178 yards and two picks on 17 of 33 passing while Lamb caught seven of his 14 targets for 89 yards. All of the Cowboys points came on field goals (34 yards, 47 yards and 50) by All-Pro kicker Brandon Aubrey. Aubrey’s eight-game streak with at least one made field goal of 50 yards or further is the longest such streak in NFL history.
In the second quarter, the Lions pulled out a deep, 52-yard trick-play touchdown on Dallas to go up 17-3. Quarterback Jared Goff tossed the football to Montgomery, who handed the football to All-Pro wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who then tossed the football back to Goff. The Detroit passer then rifled a perfect, arching laser right into the arms of All-Pro tight end Sam LaPorta for the touchdown. The Lions weren’t messing around. They went for the early kill shot, and they hit it. Goff finished the game with 315 passing yards and three touchdowns on 18 of 25 passing.
Why the Lions won
Detroit didn’t need to do that much more than just continually hand the ball to David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs if it wanted to come away with a win in this game. The Lions indeed did that, repeatedly, but also did a whole lot more. The defense frustrated Dak Prescott throughout the game, and especially early on. The passing game wasn’t quite as efficient as what we saw the last time the Lions were on the field (when Jared Goff completed every one of his passes); but that’s only because it would have been nearly impossible to reach those heights. Goff lit up the Cowboys secondary anyway, and barely broke a sweat while doing. Detroit was the bigger, stronger, faster, more physical and better team on both sides of the ball, and the yawning gap showed up throughout the afternoon.
Why the Cowboys lost
With the current state of their defense (down Micah Parsons, Demarcus Lawrence, Marshawn Kneeland, Eric Kendricks and DaRon Bland), there wasn’t much hope that the Cowboys were going to slow down this elite Lions offense. So, Dallas essentially needed a Superman game from Dak Prescott and the offense if it was going to remain competitive. Not only did the Cowboys not get that effort, but Dak was off his game from the jump. He had an interception negated by penalty on the opening drive, was actually intercepted on the second (after seeing another near-interception fall incomplete) and would have been intercepted again on the third if the defender in the way of the pass had turned around. The Cowboys needed to jump on the Lions early and make it so that Detroit couldn’t simply run away with the game. They failed in every way to execute that plan. Oh, and the Lions went absolutely off offensively in such a way that it probably wouldn’t have mattered what Prescott and Co. did.
Turning point
The Cowboys won the opening coin toss and took the ball to begin the game. They drove deep into Lions territory but ended up stalling out and settling for a field goal. They had a chance to quickly take the ball back from Detroit on its first drive, but on third-and-5, Jared Goff unleashed a deep ball intended for Tim Patrick up the right sideline. And here’s what Patrick did:
Amani Oruwariye did not play the ball very well in the air, while Patrick did a great job to come back through the corner and snatch it. The result was a 42-yard gain that set the Lions up deep in Dallas territory. Two snaps later, David Montgomery was in the end zone and the Lions were off to the races.
Highlight play
If this play looks familiar to you, it should.
The Cowboys allowed a touchdown on the exact same play almost exactly a year ago (Oct. 8, 2023), in their abomination of a Week 5 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. That score actually came only a few hours after the Lions themselves scored on (literally) the exact same play against the Panthers earlier in the afternoon. So, it seems only fitting that the Lions went back to it once again, this time against the Cowboys, and that the end result was, again, exactly the same.
What’s next
Detroit improves to 4-1 with the road victory and sits a game behind the Minnesota Vikings for first place in the NFC North. Luckily for the Lions, they get a chance to rectify that next week. They travel to Minnesota for an early-afternoon game in Week 7.
Dallas is now 3-3 and behind both Washington and Philadelphia in the NFC East. The banged-up Cowboys thankfully take their bye next week; but when they return, they head out to San Francisco to take on a 49ers team that has absolutely owned them over the past few years.
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