For 51 minutes on Sunday afternoon, it looked like the tank was in and then the final nine minutes played out.
You are not alone this morning if you’re still trying to process the final 540 seconds of the Dallas Cowboys 34-26 win. Just imagine what the Washington Commanders are going through right now.
With the Cowboys clinging to a 10-9 lead after three quarters, many were just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Waiting for the big mistake, the blown coverage, the turnover, which would hand Washington a win.
But this is football in 2024. Nothing makes sense and nothing ever happens like you expect.
Even after Brandon Aubrey, who’d had one field goal attempt blocked and just missed on another, drilled his second field goal for a 13-9 lead with a little over eight minutes left, we waited.
Then, with five minutes left, Luke Schoonmaker hauled in a 22-yard pass from Cooper Rush for a 20-9 lead.
Suddenly, we all started thinking this game was over and Dallas was going to cruise to the win after all.
But this is football in 2024. Nothing makes sense and nothing ever happens like you expect.
In the final three minutes of this game, there would be four touchdowns, a two-point conversion, two extra points, and a field goal put up on the board.
Two of the touchdowns came on kickoff returns of 99 yards by KaVontae Turpin and 43 yards by Juanyeh Thomas for the Cowboys.
But the play that determined the outcome came after Jayden Daniels hit Terry McLaurin for an 86-yard score with 21 seconds left.
Austin Siebert lined up for the potential game-tying extra point. The kick went wide left.
Down 27-26, the Commanders tried an onside kick, and Thomas returned it for the score with 14 seconds left.
Still, Washington had one more chance to tie the game.
When Daniels heaved his final pass toward the endzone, visions of his Hail Mary win over the Bears flashed through our minds.
Fortunately, Israel Mukuamu hauled in the pass to end the wild game.
Are The Cowboys Back?
It’s just one win and the Cowboys are still in jeopardy of finishing the season under .500.
But it was a win, over a divisional rival. Sometimes that one small, first step is all that is needed for a team to get hot.
Dallas does have winnable games against the Giants, Panthers, and Bengals ahead. Tampa Bay and Washington will be tough outs.
But that next-to-last game of the regular season in Philadelphia will be the biggest hurdle to clear.
The Cowboys, at most, can afford just one more loss over the next six weeks if they want to make the playoffs.
Whatever they did to gather themselves on Sunday and leave victorious they’ll need to do every week from now on. If they do, we’ll look back at the last nine minutes as the time when Dallas saved its season.
By The Numbers
It was the first game in the modern NFL era that featured two kickoff returns, two missed extra points, a blocked field goal and a blocked punt.
The 41 combined points scored in a single quarter was not, surprisingly enough, an NFL record. I could find anything about the record for the final nine minutes of a game.
I would not be shocked to discover that no other game has ever seen 41 points in the final nine minutes.
The victory snapped the Cowboys’ five-game losing streak. It also guaranteed that the Cowboys will finish the year with no worse than a .500 record on the road.
They’ll try for their first win at home in their sixth game at AT&T this year on Thursday against the lowly Giants.
Washington has dropped its third straight game after starting the year 7-2.
All three losses for the Commanders have been by eight points or less.
The Cowboys are now 42-23 all-time in Week 12 games, 10-14 on the road. They are 13-4 against the Commanders in Week 12 contests.
It was the third straight Week 12 victory for the Cowboys.
Against Washington all-time, Dallas is now 79-48-2 and 36-31 when the contests are played in D.C.
Scoragami/Prediction Updates
We have a new Scoragami entry for the Dallas Cowboys!
The 34-26 final on Sunday was the first regular season or playoff game in 1,059 contests to end with such a score. It is the 420th different final score in Cowboys’ history.
In Sunday’s pregame preview, I picked Washington to win, especially with all the injured players remaining behind in Dallas.
But in my preseason prediction post, I had the Cowboys winning this game to get to 4-7. And Dallas is now 4-7.
So, we’ll call it a draw and move on to the Giants at home on Thursday.
We’re going to need a bigger turkey.
And Then There Was One
Say hello to the Oregon Ducks. They are the No. 1 ranked team in college football.
They’re also the only remaining undefeated team in the FBS after Notre Dame knocked off Army during a wild Saturday.
Alabama, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M were all upset, sending the SEC into chaos. Texas and Texas A&M will meet this Saturday to determine who plays Georgia for the SEC title.
The selection committee is going to have a lot of fun sorting out the 12 teams for the playoffs.
Down in the FCS, Montana State is also undefeated and will likely move up to No. 1 this week. North Dakota State was in the top slot with a 10-1 record.
The Bison’s only loss had been to Colorado until Saturday. South Dakota scored with 12 seconds left to upend the Bison 29-28.
The Heisman Should Go To
Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty should be the runaway winner of the Heisman Trophy this year.
Colorado’s Travis Hunter has been getting hyped up because of his two-way play. But the Broncos are 10-1 and tops in the Mountain West because of Jeanty.
The Buffaloes are now 8-3, and should be 7-4 if North Dakota State had played a hair better in the teams’ season-opener.
Hunter is flashy. Jeanty is everything the Heisman is supposed to be about.