The 62-yard field-goal attempt was already an ambitious Sunday proposition before Houston’s Will Anderson Jr. blocked it. The more damaging part came afterward: Houston received the resulting field position and turned it into a field goal. Dallas had missed a chance to score and helped shorten the opponent’s route to points in the same breath.
That sequence remains the proper starting point for Thursday night in Arlington, with Tampa’s kicker expected to be available. Dallas has now allowed blocked field-goal attempts in two consecutive games. Jerry Jones placed the responsibility on protection in Wednesday radio comments and called the problem fixable.
That is the owner’s assessment, but it identifies the practical concern better than another debate about whether a 62-yard attempt was wise.
A long kick can fail without creating a crisis. A blocked kick changes possession geography. The kicking team loses its scoring opportunity, and the opponent may begin its next series closer to points than it would have after a routine miss or a successful kick.
Houston’s ensuing field goal made that distinction concrete. Dallas did not merely leave three points on the table; it allowed the mistake to improve Houston’s position on the field.
Wednesday removed one possible complication for Tampa Bay. Chase McLaughlin, who did not practice Tuesday because of a right groin/hip issue, practiced fully Wednesday and had no game designation. That makes Thursday’s expectation materially different from Tuesday’s uncertainty. There is no sound basis for Dallas to prepare as if the Buccaneers’ regular kicker will be absent.
The distinction matters because a kicker’s status can influence fourth-down choices, kickoff planning and how aggressively an offense tries to finish a possession. McLaughlin’s Wednesday participation gives Tampa the option of treating ordinary field-goal range as ordinary rather than building its decisions around a replacement. Dallas cannot count on an opponent’s drive ending short simply because Tuesday’s report looked ominous for a day.
Nor should the Cowboys’ own special-teams operation be treated as a minor detail against a Tampa defense that has been stingy with scoring chances. The Buccaneers have surrendered 282.8 total yards per game through four contests, and their opponents have converted red-zone trips into touchdowns 45.5% of the time.
Dallas averages 30.5 points and scores touchdowns on 81.3% of its red-zone possessions, so its offense has supplied plenty of evidence that it can finish. Still, finishing is harder when protection hands away a possession before the offense gets another chance.
There is a fair counterargument. A 62-yard try is not a standard kick, and a block on a difficult attempt does not prove Dallas will suffer the same failure from a more manageable distance. The Cowboys also rallied to beat Houston 34-30 on Sunday, scoring 28 points after halftime, so the offense showed enough resilience to survive the error.
But resilience should not become the special-teams plan. The repeated blocks make the protection question legitimate even if the original decisions belonged to different circumstances.
