3 Cowboys whose heroics were completely wasted by walk-off Jaguars interception

1. Jayron Kearse

The competitor in Trevor Lawrence believed there were even more yards to gain after he’d spun out of a sack around midfield and sprinted towards the glowing green “field goal range” line with all three timeouts remaining.

The shoulder of Jayron Kearse felt differently.

With Lawrence midway through disintegrating the defense on what felt like a disheartening final stand, Kearse jarred the football loose after one final ill-advised juke left the QB vulnerable to a big hit. After so many spectacular moves, Lawrence spun into contact, and Kearse was ready to deliver the wood. A little bit of fumble luck later, and the ball belonged to the Cowboys once again.

Kearse survived a pregame injury scare last week against the Texans, then nearly secured the win this time around with the defensive play of the game. A defense that lost Donovan Wilson, Leighton Vander Esch and Dorance Armstrong over the course of this roller coaster of a game needed a hero down the stretch, and Kearse stepped up right when Lawrence was beginning to feel himself the most.

It’s just a terrible shame this extremely fortuitous bounce was equalized by a tipped ball that went in the opposite direction.

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