More Than One Play: Cowboys rally from double digits to beat the Lions

My 5 Points: Cowboys vs Lions
by. William C. Walker Jr.

Louis DeLuca/The Dallas Morning News

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Terrance Williams (83) catches the winning touchdown pass in front of Detroit Lions strong safety James Ihedigbo (32) in Dallas' 24-20 win during the Detroit Lions vs. the Dallas Cowboys NFL playoff game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington on Sunday, January 4, 2015.

January 5, 2014

This very first ever My 5 Points playoff edition is going to be different from my previous posts, not just because this was a playoff game.  It's different because there was a controversial call that is overshadowing what in full was a pretty epic playoff game.  Also my 5 points will be more of a highlight of plays that caused the true outcome of the game, not just that one non-call.  Bear with me as my opening paragraph will be a little longer than usual.  Playoff games are tremendous and as much as I felt like the Cowboys were in the playoffs ever since they lost on Thanksgiving.  The reality is that they weren't in the playoffs, now this is playoff football. Win or go home, and it doesn't matter how you do it the point is you have to win.  To win in the playoffs can take up plenty of elements executing when it matters, staying resilient, and some luck.  The Cowboys needed all three to win this game.  To all the Lions fans and Cowboys haters I'll say this about that call.  If it was reverse and this had happened to the Cowboys I would've been mad, but that's not the reason your team lost the game.  So these 5 points are more of showing why as angry as you may have been about that non-call Lions can't use that as an excuse as to why they lost that game.  Trust me I'll go into more dissection of this in a separate post, but I've gone on enough time for My 5 Points(or plays) of why the Cowboys should feel proud of this playoff win.

5. Terrance Williams 76 Yards: Here's the situation down 14-0 showing no signs of being successful against the Lions' defense the Cowboys were in 3 & 12.  After they had just gotten a first down on a 3 & 7 to Witten but it was reversed with a bogus offensive pass interference call on Williams.  But let's forget that did Dallas shrivel in their shell like oh great the refs just screwed us.  No Romo under pressure threw a strike to Terrance Williams that took it 76 yards for a touchdown to put the Cowboys back in the game.  The Cowboys would go into halftime down 17-7 without this score they would've likely been down at least 17-0.

4. 4th & Goal: After the Cowboys blew a golden opportunity coming away with ZERO points after getting a turnover to start the 2nd half.  The Cowboys were down 20-7, let that marinate for a moment.  While everyone will if it wasn't for that call.  The Cowboys offense who hadn't been very successful was down 13.  What they did was go on a 75 yard drive that stalled at the Detroit one yard line.  If Detroit wanted to win maybe you should've stopped DeMarco Murray on 4TH & GOAL! The Cowboys got a touchdown to cut the lead 20-14.

3. 4th & 1: The Lions after having the pass interference call picked up faced 4th & 1.  During the regular season they had 10 4th down conversions.  That was 2nd best in the league, if you felt like you needed to come away with points so badly. Just like Dallas didn't settle for 3 on 4th & goal from the 1, you could've sucked it up & went for it on 4th & 1.  The Refs had nothing to do with that.

2. Dallas Fumbles Away Win:  That could've been the headline after rookie defensive-end Demarcus Lawrence picked up a game sealing fumble, and instead of falling down on it try to run with it. What resulted was Lawrence fumbling the ball right back to Detroit giving them a 1st Down. Lawrence had an opportunity to redeem himself by getting a sack fumble of Matthew Stafford on 4th & 3.

1. 4th & 6 along with 3rd & Goal: Yes it's 2 plays but it happened on the same drive so I'm including it with number one.  Cry all you want scream to the top of your lungs of how the refs stole this game.  But when that pass interference happened the Lions still had the lead at 20-17.  The Cowboys had to score a touchdown to win the game with only 8 minutes left in the game.  On a 3rd & 8 Witten was held guess what NO CALL WAS MADE.  Did the Cowboys disappear no it's the playoffs and you have to do whatever it takes. They went for it on 4th & 6 chances are if they don't get it the games over.  Maybe not officially but chances are extremely slim that the Cowboys will win the game.  I didn't see a non-call from the previous drive result in Romo hitting Jason Witten on a huge 3rd down conversion.  Finally let's talk about 3rd & Goal mind you it was 3rd & goal from the 5 but after a Dallas false start it became 3rd & Goal from the 10.  Those are not easy to pick-up, but Dallas has been terrific on 3rd down all year long leading the league at a 47% conversion rate.  If Detroit wanted to win I don't know how bout you stop Dallas from SCORING!  Tony Romo had a total of 6 seconds to complete his pass to Terrance Williams.  That's too much time to ask a defensive back to cover. So everyone will shout that the non PI call was the reason for the win. But if the Lions changed any of the plays I've listed above it could've been a totally different outcome.  In the playoffs it's win or go home doesn't matter how you get there the key is to get there, and that's what the Cowboys did!