With shocker in sight, mistake-prone Dallas Cowboys reappear in loss to Steelers
We are at the point in the Dallas Cowboys’ season where the expectations are so low that they are now being graded on a curve.
They are being given credit for surprisingly competing and giving maximum effort.
And that certainly was the case against the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers (8-0) Sunday in a game that no one expected to be close, with the Cowboys (2-7) starting their fourth different quarterback of the season.
However, Garrett Gilbert, the former Texas and SMU quarterback, had the Cowboys up by double digits to start the fourth quarter. Yet, in the end, bad things happen to bad teams that continually do things to cost them games.
And so it was in the Cowboys’ 24-19 loss before a COVID-19 record crowd of 31,700 at AT&T Stadium of mostly shocked Steelers fans who were expecting a blowout rather than a bitter fight to the end.
“We fought really hard, but we came up short,” said running back Ezekiel Elliott. “But there’s no moral victories here. We have to get back to the lab and get better.”
The Cowboys lost their fourth straight game and are now tied for last place in the NFC East.
After leading 13-0 in the first half and 19-9 heading into the fourth quarter, the Cowboys came undone when the Steelers closed the score to 19-15 on a 31-yard touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger to JuJu Smith-Schuster. (The point-after attempt was blocked by Tyrone Crawford.)
Instead of adding to the lead following a 64-yard kickoff return by Rico Dowdle, Gilbert tossed an interception on third-and-goal at the 5.
The defense had a chance to save the day but a sack and forced fumble by Tyrone Crawford was nullified by an illegal contact call on Jaylon Smith to keep the Steelers’ drive alive. And then linebacker Leighton Vander Esch was flagged for a personal foul. Pittsburgh made it 19-18 on a 43-yard field goal with 7:11 left.
After a Cowboys punt, the Steelers embarked on a game-deciding touchdown drive that was again aided by a Dallas miscue. A third-down incompletion was offset by a roughing the passer penalty on Smith.
Roethlisberger put the Steelers ahead for good, 23-19, at the 1:57 mark with an 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end Eric Ebron, who hurdled a defender to walk into the end zone.
Both the Cowboys and the Steelers turned the ball over on downs, setting up one last-chance drive. Gilbert was able to pick up three first downs, but with four seconds left from the Steelers’ 23-yard line Gilbert’s pass attempt to receiver CeeDee Lamb fell incomplete.
“I’m disappointed,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “I thought our players did enough to beat an excellent team. But that didn’t happen. It’s the best team football we played all year.”
The Cowboys will take a four-game losing streak into next week’s bye. They will travel to Minnesota to face the Vikings on Nov. 22.
But the Cowboys might return a team with renewed confidence following the stronger than expected effort against the Steelers.
The Cowboys defense had its second straight strong performance. It held the Steelers to 43 yards rushing, a huge sign of progress for the league’s worst rushing defense.
And the Cowboys held Roethlisberger (306 yards, 3 TDs) to two yards passing in the first quarter, and the vaunted Steelers offense to no points on their first four drives.
They seemingly did enough to get the win save the late penalties, which were questionable at best.
“Today is a reflection of what we are capable of doing,” McCarthy said. “We need to focus on what we can control. We are taking the steps in the right direction in the last two weeks. We have the bye week. Everybody knows what our record is, we need to get going. We need to start stacking wins.”
Andy Dalton is expected to return at quarterback but Gilbert showed some promise in his first career career start while becoming the team’s fourth different starter in 2020 and marking the first time the Cowboys have had three different starters in three straight games since 1994.
Dalton replaced Dak Prescott, who is out for the season with a fractured ankle. Dalton was then replaced last week by rookie Ben DiNucci, who was overwhelmed in a 23-9 loss to the Eagles, which forced the Cowboys to turn to Gilbert who had thrown just six career passes since initially coming into the league in 2014.
Gilbert completed 21 of 38 passes for 243 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
He led the Cowboys to a field goal on the opening drive of the game and had them up 10-0 early in the second quarter following a 20-yard touchdown pass to Lamb.
It was the first touchdown for the Cowboys in 13 quarters after they only netted field goals in the past two games and had just one touchdown in 32 offensive possessions over the last three games since the loss of Prescott.
But it was fumble by Lamb in the second quarter that helped turn the tide as well as the Gilbert interception late.
The Cowboys saw a 13-0 lead with roughly two minutes left in the second quarter dwindle to 13-9 at halftime following a Roethlisberger touchdown pass and the Lamb fumble that allowed the Steelers to kick a 59-yard field goal.
Gilbert led the Cowboys to two field goals in the third quarter before the fateful interception.
It’s been a problem all season as the Cowboys have a league-high 20 turnovers.
“Tough game, but once again it came down to taking care of the football,” McCarthy said. “We have to get rid of that. That has haunted us all year.”
This story was originally published November 8, 2020 at 8:15 PM.
