Dak Prescott rushed for one touchdown and threw another as the Dallas Cowboys bounced back from their thrashing against San Francisco to beat the Los Angeles Chargers 20-17 on Monday.
Dallas quarterback Prescott was given a torrid time by the Chargers defense, sacked five times as Los Angeles chased only their third win of the season.
But after a muffed punt allowed the Chargers to tie the game at 17-17 in the fourth quarter, Prescott kept his composure to lead Dallas on a 15-play, 54-yard drive to set up a winning field goal for Brandon Aubrey with just over two minutes remaining.
The drive included a crucial third and nine conversion by Prescott that kept the chains moving to leave Aubrey in field goal range.
Aubrey, a 28-year-old rookie who gave up a promising soccer career to pursue a career in the NFL, stepped up to slot what turned out to be the winning points — his 16th successful field goal from 16 attempts this season.
The Chargers had one last drive in an attempt to save the game, but with no timeouts remaining, quarterback Justin Herbert had little margin for error.
The Chargers drive fizzled however when Herbert was sacked on second down and then saw a long third down completion attempt picked off by Dallas defender Stephon Gilmore to effectively end the game.
“We’re just a resilient team,” said Prescott, who finished with 272 passing yards. “Guys just played their asses off. Offense, defense, it’s something we can build on.”
Dallas — billed as potential Super Bowl contenders at the start of the season — had been humbled 42-10 by San Francisco last week.
However the Cowboys will now return to Texas with a 4-2 record in the NFC East heading into a bye week.
“We were physical, way more physical than we were last week — but hell, that’s the past,” Prescott said. “Right now we’re moving forward and this was a great one for us to get going into the bye week.”
Earlier, the Chargers had taken the lead through Keenan Allen’s close-range touchdown in the first quarter before Prescott got the Cowboys back on level terms with an 18-yard rush into the end zone.
Aubrey kicked a field goal to put Dallas 10-7 up at the break but Cameron Dicker slotted a 43-yard effort to level for the Chargers at 10-10 heading into the fourth quarter.
Brandin Cooks collected a two-yard pass from Prescott to put Dallas 17-10 ahead but then the Chargers were thrown a lifeline after a bungled punt set up a game-tying score for Gerald Everett.
Hopes of a Chargers comeback were snuffed out though after Aubrey’s second field goal put Dallas ahead before Herbert’s late interception ended the game.
