Dak Prescott picked off Jalen Tolbert for four yards with 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and the Dallas Cowboys snatched a 20-17 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Sunday Night NFL action.
Prescott fired a precise pass to Tolbert at the entrance to the end zone, while Dallas (3-2) was going all out on fourth down.
The Cowboys general recovered in a good way after being the victim of two interceptions earlier in the match.
It came close to preventing Mike McCarthy’s men from having this last opportunity to take victory.
Running back Rico Dowdle fumbled the ball at the goalpost two plays before Tolbert’s game-winning touchdown, the result of a superb defensive play by Elandon Roberts, who catapulted into the air and perfectly timed his flight to dislodge the ball.
Except that Prescott was alert and jumped on the ball before a Steelers defensive player could grab it to seal the outcome of the game.
Pittsburgh (3-2) benefited from passing touchdowns from Justin Fields to Connor Heyward (16 yards) and Pat Freiermuth.
Freiermuth’s major, registered with 4:56 left on the scoreboard, put the Steelers back in command 17-13.
It wasn’t a breeze, but Dallas was able to orchestrate a winning offensive sequence of 15 plays and 70 yards.
Dowdle reached the 100-yard offensive mark for the first time in his career, amassing 87 yards on the ground in addition to adding 27 through the air.
He caught the first of Prescott’s two touchdown passes in that game, on the very first play of the fourth quarter.
Veteran running back Ezekiel Elliott became the 40th player in NFL history to surpass 9,000 yards rushing in the last quarter.
