Article by Dan Tortora
The Dallas Cowboys came to north Florida with an opportunity to punch their ticket to the playoffs with a win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Jacksonville entered their stadium at 5-8, still alive in the playoff hunt and mathematically in the running for the AFC South title.
The first drive would end after eight plays, with Dallas punting the ball to Jacksonville.
But the Jaguars would cough it up on the seventh play of their first drive, with running back Travis Etienne, Jr., losing three yards and fumbling the ball, which was picked up by Cowboys' safety Donovan Wilson at the Jaguars' 41.
Dallas would run six plays after recovering the fumble, utlizing their running backs, with the first four plays of their second drive going to Tony Pollard and the latter two, including a rush up the middle for a 10-yard touchdown, going to Ezekiel Elliott. The score would give the Cowboys the first lead of the contest, 7-0, with 4:31 remaining in the first quarter.
Jacksonville would punt the ball away on a three-and-out for their second drive.
The Cowboys responded with an 11-play drive, going 86 yards to paydirt, with quarterback Dak Prescott's first touchdown pass of the game landing in the hands of tight end Peyton Hendershot for a 20-yard score that gave the Cowboys a 14-0 lead with 13:01 left before halftime.
Jacksonville's third drive of the match-up would go nine plays and conclude with their first score of the day, a five-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Trevor Lawrence to wide receiver Zay Jones, making it 14-7 Dallas with 7:45 on the second-quarter clock.
The Jaguars' special teams unit allowed kick returner KaVontae Turpin plenty of space on the field that he took full advantage of for a 38-yard return to start the Cowboys on their own 34-yard line.
Dallas would score on their third-straight drive when Prescott tossed the ball to the middle of the end zone for a one-yard reception by wide receiver Noah Brown, elevating Dallas to a 21-7 advantage at the two-minute warning, with 1:55 remaining before the break.
Jacksonville did not even hold onto possession for 30 seconds, punting the ball away wtih 1:38 to go.
On 3rd-&-1 with 58 seconds to play, the Cowboys decided on the option, with Prescott pitching it to Pollard who was wrapped up by linebacker Foyesade Oluokun for a seven-yard loss, resulting in a punt that gave the Jaguars one more opportunity before half, with 41 seconds on the game clock. This punt by Dallas ended their scoring streak at three drives in a row.
Jacksonville had Etienne run the ball on 3rd-&-10 with six seconds left, as the game clock ran to zeroes, setting up to receive the ball first in the second half.
Lawrence would switch fields by airing it out to wide receiver Christian Kirk in single-coverage for a 30-yard gain, moving from their own 37 to the Cowboys' 33-yard line. He would go 4-for-6 on the drive, eluding a sack attempt and remain upright, tossing the ball to the back of the end zone where wide receiver Jamal Agnew got an out-stretched hand on it, but no reception.
Kicker Riley Patterson would come on to follow that play, booting through his first attempt of the game, a 33-yarder, to make it 21-10, at the 10:35 mark of the third quarter.
Jacksonville did not allow Dallas into their end zone despite Dallas getting to their six-yard line, with Dallas coming away with a 24-yard field goal on the first attempt of the day by kicker Brett Maher to move the score to 24-10 as the clock read 7:36.
After gaining a first down on their second drive of the third quarter, Lawrence threw toward two defenders and cornerback DaRon Bland picked the ball off, returning it from his own 43 to the Jaguars' 42-yard line.
As with the first turnover, Jacksonville would give up points after this one as well, when Maher connected on a 53-yard attempt to expand the Dallas lead to 17, ahead 27-10, with 5:21 remaining in the third quarter.
On the third play of their third drive of the third quarter, Lawrence sent the ball deep to Zay Jones who got under it and took the ball into the end zone for his second score of the match-up, this a 59-yard pass play that took a mere 1:24 off the clock, bringing the score to 27-17 Cowboys with 3:57 remaining.
Jaguars' strong safety Rayshawn Jenkins would intercept Prescott on the Cowboys' second play of their next drive. An illegal block above the waist during Jenkins' 11-yard interception return would place Jacksonville at the Dallas 39 to start their fourth drive of the second half.
It would take the Jaguars a mere four plays to return to the end zone on the drive started by Jenkins' interception, this time with wide receiver Marvin Jones, Jr., getting into "glory territory", for an 11-yard receiving touchdown, shortening the gap to three points, 27-24 Cowboys, at the 1:23 mark of the third quarter.
Jacksonville would force a punt by Dallas on their next possession, gaining the ball at their own 25-yard line with 14:17 to go.
The Jaguars would give back to the Cowboys what they had done in the first half, by scoring on three-straight drives, with the third going back to Zay Jones for his third touchdown reception of the game, this a five-yard touchdown on 3rd-&-Goal from the five, giving Jacksonville their first lead of the day, 31-27, with 10:03 remaining.
Starting left tackle Cam Robinson would come out, however, on this drive with a knee injury.
Dallas would wake up and Prescott would find Noah Brown wide open and waiting on the left side of the end zone, reeling the ball in to give the lead back to the Cowboys, 34-31, with 3:02 left in the contest.
Starting right tackle Jawaan Taylor, who went out earlier in the game with a hamstring injury, returned for the following drive for Jacksonville.
With a new set of downs, lining up at midfield, Lawrence eluded yet another sack attempt and took off, rushing up the field but he would lose the ball, accounting for the Jaguars' second fumble of the game, this forced by safety Jayron Kearse and recovered by linebacker Micah Parsons at the Cowboys' 38.
Despite the fumble, the ball never left the 38-yard line, with Jacksonville forcing Dallas to punt the ball back with a little over a minute to play, still down three.
A catch by Kirk on 3rd-&-10, which was called a catch, reviewed, and upheld, kept the Jaguars' drive going, getting them to their own 44.
Following a reception by tight end Evan Engram, the officials would review to see if he was out-of-bounds, which they did not originally call. After looking at it, the officials declared that Engram did get out, so Jacksonville was given their timeout back and four seconds added to the clock, offering 12 seconds that remained.
On 3rd-&-3, Lawrence went to the middle to Zay Jones for a 19-yard gain, setting up a 48-yarder by Patterson with five seconds to go.
Patterson would end up short, but it did not matter, as Dallas had called timeout before the kick.
His next attempt would land between the uprights, tying the game to end regulation at 34-34, with the Jaguars forcing overtime.
Jacksonville received first in overtime, and did not score, punting the ball away on a three-and-out after a short pass to Etienne finished three yards shy of the first-down marker.
Due to the fact that the Jaguars were first to hold possession and did not score, any score from here on out would win the game.
That score? An interception return for a touchdown by Jenkins was taken 51 yards to the house to officially close the bank on the Cowboys, but not before Jenkins made a deposit.
Jaguars 40, Cowboys 34.
Jacksonville improves to 6-8, still alive for the AFC South title and for the playoffs.
Dallas moves to 10-4.
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