Monday 10 December 2018 06:13, UK
Dak Prescott threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper - the pair's third of the game - to lift the Dallas Cowboys to a crucial 29-23 overtime victory over NFC East rivals the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
Prescott completed 42 of 54 of his passes, for a career-high 455 yards. The Dallas quarterback made up for two tossed interceptions with three scoring strikes to Cooper, including one monster 75-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter as the receiver tallied 217 yards off 10 catches.
The win crucially sees the Cowboys improve to 8-5 on the season, taking a firmer grip of the division as they now move two games ahead of the 6-7 Eagles with three games to play.
Such a high-scoring affair and thrilling finale could not have been predicted during a first half that yielded only six points, all to Dallas. The Cowboys finished with 576 yards - their most since gaining 578 against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1973 - but struggled to convert from inside the redzone for the majority of the contest.
Dallas dealt exclusively in field goals, as Brett Maher kicked three - including a career-best and franchise-record 62-yarder - until Prescott found Cooper for their first touchdown in the fourth quarter.
By then, the Eagles had tied the game up at 9-9 after Carson Wentz connected with Alshon Jeffery for a two-yard TD in the third quarter and then Jake Elliott kicked a field goal early in the fourth, atoning somewhat for his earlier missed extra point attempt.
What followed was a sensational passage of scoring, with Philadelphia twice more tying the game after further Cooper touchdowns - Wentz first finding tight end Dallas Goedert and then running back Darren Sproles.
The Cowboys got the ball back with little more than a minute left in regulations, but Prescott was sacked by Fletcher Cox on the final play to send the game into overtime.
Dallas got their hands back on the ball first in the extra period and used almost all of the 10-minute overtime, with Cooper's game-winning grab coming with one minute and 55 seconds remaining.
FIRST QUARTER
Eagles 0-3 Cowboys: Brett Maher 28-yard field goal
SECOND QUARTER
Eagles 0-6 Cowboys: Maher 62-yard field goal
THIRD QUARTER
Eagles 0-9 Cowboys: Maher 21-yard field goal
Eagles 6-9 Cowboys: Carson Wentz two-yard touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffery (Failed extra point attempt)
FOURTH QUARTER
Eagles 9-9 Cowboys: Jake Elliott 26-yard field goal
Eagles 9-16 Cowboys: Dak Prescott 28-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper (Maher extra point good)
Eagles 16-16 Cowboys: Wentz three-yard touchdown pass to Dallas Goedert (Elliott extra point good)
Eagles 16-23 Cowboys: Prescott 75-yard touchdown pass to Cooper (Maher extra point good)
Eagles 23-23 Cowboys: Wentz six-yard touchdown pass to Darren Sproles (Elliott extra point good)
OVERTIME
Eagles 23-29 Cowboys: Prescott 15-yard touchdown pass to Cooper
