HOUSTON -- One week after enduring a 10-hour flight home from Rio de Janeiro after a debilitating 34-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the 45-minute flight back home from Houston on Sunday night had to feel a lot better for the Dallas Cowboys.
Questions surrounded the Cowboys following the loss to the Ravens -- especially about coach Brian Schottenheimer, defensive coordinator Christian Parker, special teams coordinator Nick Sorensen, and how the coaches managed the final 28 seconds of a game they were 2 yards away from potentially winning.
Against the Houston Texans (0-4) on Sunday, the Cowboys were trailing 30-27 with 2:25 left, facing a 1-3 start to the season for the second straight year.
But quarterback Dak Prescott and receiver CeeDee Lamb helped lessen the temperature around the coaches and players by connecting on a 12-yard touchdown with 40 seconds to go for a 34-30 must-have victory.
"Rio doesn't define us as a football team, as a coaching staff here," Schottenheimer said. "I think I was very upfront and honest with that, but I wanted this game. Why? Because these guys came back off a 10-hour trip. The Ravens, I think, played at home today. We played on the road. We play Thursday night [against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers].
"We'll play anybody anywhere and we're looking forward to that, but Rio had nothing to do with this game. This game stood by itself."
But the fate of a season might have been on the line with a loss. Since 2000, the Cowboys have never opened a season with one victory in the first month of the season and finished above .500. The best they have done is last year's 7-9-1 in Schottenheimer's first season.
In the first half, a Cowboys' offense that wants to be considered "The Greatest Offense There Is" failed to score a touchdown. In the second half, they scored touchdowns on their first three possessions, then Prescott delivered with the late winning drive.
In certain moments, the defense was better. Linebacker Rashan Gary had his first sack in 12 games, dating to last season with the Green Bay Packers. Defensive end Quinnen Williams had his first sack of the season, dropping C.J. Stroud for an 11-yard loss in the fourth quarter. In the first three games, the Cowboys had two sacks. They had three Sunday.
But the unit still gave up eight pass plays of at least 20 yards.
Schottenheimer wasn't concerned about his decision at the end of the half when he opted to have Brandon Aubrey attempt a 65-yard field goal despite the Texans being out of timeouts. When Aubrey's kick hooked a little left, the Texans were able to convert a field goal of their own to take a 16-6 halftime lead.
"We felt very comfortable that Brandon would make that kick," Schottenheimer said. "And at that point in the game, I had no question that if for some reason he missed it, that we had plenty of time to fight back."
He was proved correct as Prescott directed the winning 11-play, 74-yard drive that ended with Lamb (17 catches, 189 yards) in the end zone with 40 seconds left. Along the way, the Cowboys also needed to convert a fourth-down play.
HUGE CEEDEE TD 🔥 #DallasCowboys | @_CeeDeeThree 📺: #DALvsHOU on FOX 📲: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/XM2vIx7C1d https://t.co/pQcMzqN4BZ
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) October 4, 2026
Before the game, Prescott acknowledged to thinking what a 1-3 start would have meant.
"That can't happen," he said. "During the game, I'm the most optimistic guy there is."
Seven days earlier inside Maracanã Stadium, Prescott had the Cowboys in position to beat the Ravens, but then just about everything went wrong.
On Sunday, things went right. Prescott credited Schottenheimer's playcall for the Lamb touchdown. The kickoff ran time off the clock. The defense was able to keep everything in front of them, and Stroud's Hail Mary attempt throw fell incomplete.
For only the third time in Prescott's 10-plus seasons as the starter, the Cowboys overcame a double-digit deficit to win a game. Before Sunday, they had lost 32 straight road games when trailing by double digits in the second half, which was the longest active streak in the league.
"There's nothing like winning," Prescott said. "I want to say it fixes all the problems, but it doesn't. It makes you feel good at least for a day or so. But at this point, we got to turn the page and get ready for Thursday. We can't sit here and have some winning hangover. It's so early in the season.
"It's no different than last week's loss. ... Just shows the resilience of this team to win. So now it's about stacking these wins with great momentum and just belief in the team that we've created."
