The Colts kept finding short ways to make Dallas sweat

Give Indianapolis the ball near the Dallas goal line, or give Spencer Shrader a patch of turf inside his range, and the Colts could do something with Sunday’s game. Ask them to build a drive the ordinary way and things got considerably harder.

They had just 271 yards and three third-down conversions in 13 tries, yet forced Dallas to come from behind for a 27-23 victory.

The Colts’ first opening came on Dallas’ second possession. The Cowboys had kicked a field goal on their first series and forced a punt. Then Dak Prescott lost the ball on a sack, Caden Curry recovered it, and the Indianapolis offense was starting its next drive at the Dallas 19.

That was not a long defensive return, but it was a short field in the only sense that counts. The Colts needed six plays to turn it into Seth McGowan’s 2-yard touchdown, taking a 7-3 lead. Indianapolis did not have to drive the length of the field or win a series of third-down battles.

One Dallas mistake moved the goal line close enough for a modest possession to become seven points.

Dallas answered with the sort of response that explained why it ultimately escaped. The Cowboys drove 65 yards on 15 plays for Jake Ferguson’s touchdown catch, absorbing three penalties that erased first downs and an Indianapolis unnecessary-roughness penalty along the way. The sequence was slow and untidy, but it kept Dallas from allowing the fumble to define the first half.

The Cowboys would generate more offense than Indianapolis by an enormous margin. They finished with 508 total yards, including 179 rushing yards, held the ball for 35:43 and had 22 first downs. CeeDee Lamb was outstanding, with 195 receiving yards across 10 catches, one of them a touchdown. Those numbers describe Dallas’ control of the ball, though not its control of the score.

Indianapolis kept finding a way to convert a small opening into a large swing. Dallas led 20-10 after Brandon Aubrey’s 28-yard field goal in the third quarter. The Colts had just managed 29 yards on an 11-play possession before that kick.

Then, on their next scoring opportunity, Daniel Jones found Ashton Dulin on a short pass that became a 55-yard touchdown with 1:17 left in the quarter. Two plays covered 60 yards, and the game was suddenly 20-17.

Dulin’s play mattered so much because the other ways of moving the ball were producing yards in small installments. Jonathan Taylor finished with 46 on 13 carries and Jones threw for 180. A short throw that goes for a touchdown can buy an offense a quarter’s worth of breathing room.

It can also leave an opponent wondering why it let one snap undo a lead built across several possessions.

Dallas supplied another opening in the fourth quarter. Lamb caught a 48-yard pass to the Indianapolis 13, but replay reversed the initial down-by-contact ruling. The play became a fumble recovered by the Colts at the Indianapolis 9. Lamb had already produced the afternoon’s biggest receiving line; the issue was what the possession became. Dallas had entered scoring territory and left without a point.

Indianapolis did not turn that takeaway into points. On the next Colts drive, Quinnen Williams forced a Taylor fumble and Shemar James recovered for Dallas. That exchange kept the Cowboys from paying twice for the same stretch of sloppy ball security. It also made the game’s central pattern plain: Indianapolis could create chances, but it still had to finish them.

Shrader carried the next part. He had already made a 47-yarder when he hit from 59 to tie the game at 20 with 5:56 remaining. His 50-yarder later gave Indianapolis the lead. His field goals supplied nine of his 11 points, and two of them came from spots where a lesser kicking afternoon might have left the Colts with little to show for their work.

Aubrey had made attempts from 45 and 28 yards, but his 50-yard try went wide left between Shrader’s two fourth-quarter makes. That miss did not erase Dallas’ offensive superiority, yet it gave Shrader the chance to make the next long kick matter more. In a game decided by isolated opportunities, Indianapolis had one more successful one at that stage.

Dallas finally produced the complete answer. Starting at 1:37, the Cowboys covered 65 yards and scored in 29 seconds, with Javonte Williams finishing from 1 yard at 1:08. Williams’ 101 rushing yards on 20 carries and Tyler Goodson’s 77 on 12 had supplied Dallas a dependable running game all afternoon. The late drive required that running game, Prescott’s arm and a narrow window for error.

Then Caleb Downs intercepted Jones after Indianapolis lost 12 yards on its final possession. That ended the threat, not the argument. Dallas was better for most of the afternoon, but its 5-for-16 third-down rate and two lost fumbles left Indianapolis enough scraps to build a lead.

The Cowboys won because they assembled one final answer quickly. The Colts showed how little room Dallas has for waste when an opponent can turn every loose ball and long kick into another chance.

Sources

ESPN: final game record and play-by-play

Dallas Cowboys: team game report

Indianapolis Colts: opponent game report

Associated Press via ESPN: NFL game report

The Star: Cowboys headquarters