The ball reached the 32-yard line twice in the final five minutes at Lucas Oil Stadium, and the kicks that followed sent Dallas and Indianapolis toward entirely different endings.
Brandon Aubrey tried from 50 for Dallas and missed left. Spencer Shrader tried from the same distance at the other end and put Indianapolis ahead 23-20 with 1:37 to play. The kicks are a useful pair because the distance tells you so little about what each attempt was worth. Aubrey was trying to break a tie. Shrader could leave the Colts defending a lead.
Dallas won 27-23 anyway. That makes the kicks easy to skip in a retelling that begins with Dak Prescott’s last touchdown drive. But both offenses reached exactly the spot they wanted for a try. Indianapolis had much less offense to spend getting there, and for a while it was better at making those trips pay.
Shrader had already made from 47 in the third quarter. Ashton Dulin’s touchdown helped cut Dallas’s lead to three, and Shrader took care of that difference with a 59-yarder at 5:56 of the fourth. The 50-yarder came after Aubrey’s miss. Shrader made every attempt and turned a tie into a lead without Indianapolis having to get any closer.
Aubrey had already made from 45 and 28 yards, so the Cowboys’ third attempt was hardly an unreasonable call. Dallas had driven 38 yards in six plays and reached a spot where three points would have restored its lead. The miss became expensive because of the sequence that followed.
The snap came in low, according to the Cowboys’ recap. The miss was part of the afternoon, and Aubrey’s two earlier makes belong in the account too.
Think about how much was left of the game when Dallas got the ball back. Three points could draw it even, and a touchdown could put it ahead. An offense may be willing to take the former if it has trouble getting out of its own end.
Dallas could reach for the latter because a throw downfield made so much of the trip in one shot.
Prescott put the next drive in motion with a 46-yard completion to Ryan Flournoy. A later penalty for pass interference put the ball on the 1. Javonte Williams scored with 1:08 on the clock. Dallas had gone 65 yards in 29 seconds, and the difference between a kick and a touchdown was the difference between a possible overtime and a lead.
That quick answer gave Indianapolis one final possession, but the Colts could not turn urgency into field position. Their three-play series lost 12 yards, and Caleb Downs intercepted Daniel Jones to end the Colts’ last possession. Downs recorded the first interception of his career. More immediately, the defense made the Colts’ required response disappear before it could become another long-field decision.
