The Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys have had some classics through the years. Sunday wasn’t a Super Bowl, but it was one of the most entertaining regular season games the NFL can produce.
It would have been the NFL’s game of the year if the last highlight was Ben Roethlisberger’s fake spike touchdown to Antonio Brown with 42 seconds left. We’d have talked about if Ezekiel Elliott should have took a knee at the 1-yard line with 1:55, when it seemed like the Steelers let him score on a 14-yard touchdown.
But Elliott wasn’t going to leave it at that.
Elliott busted through the middle for a 32-yard touchdown run with 9 seconds left, giving the Cowboys an incredible 35-30 win. There were three lead changes on touchdowns in the final two minutes.
The Cowboys are 8-1, and this just seems like one of those magical seasons for them. Dak Prescott was fantastic again, with 319 yards and two touchdowns, as his unbelievable rookie season rolls on. Elliott was dominant yet again. He had 209 yards from scrimmage. Dez Bryant had a great 50-yard touchdown catch as part of a 116-yard day.
And yet, it looked for a while like the Steelers had outsmarted them on their way to a win.
The Steelers appeared, with 1:55 left, to let Elliott score a 14-yard touchdown. Even if the Steelers didn’t let Elliott score, he could have taken a knee at the 1. Then the Cowboys could have forced the Steelers to use all their timeouts at least.
But Elliott scored. It’s tough to fault him for doing what comes naturally and scoring. Still, it gave the Steelers a long time with their offense.
And then Roethlisberger did his best Dan Marino impression.
The Steelers got hot and marched downfield in a hurry. Roethlisberger lined up and looked like he was going to spike it, but on the snap Antonio Brown ran a route down the sideline and Roethlisberger faked the spike and tossed it to Brown for a touchdown.
And we’d have talked about that highlight for a while. But the craziness wasn’t over.
It seemed like the game would end with some controversy. Officials somehow missed a blatant face mask penalty by Steelers cornerback William Gay on Cowboys receiver Cole Beasley. No problem, because Steelers rookie safety Sean Davis then grabbed Jason Witten’s facemask on a catch. That penalty put the Cowboys at the edge of field-goal range for Dan Bailey.
But Elliott’s game-winning run made sure the Cowboys didn’t have to worry about a field goal. Elliott went over 1,000 yards for the season on the play. Elliott has a lot of history going against him to win an NFL MVP award, but that’s the type of play that will be talked about for a long, long time and could get him in the mix.
Everyone has been surprised the Cowboys are this good this season. After Sunday, it looks like they’re just having one of those insane, magical seasons.
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