It was a drive Dak Prescott needed, and maybe the Dallas Cowboys, too.
On the road, facing a Super Bowl contender, staring at a six-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
Seventeen plays and 69 yards later, Prescott had his signature moment, fleeting as it was, a beautiful, arcing throw to the corner of the end zone that Brandin Cooks hauled in for the go-ahead points. It capped a drive that saw some of the best from the Cowboys’ MVP candidate.
Dallas was suddenly in front of the Dolphins, 20-19. But over three minutes remained.
In the end, it’d prove too much time. Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins spoiled the Cowboy’s Christmas Eve in Miami, answering with their own 12-play, 49-yard drive to set up Jason Sanders’ game-winning, 29-yard field goal.
The Dolphins’ 22-20 win — for a week at least — quiets the narrative that Miami can’t beat the league’s elite teams. And it furthered the belief that the Cowboys simply aren’t the same squad away from AT&T Stadium this season. Dallas (10-5) has dropped two straight and is now 3-5 on the road this season.
Elsewhere in the NFL, the Lions clinched their first division title in 30 years.
The Browns and Joe Flacco just keep winning. Three in a row means Cleveland is 10-5 and all but locked into an AFC playoff berth. The New York Times puts the Browns’ playoff odds at greater than 99 percent.
The Jaguars, once in the running for the AFC’s top seed, have suddenly dropped four in a row, and Trevor Lawrence is hurt — again. The good news for them: neither the Colts nor the Texans made up any ground in the AFC South race Sunday.
The Bucs are surging, winners of four in a row and the only team in the NFC South above .500.
The Jets, a few hours after word leaked that owner Woody Johnson intends to keep coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas around for at least another season, escaped with a 30-28 win over the Commanders after Greg Zuerlein drilled a 54-yard field goal with five seconds remaining.
The Seahawks moved 53 yards in 14 plays for a game-winning drive in Tennessee, Seattle’s second nail-biting victory in six days. Almost a week after Drew Lock led a thrilling, last-second win over the Eagles, Geno Smith returned to the lineup to lead his own comeback, this one a 20-17 victory over the Titans that keeps Seattle breathing in the NFC playoff race.
And Sunday night, the Patriots stunned the Broncos with a 26-23 upset. New England earned its fourth win of the season in wild fashion, rallying after the Broncos erased a 23-7 second-half deficit to tie it late. Bailey Zappe engineered a 43-yard, game-winning drive and Chad Ryland, after having missed a field goal and an extra point earlier in the game, was perfect from 56 yards out with two seconds left to give the Patriots the unexpected victory. The defeat all but kills any shot the Broncos have at making the postseason.
So far, six of the NFL’s 14 playoff spots have been clinched: the Ravens and Dolphins in the AFC, and the 49ers, Eagles, Cowboys and Lions in the NFC.
Here’s what we learned from Sunday’s Week 16 slate around the NFL:
1. Cowboys open the door for the Eagles in NFC East
What would’ve been a gusty road victory for the Cowboys — something they haven’t really done this season — slipped through their fingers, again, furthering the very valid concerns about this team heading into the playoffs. At this point, with the Eagles leading the NFC East, Dallas is on track to open the postseason on the road, where the Cowboys have consistently been exposed this season.
Sunday was the latest chapter: early turnovers in the red zone followed by late penalties that cost them dearly. Dallas’ vaunted defense, which didn’t get a sack until the fourth quarter, couldn’t finish the game off late, aiding the Dolphins’ final drive with a brutal face mask penalty.
To win the NFC East, the Cowboys, now 10-5, have to hope the Eagles (10-4) lose one of their final three games.
Philly will face the Giants twice, including Monday afternoon, with a date with the lowly Cardinals sandwiched in between. The Cowboys will see the Lions and Commanders to close the season.
Meanwhile, it was an important win for the Dolphins, who remain in the race for the AFC’s top seed. With a Ravens’ loss Monday night in San Francisco, Miami and Baltimore would have identical 11-4 records heading into their Week 17 showdown.
The Dolphins’ 11-4 start is the franchise’s best since the Dan Marino days.
“We’re not done. We’re not close to done,” said defensive end Bradley Chubb, who played one of his best games of the season Sunday. “We’re changing the narrative to what we want it to be.”
For the first time in franchise history, the Dolphins have a 4,000-yard passer (Tagovailoa ), a 1,000-yard rusher (Raheem Mostert) and two 1,000-yard receivers (Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle) in the same season.
2. Lions are NFC North champs for the first time … ever
Enjoy it, Detroit. You’ve waited a long, long time for this.
On Sunday, the Lions clinched their first-ever NFC North title — the franchise’s most recent division title, way back in 1993, came when they were still in the NFC Central. The drought was the third-longest in football.
But now it’s history because of Brad Holmes’ vision and Dan Campbell’s leadership and the revival of Jared Goff, who, after being discarded by the Rams three years ago, has scripted a stirring second act in the Motor City, lifting a downtrodden Detroit team from NFL afterthought into NFC contender.
“It’s just the beginning for us,” Goff said after Sunday’s 30-24 win over the Vikings.
“This is special. This is special. It’s something you don’t get to do all the time,” Campbell said. “It’s always special to win a division. I don’t care how many of them you get, because of the work that goes into it. To do something that hasn’t been done in 30 years for a team is special.”
The victory moved the Lions to 11-4 on the year and means they’ll host their first playoff game since January 1994. Detroit will be looking for its first postseason win since 1991, the year Barry Sanders led the team to an NFC Championship Game appearance.
Dating to last season’s 8-2 finish, Campbell’s Lions are 19-6 over their last 25 games. The Coach of the Year candidate has led back-to-back winning seasons in Detroit.
3. Flacco, Browns move closer to a playoff spot
No coach in football this season has better weathered the storms of adversity than Cleveland’s Kevin Stefanski, whose Browns are on their fourth starting quarterback and yet are 10-5 and on the brink of an AFC playoff berth.
Sunday’s 36-22 win in Houston moved them closer, a game the Browns were in control of throughout, racing to a 36-7 lead early in the fourth quarter. The biggest reason was a record-setting day from wideout Amari Cooper, whose 265 receiving yards on 11 catches set a new franchise record and was the most yardage for any receiver in a game this season. “Special,” Stefanski called him. Cooper added two touchdowns and more than one highlight-reel grab along the way, carving up the Texans’ secondary.
He’s the sixth player in NFL history with four career games of at least 200 receiving yards, joining Lance Alworth, Calvin Johnson, Don Hutson, Jerry Rice and Charlie Hennigan.
Since the 38-year-old Flacco earned the starting gig a month ago, the Browns are 4-1. (Flacco’s thrown for 1,307 yards, the most for a Browns quarterback in his first four starts.) All told the team has won six of eight, and despite losing Deshaun Watson for the season, then churning through P.J. Walker and Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Cleveland’s eyeing a playoff spot for the first time since the 2020 season.
The Browns can clinch it with a win Thursday over the Jets.
4. Jags’ skid continues as AFC South teams go 0-4
Sunday was a downer for the AFC South.
The good news for teams in that division after an 0-4 afternoon? No one gained any ground.
The bad news? The road to a potential playoff spot got a whole lot tougher for whomever doesn’t win the division.
The Colts were trounced 29-10 in Atlanta.
The Texans fell at home, 36-22, to Flacco and the Browns.
Then the Jaguars, in one of the most surprising results of the day, fell 30-12 in Tampa. Jacksonville, once 8-3 and in the running for the AFC’s top seed, hasn’t won a game in December and has lost its last two (to the Ravens and Bucs) by a combined score of 53-19.
For good measure, the fourth team in the division, the Titans, lost 20-17 to Seattle.
The Colts began the weekend as the No. 6 seed, but with their loss and Buffalo’s win, fell to No. 7. Currently, five AFC teams are at 8-7 and in the mix: the Colts, Jaguars, Texans, Steelers and Bengals.
Something’s not right with the Jaguars. Lawrence has been battling through a litany of injuries late in the season, and left Sunday’s game after hurting his right shoulder. He fought through a high-ankle sprain two weeks ago, then cleared concussion protocol just in time to play this week.
The offense, predictably, hasn’t been sharp, coughing up 10 turnovers in the last three games, including four Sunday. The defense hasn’t been any better, allowing almost 30 points a game amid the Jags’ four-game losing streak.
The Jaguars, Colts and Texans entered the day tied atop the division. All three are now 8-7, with the Jags owning the tiebreaker over both. But the way Jacksonville is playing, this division feels like it’s up for grabs.
The Jags will finish with the Panthers and Titans. The Colts face the Raiders and Texans, and the Texans will see the Titans before traveling to Indy to close the regular season.
5. A Christmas gift: more football
Monday’s schedule features three more games with playoff implications.
The Chiefs, losers of three of four but still in contention for the AFC’s top seed, will play host to the Raiders at 1 p.m. ET. Kansas City can clinch a playoff spot with a win.
The Eagles, who benefitted from the Cowboys’ loss Sunday, will face the Giants at 4:30 p.m. ET
And in the nightcap, one of the best matchups of the season: the NFC’s current top seed, the 11-3 49ers, will host the AFC’s current top seed, the 11-3 Ravens.
(Photo of Jameson Williams, Stephen Maturen / Getty Images))
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2023-12-25 10:06:27
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