The Cowboys got the result they needed in Houston. They also got a reminder that the scoreboard and the process are not telling the same story.
Dak Prescott authored the comeback, finishing a 34-30 win over the Texans with a game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter. He completed 32 of 45 passes for a season-high 335 yards and one touchdown, and through four weeks he has now completed 70.0 percent of his throws for 1,065 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception.
That production mattered because Dallas spent much of the afternoon playing from behind. The Cowboys overcame a 10-point halftime deficit, and a Texans field goal as time expired in the first half created a six-point swing that could have loomed much larger if Prescott and CeeDee Lamb had not taken over after the break.
Prescott’s workload told its own story. His 45 attempts were a season high, a reflection of how heavily Dallas leaned on him to pull the game back into reach. He also took a beating while doing it, absorbing a season-worst 12 hits and three sacks.
The second half was where the game turned. Prescott and Lamb were strong after halftime, and that stretch carried Dallas through the finish. The Cowboys improved to 2-2, a record that keeps them in the NFC East race, but it also leaves them with the same questions that were hanging over them before kickoff.
One of those questions is roster judgment. Jadeveon Clowney, back from injury, finished third on the Texans with four pressures and tied for third with three defensive stops. In a game Dallas won, his performance still made the Joneses’ offseason decision look questionable, and Stephen Jones said the team would work through the type of player they were looking for in the coming week.
Another question is game management. Brian Schottenheimer’s decision to attempt a 65-yard field goal with 30 seconds left in the second quarter, while Dallas trailed 13-6, drew scrutiny of its own. The Cowboys won anyway, but the sequence fit the larger pattern around this team: Prescott can still drag them across the finish line, even when the operation around him leaves room for doubt.
That is the uncomfortable split from Week 4. Dallas got the comeback, got the record back to.500, and got a dominant day from its quarterback. It also got another reminder that one win does not settle the arguments about how this roster was built or how this staff is managing games.
The Cowboys now turn to a Week 5 Thursday night meeting with the winless Buccaneers at AT&T Stadium, carrying the kind of momentum a comeback win provides and the kind of questions it does not answer.