The Dallas Cowboys and Indianapolis Colts just played 60 minutes. Of what, I'm not entirely sure, because it wasn't football.
In one of the uglier games of the 2026 NFL season, Dallas came away with a 27-23 win after Dak Prescott led a four-play, 65-yard touchdown drive in the final two minutes.
The Colts got the ball back with more than enough time to win the game, but Caleb Downs picked off Daniel Jones on 3rd-and-22 to seal the victory for the Cowboys, who keep a heartbeat in the NFC East race by moving to 4-5.
Normally, winning cures all. However, it's hard to feel good about the direction of this team after that performance. Let's talk through it and get into some instant reactions.
Instant takeaways from Cowboys' Week 9 win vs. the Colts
All 3 Tylers struggled
Tyler Booker was beaten on back-to-back plays on Dallas' opening drive. Dak Prescott barely managed to complete a checkdown to Javonte Williams before taking a hit from Colts defensive lineman Adetomiwa Adebawora.
Adebawore got the better of Booker again on third down, forcing Prescott to throw off his back foot. His pass to CeeDee Lamb fell short. Adebawore essentially split Booker and Cooper Beebe, but Booker had the best opportunity to slow him down. The Cowboys settled for a 45-yard field goal.
The offensive line's struggles continued on Dallas' next possession. Tyler Guyton was beaten on third down, forcing Prescott to escape the pocket. Laiatu Latu hit Prescott from behind as he attempted to throw, knocking the ball loose before his arm came forward. The Colts recovered the fumble and capitalized on the short field with a Seth McGowan touchdown run to take a 7-3 lead.
The penalties started piling up on the Cowboys' third possession. Tyler Smith was flagged for holding, and Guyton was later penalized for being illegally downfield. Dallas ultimately found the end zone, but the self-inflicted mistakes were becoming a theme.
The Cowboys need their three first-round picks to be a lot better.
Jake Ferguson saves Brian Schottenheimer
Schottenheimer had roughly five minutes to draw up a play on 3rd-and-1 as the first quarter ended, and he called a shotgun sweep run to CeeDee Lamb. Karma delivered, as Lamb was tackled before the line to gain.
The Cowboys went for it on 4th-and-1, and it took some magic from Jake Ferguson to come away with points. Ferguson hauled in a jump-ball touchdown over safety Cam Bynum, one of Indianapolis' better defenders, and managed to secure the catch despite some tough hand-fighting.
Prescott gave Ferguson a chance, but his tight end did 90 percent of the work to bail out his head coach for a questionable play call in a critical moment. The decision still deserves scrutiny, even if it worked. Had Ferguson not made a spectacular catch, it would have been one of the defining moments of the game.
Hopefully, this is the confidence booster Ferguson needed. He's had a really poor season up to this point. The offense needs him to get going.
Blitz Caleb Downs more, please
Downs does so many things well, and blitzing is one of them. Whether it's due to injuries in the secondary or Christian Parker simply being overwhelmed as a first-time play-caller, he has not blitzed his star rookie nearly enough this season.
Parker went back to that well on 3rd-and-8 early in the second quarter. Downs came flying off the edge and buried Daniel Jones for a 10-yard loss to force a punt. Jones never saw him coming. It was a free shot, so you almost wish Downs had managed to jar the ball loose, but that's nitpicking what was an outstanding play by the rookie.
That's the kind of creativity the Cowboys need more of from Parker. Downs is a weapon when he's allowed to play downhill, and Parker deserves credit for putting his rookie in position to make a game-changing play.
Penalties, penalties and more penalties
The old saying that "you could call a penalty on every play" rang especially true on Sunday. The officiating crew was quick to reach for its flags, and several penalties could have gone uncalled, including a ticky-tack offensive pass interference on CeeDee Lamb and an unnecessary roughness call on Colts linebacker C.J. Allen for a hit on Dak Prescott.
But questionable officiating doesn't excuse a lack of discipline. One of the telltale signs of a poorly coached team is an inability to avoid self-inflicted mistakes, and the Cowboys were guilty of that time and again. In the first half, all six of Dallas' penalties were on the self-proclaimed "GOTI" offense.
- Hold on Tyler Smith on 1st-and-10 from the Colts 41 (10 yards)
- Hold on Brevyn Spann-Ford on 2nd-and-4 from the Colts 24 (10 yards)Â
- Tyler Guyton ineligible receiver downfield on 2nd-and-10 from the Colts 30 (5 yards)Â
- False start on CeeDee Lamb on 1st-and-10 from the Dallas 46 (5 yards)Â
- Illegal shift on the offense on 3rd-and-1 from the Colts 45 (5 yards)Â
- Pass interference on CeeDee Lamb on 3rd-and-6 from the 50 (10 yards)
It’s no wonder the offense punted on three straight possessions in the second quarter. The Cowboys finished with NINE offensive penalties. Just sloppy football.
The Cowboys' offense remains hard to watch
Christian Parker's defense finally looked like a functioning unit. They more than held up their end of the bargain. Once again, though, the offense failed to take advantage. This team is incapable of playing complementary football.
It was another sluggish effort from Brian Schottenheimer's group. Penalties did not help, but nothing comes easy for Prescott in this offense. It averaged less than 5.0 yards per play before CeeDee Lamb's 44-yard touchdown at the end of the first half.
The Colts' punt on their opening possession of the second half marked the Cowboys' sixth (!) defensive stop of the game. At that point, CeeDee Lamb's touchdown was the only time Dallas' offense had turned one of those stops into points. That can't happen.
This game looked a lot like last week's loss to the Cardinals. You look up at the scoreboard, and the Cowboys have put up 30 points. But the process that got them there was anything but impressive.
The drive that put Dallas up 20-10 in the third quarter looked really good, but it still stalled out in the red zone. It magnifies the three consecutive punts in the second quarter and the six empty possessions overall.
CeeDee Lamb's mistakes loomed large
Lamb's 44-yard touchdown gave the Cowboys breathing room, but he also had two miscues that loomed large as his team struggled to put away the Colts.
First, Lamb couldn't get both feet down in the end zone on a perfectly placed throw from Dak Prescott in the third quarter. It would have been a difficult catch, but those are the plays you expect a receiver of Lamb's caliber to make. He had enough time to get his second foot down.
A touchdown would have given Dallas a 10-point lead. It ended up being a 14-point swing as the Colts scored on the ensuing possession to make the score 20-17.
Fast forward to the fourth quarter, and Lamb fumbled after a long catch-and-run. He was initially ruled down by contact, but replay showed that the ball came loose before he hit the ground, and the call was overturned. It was a brutal ending to an otherwise spectacular play by No. 88, but he simply has to protect the football in that situation.
DeMarvion Overshown can run onto the field, but can't play
Pay attention, because you may never see this again.
After Quinnen Williams forced a fumble that Shemar James recovered, an inactive DeMarvion Overshown was flagged for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after running onto the field to celebrate the turnover. The official described him as wearing "blue sweats and a stocking cap" while announcing the penalty. It read like a police chase.
Just an unbelievably dumb decision that turned a short field into a long one with his team clinging to a three-point lead.
Brian Schottenheimer is living on borrowed time
Would Jerry Jones have fired him if Dallas lost? Probably not, if I had to guess. But what more proof does he need that Schottenheimer is a bad coach? The Cowboys have now dropped games to a winless Buccaneers team (at home), a 2-5 Cardinals team (at home), and the 2-6 Colts.
His offense still looks disjointed. He's still using Brandon Aubrey as a crutch despite alarming aggression from his kicker. He continues to coach not to lose. He's steering a ship that has enough talent to stay afloat, but no clear direction toward becoming a legitimate contender.
A good team would have put the Colts out of their misery in the third quarter. The Cowboys needed last-minute heroics to escape with a win.
Schottenheimer may see out the rest of the season, but barring a lengthy winning streak and some Ws against good football teams, it's hard to see this ending any other way than him getting fired.
Add us as a preferred source on Google