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FRISCO, Texas — A week after the Dallas Cowboys blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead in a 33-30 overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals, they let a 20-10 lead slip Sunday before beating the Indianapolis Colts 27-23. Chief operating officer Stephen Jones said Monday that the game felt eerily similar to the week before as it was unfolding.
Jones spoke during his weekly appearance on 105.3 The Fan’s K&C Masterpiece. Dallas ran the ball well and made some big plays, he said, but still had drives that did not end in points.
“I think it’s something that you, it’s a learning experience. I still think we’ve got a long ways to go. We got to learn to win. We got to learn to close,” Jones said. “And now the game felt eerily similar to the week before, as it was unfolding. And I just, I know Coach Schottenheimer feels that way. We just got to do some better things.”
Indianapolis Colts Erased A 20-10 Lead Before Javonte Williams Scored
Late in the third quarter, a Brandon Aubrey kickoff landed short of the landing zone and gave the Colts the ball at their 40. Two plays later, Ashton Dulin caught a short pass from Daniel Jones, made two defenders miss, and ran 55 yards for a touchdown that cut the Dallas lead to 20-17.
Against Arizona, Tyler Allgeier ran 63 yards for a touchdown on Gardner Minshew II’s second snap and then broke a 52-yard run on the first play of the Cardinals’ next drive. Dallas had led that game 24-10 with 14:20 left in regulation.
“We had a big missed tackle that resulted in a long touchdown play, not unlike last week, and then had a long run the next series. And where we had a breakdown after, for the most part, playing good defense all day,” Jones continued. “It was probably still our best defensive effort of the year. I do see where we’re improving.”
Indianapolis tied it with a 59-yard field goal in the fourth quarter and took a 23-20 lead on a 50-yarder with 1:37 left. Dak Prescott answered with a four-play, 65-yard drive that took 29 seconds, and Javonte Williams scored on a 1-yard run with 1:08 left. Rookie Caleb Downs intercepted Daniel Jones with 35 seconds left to close out the one-score game.
Stephen Jones Says Dallas Cowboys Are ‘A Work In Progress’
Dallas also let a fourth-quarter lead slip in a loss to the Baltimore Ravens earlier this season. The Cowboys came out of Indianapolis banged up on both sides of the ball, Jones said, and he hopes to get some players back.
“We’re still a little banged up. We hopefully get some more guys back, but obviously we had a tough day on the injury front yesterday. We’ll see kind of what the final synopsis is here as the day goes. But [we] got banged up on both sides a little bit,” Jones added.
“We’re certainly definitely a work in progress. Certainly on defense, it feels like we’re making the steps. I thought we ran the ball good yesterday,” Jones continued. “I thought we made some big plays, but we also had some drives that didn’t end up the way you’d like to see them end up in terms of moving the ball down the field and scoring, and in this particular case, last week was no different. Closing the game out. We’re just not getting that done right now.”
Dallas finished with 508 total yards and 179 rushing yards in Indianapolis. The Cowboys, now 4-5, open a three-game homestand against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 3:25 p.m. CT on FOX. The Tennessee Titans visit Nov. 22, and the Philadelphia Eagles come to AT&T Stadium on Thanksgiving.
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