NFL Week 17 Game Recap: Dallas Cowboys 20, Detroit Lions 19

It came down to the wire, but the Dallas Cowboys emerged victorious on Saturday night, beating the Detroit Lions 20-19 in a game full of highlight plays and chaos.

Offensive spotlight: Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown finished the game with six receptions for 90 yards and the final touchdown of the game, extending for the right pylon to bring the score to 20-19. Dan Campbell’s Lions stayed aggressive as always and tried to win the game right then and there but came up short. 

Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb put up a historic performance, with his 13 receptions for 227 yards and a touchdown remarkable in their own right. Even more impressive is that both marks helped him surpass the all-time single-season records for receptions (122) and receiving yards (1,651) by a Dallas Cowboy. Lamb did it with a game to go, so there is no asterisk here because of the extra game in the schedule.

Defensive spotlight: Lions edge defender Aidan Hutchinson tallied three sacks in this game, including an impressive pass-rush win to the inside against stalwart left tackle Tyron Smith earlier in the game and a huge sack in the fourth quarter that pushed Dallas out of field-goal range. Hutchinson’s third sack forced the Cowboys to punt back to Detroit up 17-13 with 2:32 to go, but quarterback Jared Goff threw an interception deep in his own territory on the second play of the drive. 

Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis had an impressive interception reading a screen play to Lions running back David Montgomery and jumping it, and safety Donovan Wilson also snagged the Jared Goff pass late in the fourth quarter that enabled Dallas to bleed block and kick a field goal to go up 20-13.

Edge defenders DeMarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons were in the backfield all night, with multiple tackles for loss against the run and a ton of pressure on Jared Goff.

Rookie spotlight: Lions rookie tight end Sam LaPorta came to life in the second half of this game with seven receptions for 84 yards on the night, including three receptions for 50 yards on Detroit’s two-minute drill drive to bring the score to 20-19.

Cowboys rookie running back Deuce Vaughn took over the No. 2 duties with Rico Dowdle out for the game, with two carries for two yards and a more impressive 10-yard reception where he twisted out of tackles for a few extra yards.

Box Score

Passing

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Receiving