Just when it looked as if the Dallas Cowboys' defense was going to waste yet another strong performance from Dak Prescott, not to mention an absolutely ridiculous performance from CeeDee Lamb, No. 4 engineered a beautiful game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter to give America's Team a 34-30 victory over the Houston Texans.
After throwing the ball 40 times in last week's loss in Brazil to the Baltimore Ravens, Prescott was once again asked to throw the ball often by Brian Schottenheimer on Sunday, as he tallied a season-high 45 attempts.
Truth be told, since posting 52 attempts in Dallas' wild 40-37 overtime win against the New York Giants in Week 2 of last season, the only time the four-time Pro Bowler has thrown more passes was last December 4, when he attempted 47 passes in a Week 14 loss to the Detroit Lions.
Despite the heavy workload, however, Dak dominated, particularly in the second half, and played turnover-free football for the third consecutive week, ultimately completing 32 of 45 passes for a season-high 335 yards and one very important touchdown.
And that's despite facing the most pressure he has all year. As such, we've got no problem giving him an "A" grade in this outing that got Dallas back to .500 for the year at 2-2.
Dak Prescott led four TD drives in the second half to get the Cowboys a victory
After allowing just three sacks and 17 QB hits through the first three weeks of the season, the Cowboys' offensive line struggled on Sunday, particularly in the first half, as Prescott was sacked three times and took a season-worst 12 hits from the Texans, with Will Anderson Jr., who legit seemed like he was living in the Dallas backfield at times, leading the way with five.
Two of those sacks came on back-to-back plays near the end of the second quarter, which forced Brandon Aubrey, who'd already had one field goal blocked, to attempt a 65-yarder.
That kick missed, of course, and the Texans were able to sneak in a field goal of their own before the break, as Ka'imi Fairbairn connected on a 54-yarder as time expired to give Houston a 16-6 lead.
But the second half was a completely different story, as the necessary adjustments were made, and Dak came out firing, leading touchdown drives of 49, 64, and 81 yards to open the second half, the last of which gave Dallas a 27-23 advantage.
The fourth drive of the half didn't go quite as well, as the Cowboys gained just four yards and were forced to punt, with the Texans scoring on the ensuing drive to take a 30-27 lead.
But Prescott was ready to run the two-minute drill, and he ran it to perfection, leading the Cowboys 74 yards down the field in just 1:43.
And it was only fitting that his 12-yard touchdown pass to close out the drive went to the aforementioned CeeDee Lamb, as No. 88 went for 189 yards on the afternoon on a career-high 17 catches, the second-most ever by a Cowboys player in a single game, trailing only the 18 passes caught by Jason Witten against the New York Giants on October 28, 2012.
Thankfully for Prescott, unlike what happened against the Ravens, the Dallas defense was able to come through after a late score, although Christian Parker's unit did make things more suspenseful than they needed to be, giving up a couple of completions before C.J. Stroud's far-too-suspenseful Hail Mary attempt from the Cowboys' 48-yard line hit the turf as time expired.
Through the first four weeks, Prescott has completed 70.0 percent of his passes for 1,065 yards with eight touchdowns against just one interception, thus giving him a 105.0 passer rating and putting him on pace for one of the best overall seasons of his career.
He and the Cowboys will look to continue their success on a short week, as they're set to host the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers at AT&T Stadium to kick off Week 5 on Thursday Night Football.
Grade: A
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