DALLAS — The Cowboys completed their first fourth quarter comeback of the season with a 26-24 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Dallas is now 2-2 for the sixth time in the Jason Garrett era. While the Cowboys may not have looked like the Los Angeles Rams on offense, they did achieve results more in line of the team's vision in off-season and training camp.
Let's take a look at some of the factors that bolstered the Cowboys in their second win of 2018.
1. They fed Zeke
It is easy for a sportswriter looking up stats while sipping on coffee and munching on Cheetos to tell you the Cowboys are 11-4 when Ezekiel Elliott rushes for 100 yards or more, or that they are 17-5 when he carries 20-plus times. It is another thing to go out and execute it on the football field, but Dallas managed to do exactly that with the 2016 NFL rushing leader carrying 25 times for 152 yards.
Part of the reason Dallas was able to keep Zeke involved is they were disciplined enough to only draw two penalties for 20 yards and did not sustain their first infraction until Elliott's illegal block above the waist in the third quarter.
Quarterback Dak Prescott also only took three sacks on the afternoon. There weren't a deluge of negative plays to get the Cowboys off schedule, which is usually the culprit in influencing the coaching staff to get away from feeding Elliott.
It wasn't just the running game where Elliott was effective. He also caught four passes for 88 yards and a touchdown. Not to plug my article from training camp, but we told you to get ready for Zeke to be featured more in the passing game. At age 23 and midway through his rookie deal, it is prudent of the Cowboys to saddle up Elliott and ride him as far as he can go.
2. Dak was decisive
The third-year signal caller from Mississippi State did a better job of getting the ball out quickly. He didn't spend too much time in the pocket or get panicked and try to run up into the collapsing aperture of the pocket to get away. He stood his ground and delivered 17-of-27 for 255 yards and two touchdowns.
Sunday's game against the NFL's No. 1 ranked passing defense was the first time since Dec. 10, 2017 at the New York Giants where Prescott posted a 110-plus passer rating. The efficiency is a reflection more of Prescott than the playmaking of his receiving corps, which was the concept of the new look Cowboys offense from the beginning.
The script is clear: Have Elliott open up the passing game, and if Prescott can deliver when the passing game is open, then there's the ballgame. It worked for Dallas on Sunday perhaps as smoothly as it has all season.
3. Garrett went for it
Dallas faced a fourth-and-1 from the Lions' 3-yard line with 3:16 remaining in the third quarter looking to extend their lead to 20-10. Rather than lining up for a 21-yard field goal and keeping things a one-score game, Jason Garrett had the offense line up to get the lone yard.
Since 2014, six out of the eight previous instances of the Cowboys facing a fourth-and-3 or shorter inside the 10-yard line resulted in current Vikings kicker Dan Bailey booting 20-something-yard field goals.
Only two previous times did Garrett go for it: Sept. 17, 2017 down 35-17 at Denver and Sept. 20, 2015 at Philadelphia tied 0-0. The former was a Prescott pass. The latter was a 2-yard Darren McFadden run on fourth-and-1.
The Cowboys may not have the best offensive line in football so long as Travis Frederick is still on the sidelines, but they still play-call with the belief they do, and the execution makes the difference negligible.
The play-call should undo the notion that the coaching staff is too conservative. Rather, they are calculated with the riverboat gambling. After all, no one wants to be Frank Reich and go for it on fourth down inside your own territory in overtime and fail.
4. Tanks for the memories
Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence is about the only thing the Dallas pass rush has in terms of sack production, and the Pro-Bowler showed up with a hat trick against the Lions. It is the fifth multi-sack of his career. The Cowboys are now 4-1 when Lawrence has multiple sacks. The lone loss is that weird Denver game from last year.
Nonetheless, the sacks are indicative of the pressure opposing quarterbacks face, which evens out their talent to a level more comparable for the Cowboys offense to match or overcome. Lawrence is about the only individual good thing going for the Cowboys defense given they did not produce a turnover for the second straight game, only have two on the season, and have not intercepted a pass through the first four games.
As long as Lawrence is producing and the defense is keeping opposing teams to 19.3 points per game, the Cowboys may be able to distract from the fact they aren't producing takeaways to the manner an elite defense should.
Is Zeke, Dak, and the Cowboys back on track after a walk-off win or do they still have work to do? Share your thoughts after a big win with Mark on Twitter @therealmarklane.