Two weeks in a row, the Cowboys needed a fourth-quarter comeback against an AFC South team with a losing record. The Cowboys found a way to win against the Texans last week.
They couldn’t get it done on Sunday, all but delivering the NFC East title to the Eagles.
Dak Prescott threw a pick-six to Rayshawn Jenkins with 6:52 remaining in overtime, allowing the Jaguars to pull off an improbable 40-34 win.
The Cowboys, who had a chance to clinch a playoff berth, fell to 10-4 and more importantly are three games behind the Eagles in the division with three games to play. The teams play on Christmas Eve, but Philadelphia now has to win only one of its final three games to win the NFC East.
The Jaguars, now 6-8, remained in the playoff race with the win.
Jacksonville trailed by 17 with 5:21 left in the third quarter. It took the lead with 10:03 remaining in the fourth quarter on Zay Jones‘ third touchdown of the game.
It was one of two lead changes in the fourth quarter before the Jaguars tied it 34-34 on a 48-yard field goal by Riley Patterson on the last play of regulation to send the game to overtime.
It appeared the Cowboys, who last week pulled out a 27-23 win over the Texans on Ezekiel Elliott‘s 2-yard touchdown run on third-and-goal with 41 seconds left, were going to rally for the win again. Noah Brown caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Prescott with 3:02 remaining in the fourth quarter to give Dallas a 34-31 lead.
The Jaguars drove to midfield on their next possession, and on first-and-10 with 1:38 left, Lawrence escaped a sack by Sam Williams. Lawrence ducked his head and scrambled for 11 yards, into field goal range, before Jayron Kearse got a hand on the ball to knock it loose. Micah Parsons recovered the fumble for the Cowboys with 1:28 left.
The Cowboys, though, went three-and-out with the Jaguars calling two timeouts and Dallas throwing an incompletion. That gave the ball back to Jacksonville at its own 29 with 1:01 left.
The Jaguars benefited from two replay reviews — one upholding a Christian Kirk catch and another overturning an official’s ruling that Evan Engram had not gotten out of bounds on a 5-yard reception with 12 seconds left — on their final fourth quarter drive. Jones, the Jaguars’ offensive star of the game, caught a 19-yard pass to the Dallas 30 to set up Patterson’s game-tying field goal.
Both teams punted in overtime before the Cowboys got the ball a second time.
Facing third-and-four at his own 47, Prescott tried to hit Noah Brown at the Jacksonville 48. The ball bounced off Brown, and Jenkins cradled the interception before running for a 52-yard score that ended it.
It was Prescott’s second interception of the game, with the Jaguars using Jenkins’ first pick for a 39-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter. Prescott finished 23-of-30 for 256 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
Trevor Lawrence and Jones starred for the Jaguars offense, with Lawrence going 27-of-42 for 318 yards with four touchdowns and an interception. Jones caught six passes for 109 yards and three touchdowns. Kirk had six catches for 92 yards, and Marvin Jones had a touchdown catch.