Lions 47-9 Cowboys (Oct. 13, 2024) Game Recap

ARLINGTON, Texas – Jared Goff’s closing streak ended with his first pitch.

By this point, the Detroit Lions had already begun to cast shade over the hotly contested 2-point conversion following their loss to the Dallas Cowboys nine months earlier.

Goff threw for 315 yards and three touchdowns, David Montgomery had two scores and Detroit beat Dallas 47-9 on Sunday, handing the Cowboys their fourth straight lopsided home loss.

Still, it wasn’t much of a celebration for the Lions (4-1), who lost pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson in the third quarter to a serious left shin injury that required surgery before he could go home.

The injury occurred when Hutchinson was sacking Dak Prescott, and his leg appeared to break above the ankle when it collided with teammate Alim McNeill’s leg.

“He’s a guy that’s part of the heartbeat of this team, he’s a leader, he does everything right,” Goff said. “And to see him go down like that and be visibly upset is hard for all of us. But if I know him, he’ll be fine. He’ll get back on his feet.”

Prescott threw two interceptions in the worst home loss since 1988 for the Cowboys (3-3), who became the first team since at least 2000 to trail by 14 or more points at halftime in four consecutive games on their home field, playoffs included.

Detroit led 27-6 at halftime, stretching Dallas’ halftime deficit to 110-35 overall at AT&T Stadium, dating back to a wild-card playoff loss to Green Bay in January.

The current skid followed a 16-game home winning streak that was the second-longest in franchise history, and the 167 points Dallas allowed are the third-most in a four-game home winning streak in NFL history.

“I’m not the type to hit the panic button,” Prescott said. “You never prepare for it or think that it can happen again like it happened here at home today. Now we drop three at home, a place where we felt great.”

Goff set an NFL single-game record by hitting 18 of 18 in the Lions’ 42-29 victory over Seattle before the bye week. Goff’s streak of 19 completions – six fewer than the league record – ended when he couldn’t connect with running back Jahmyr Gibbs on Detroit’s second offensive play.

In Detroit’s first game, coach Dan Campbell threw some shade at the officials who penalized a potential game-winning 2-point pass in the Lions’ 20-19 loss to the Cowboys last December.

Dan Skipper rallied for a vanilla 5-yard run from Montgomery. He was the tackle official reported eligible to play when Taylor Decker caught Goff’s 2-point pass nine months ago.

The Lions were sure Decker had declared himself eligible, but that didn’t matter. The loss cost the Lions a chance at the number one seed in the NFC and they lost the conference championship game in San Francisco.

With the Lions leading 34-9 in the third quarter, Decker was again called for a first down in the second minute. Goff threw to him in the end zone, but Damone Clark broke up the pass.

“Yeah, we joked that we could throw two or two tackles,” Goff said after the Lions scored at least 40 points in consecutive games for the first time since 1962. “I tried to integrate this into Decker, but I couldn’t.”

Against a Dallas defense that was missing two pass rushers, including two-time All-Pro Micah Parsons and a starting linebacker and cornerback, Goff finished 18 of 25 games without an interception. He is only the second QB with a passer rating of at least 150 in consecutive starts; Drew Brees was the other in 2018.

Sam LaPorta had a 52-yard touchdown catch on a trick play when he was wide open after Goff pitched to Montgomery, who then hit a reverse to Amon-Ra St. Brown, who returned it to Goff for the deep throw.

Montgomery’s first result was a spinning, crunching 16-yarder to give Detroit the lead for good, 7-3.

Prescott’s first interception – and the first of five Dallas turnovers – came in the end zone after a sprint play by Brian Branch as the Cowboys had a chance to retake the lead in the first quarter.

Branch had another interception and is the second player in franchise history with two picks and a forced fumble in the same game.

“I thought we probably played the most complete game here in a long time, if not the longest since we’ve been here,” fourth-year Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “We put pressure on and finally managed to win multiple games. We talked about it. These things will come in bundles.”

After Goff scored a 37-yard throw to Jameson Williams for a 34-6 lead early in the third quarter, chants of “Let’s go Lions” rang out.

And there were plenty of boos for Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Co. The star quarterback and his All-Pro receiver had more connection problems as Prescott finished with a passer rating of 42.2, the second-worst of his career.

“A loss is a loss,” Lamb said. “Of course it’s terrible at home. It’s even worse when we don’t score and they score almost 50 points. Confidence-wise, we have time to regroup.”

Injuries

The Lions lost another defensive lineman in DT Kyle Peko, who injured a pectoral muscle in the first quarter and did not return.

Next

The Lions visit Minnesota next Sunday. The Vikings (5-0) will put their bye behind them. The Cowboys have next weekend off.

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