Cowboys studs and duds Week 15: Potential win falls through Noah Brown’s hands

Another week and another lackluster showing from the Dallas Cowboys against the AFC South.

After escaping with a win against the Houston Texans at home, Dallas headed to Jacksonville this weekend and looked poised to take it out on the Jaguars. That didn’t happen, as they blew a 27-10 third-quarter lead, falling to 10-4 on the season.

Here we look back at the game and identify a few studs and duds from Week 15.

Cowboys studs and duds Week 15

Stud: Jayron Kearse, Safety

Jayron Kearse was one of the best free-agent acquisitions Dallas has made in recent memory — and no one really noticed when he was added in 2021. Kearse quickly became a leader on this defense due to his ability to deliver hard hits, and he made several in this game, but it was his tackle on Trevor Lawrence in the fourth quarter that lands him on the stud list.

Lawrence and the Jags were down 34-31 and driving for the tie. The Jaguars quarterback escaped a sack and ran it 11 yards, and was nearing field goal range. However, they didn’t get to kick it, as Kearse hit the ball out of Lawrence’s hand to give his offense the ball.

Sadly for Kearse, this doesn’t go down as a winning play, since the offense was unable to get a first down, and the Jags still wound up winning.

Dud: Dan Quinn, Defensive Coordinator

Since Dan Quinn joined the Cowboys, he’s done a great job of rehabbing his image — which was torn down at the tail end of his career with the Atlanta Falcons. He’s turned one of the worst defenses in the NFL into one of the best, but over the past couple of weeks, they haven’t lived up to expectations.

They made the stops when they counted against the Houston Texans, but still struggled with Davis Mills and Jeff Driskell.

This weekend, they were picked apart by Jacksonville giving up 21 unanswered points in the second half to go from holding a 27-10 lead to facing a 31-27 deficit.