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5 winners & 3 losers from Cowboys Monday Night Football loss to Bengals

The Cowboys had a golden opportunity to win their third in a row but mistakes in the final minutes cost them.

Randy Gurzi

Dallas Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle
Dallas Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

The Dallas Cowboys the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football in Week 14 and this one came down to the wire.

Dallas started with a 7-0 lead after finally electing to defer until the second half. They got a quick stop before Cooper Rush and CeeDee Lamb connected on an early touchdown. That coin toss decision paid off when they were down 17-10 at the half but tied it up with a touchdown to Brandin Cooks on the opening drive of the third quarter.

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With two minutes to play, the score was locked up at 20-20. That's when the mistake on special teams opened up the door for the Bengals to take the 27-20 lead with just 1:01 to play, which was too much for them to overcome.

Let's look back at that game and identify who stood out as winners and losers for the 5-8 Cowboys.

Winner: Eric Kendricks, LB

Dallas Cowboys linebacker Eric Kendricks
Dallas Cowboys linebacker Eric Kendricks / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Signed due to his familiarity with Mike Zimmer, Eric Kendricks has been fantastic this season. He entered this game with 107 tackles and continued to rack them up against the Bengals.

Kendricks finished with12 tackles, including a massive hit on Chase Brown for a three-yard loss midway through the fourth quarter. That play halted a promising drive for the Bengals who never recovered from the hit.

For Kendricks, this is his third game in a row with at least 10 tackles and he's had at least eight in every game this year.

Winner: CeeDee Lamb, WR

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb
Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

CeeDee Lamb missed most of the game against the Giants due to his shoulder injury, which has been bothering him all season. This week, he got into the action right away.

He had 28 yards on the opening drive, including an 11-yard touchdowon catch on fourth-and-one.

He put them in position to score on their second drive as well, taking a screen pass 43 yards. That's impressive on its own but more so knowing the Bengals should have stopped him for a loss of yards.

That drive ended with a pick but Lamb already had 71 yards on four receptions at that point.

As has been the case far too often this season, Dallas quit finding ways to get him touches. He had 93 yards on six receptions which feels like a crime considering how well he was playing.

Loser: Cooper Rush, QB

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

Dallas should have scored on their first three possessions, and they had a chance at a touchdown in each. Instead, they were leading just 10-7 at this point — with Cooper Rush shouldering most of the blame.

On their second drive, he threw an interception at the Cincinnati seven-yard line while trying to force the ball into coverage. Sure, CeeDee Lamb ran into a defender but there wasn't much there when thrown.

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The defense got the ball back for them and they moved it to the 17-yard line. This time, Rush threw another pass into coverage which fell incomplete on third-down, leading to e 35-yard field goal from Brandon Aubrey.

Rush continued his erratic play throughout the game which included several missed opportunities with players wide open. The most egregious was on the final fourth down pass which wasn't even close to Jake Ferguson.

Winner: DeMarvion Overshown, LB

Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarvion Overshown
Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarvion Overshown / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

Overshown stepped up in coverage as well this week, breaking up a pass on fourth-and-two intended for Chase Brown. That forced a turnover on downs, keeping the Bengals from capitalizing on a red zone turnover from Cooper Rush.

Even the Simpson Funday Football stream had fun with this one, turning the linebacker into DeMarvion Moe-vershown.

Overshown finished with six tackles on the night but was unfortunately lost to a knee injury suffered in the fourth quarter. He missed his rookie campaign with a torn ACL and this injury didn't look good with Overshown needing a lot of help to get off the field.

Loser: Luke Schoonmaker, TE

Dallas Cowboys tight end Luke Schoonmaker
Dallas Cowboys tight end Luke Schoonmaker / Cara Owsley/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Luke Schoonmaker has shaken the bust label with his play as of late and on Monday, he still played well. The problem was that he lost his focus late in the third quarter and cost his team 15 yards in the process.

Cooper Rush was sacked for a one-yard loss on first-and-10 at the Bengals' 30. There was a penalty on T.J. Bass, which would have made it first-and-20. That penalty was declined, however, with Schoonmaker being flagged for unnecessary roughness.

He and Terence Steele each shoved a defender but it was the push by Schoonmaker that ws seen. That meant the down counted and put them in a huge hole at second-and-26, leading to a field goal from 47-yards for Brandon Aubrey.

Winner: Marist Liufau, LB

Dallas Cowboys linebacker Marist Liufau
Dallas Cowboys linebacker Marist Liufau / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

With DeMarvion Overshown injured, the Cowboys leaned on rookie Marist Liufau, and he didn't disappoint. The UCLA product had 1.5 sacks and forced a fumble. The second time he got to Joe Burrow should have set them up for the win, if not for a special teams blunder.

Loser: Amani Oruwariye, CB

Dallas Cowboys cornerback Amani Oruwariye
Dallas Cowboys cornerback Amani Oruwariye / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

After Liufau recored a sack to force a punt, the Cowboys were ready to go for the win. They could have had it thanks to Nick Vigil, who blocked a punt with under two minutes to go. Amani Oruwariye tried to grab the loose ball, which was a mistake.

He was unable to haul it in and the Bengals ended up recovering it. That gace them a new set of downs and before long, Ja'Marr Chase was running into the end zone to make it a 27-20 lead for Cincinnati.

Winner: Rico Dowdle, RB

Dallas Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle
Dallas Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

Ricdo Dowdle picked up the first 100-yard game of his career in Week 13 against the New York Giants. He liked that feeling so much that he did it again in Week 14.

Dowdle finished with 131 yards on 18 attempts and helped set up multiple touchdowns with his quick and decisive running.

Those numbers should have been better if he wasn't handcuffed by his own team. On back-to-back drives in the second half, Dowdle put up a huge gain only to watch Cooper Rush throw multiple incompletions before turning to the punter.

It's been fun watching Dowdle but it's hard not to get frustrated that it took the Cowboys so long to see what the rest of us saw since training camp — Dowdle is the best back on this team and should have been fed since Week 1.

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Randy Gurzi
RANDY GURZI

Arizona State grad

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