Charlton, Heath help Cowboys protect lead in win over Chiefs

Remember all those news conferences where Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett redundantly spoke about “process” and “three phases”?

Sunday might have been a red letter day for the Cowboys to finally reach whatever goal Garrett was describing, but it remains to be seen whether that’s the last we’ll hear of those buzzwords.

Dallas’ defense played big in the clutch, with rookie first-round pick Taco Charlton recording his first sack and safety Jeff Heath snagging an interception late in the fourth quarter to seal a 28-17 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in front of 93,273 at AT&T Stadium.

“We talk about having all the pieces playing together and continuity,” linebacker Sean Lee said. “And I think we’re starting to get close to the defense we want to be, that kind of championship defense we can be.”

With the defense showing up late, it was the offense that buckled down to win the second-half possession battle and suffocate the clock.

The Cowboys held the ball 31 minutes, 17 seconds, with 9:18 of that coming in the fourth quarter.

The defense did its job overall in holding the high-octane Chiefs to 323 yards and just two possessions inside the 20-yard line. Lee led the way with 12 tackles, including two for loss.

“I thought they played really well and they were physical against that team, and I thought that was important for us to be able to do that up front and really throughout the defense,” Garrett said.

The defining plays were Charlton’s sack and Heath’s interception.

Needing two scores, the Chiefs (6-3) put together an eight-play drive that moved 38 yards before facing a third-and-5 play from the Cowboys’ 40.

Charlton quickly came off the edge and sacked Alex Smith for a 3-yard loss.

“We overcame adversity, and our main thing in the first couple of weeks was just missing tackles and taking bad angles,” said defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence. “We got a lot of young guys on this team and they started to step up and you’re starting to see what we can become.

“Taco overcame all the bad talk and stepped up to plate and I’m proud of him. The main thing, if you watch the film, they were doubling me and sliding over and I was trying to get there, but you know, Taco got a sack, so there you go.”

On fourth-and-8, Smith’s pass over the middle intended for Travis Kelce was intercepted by Heath.

“The reason Jeff is getting the opportunity and the reason he is a starter is because Jeff is around the ball,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. “He makes plays. He made a big play for us tonight. That’s what you can get if you can keep him out there. He’ll make a play for you.”

Heath said he read Smith’s eyes as he dropped back and tried to bait him to throw over the middle.

“I was just free on that play and saw Kelce come across the middle,” Heath said. “I jumped it and just made the play.”

It was the first interception thrown by Smith this season. He had thrown 16 touchdowns without an interception prior to Sunday’s game. Smith finished 25-of-34 passing for 263 yards with two touchdowns and the comeback-killing pick.

One of Smith’s touchdowns came on a 56-yard pass to Tyreek Hill on the final play of the half. With the majority of Cowboys defenders backed up to the goal line in anticipation of a Hail Mary, the Chiefs countered with a short screen-like pass that the elusive Hill ran into the end zone.

“We can’t make that kind of play at the end of the first half like that,” Lee said. “That’s the kind of play that can cost us some games.

“We knew they had that kind of play in their arsenal and we prepared for it, but we’ll have to look at film and understand what happened. We had some guys miss some tackles, but you got to give him credit for making a great play.”

This story was originally published November 5, 2017 at 8:48 PM with the headline "Charlton, Heath help Cowboys protect lead in win over Chiefs."