Steelers Lose to Cowboys in Heartbreaker, 20-17

PITTSBURGH — A rain delayed impeded the start of the Pittsburgh Steelers game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night by an hour and 25 minutes. It took about another hour and a half for the Steelers offense to show up.

By then, the defense had fallen apart. The offense took too long to get into gear, Steelers defense gave up 14 points in the fourth quarter, and the Cowboys earned the win on a touchdown pass from Dak Prescott to Jalen Tolbert with 20 seconds left.

The Steelers defense had been giving up yards in spades to Prescott, Rico Dowdle and CeeDee Lamb all game, but for most of the night, they were finding ways to keep Dallas out of the end zone.

Three times, the Cowboys advanced inside the Steelers’ 30-yard line and came away with no points. T.J. Watt and Nick Herbig combined for a strip sack of Prescott on one such trip. Donte Jackson intercepted him at the 2-yard line just before the half. In the third quarter, Isaiahh Loudermilk blocked a Brandon Aubrey field goal.

In the fourth quarter, the dam burst. The Cowboys scored on two of their final three drives, both lengthy affairs. Prescott led the team on a 16-play, 95-yard jaunt that ended in a Rico Dowdle touchdown to take the lead in the fourth quarter.

Joey Porter Jr. intercepted Prescott and Justin Fields and the Steelers offense finally put some drives together in the second half. Fields capped a six-play, 72-yard drive to start the second half with a scoring strike to tight end Connor Heyward. After the Porter pick, he engineered another long drive that ended in a Pat Freiermuth touchdown reception.

Fields threw for just 35 yards on 4 of 9 passing in the first half as the Steelers managed only 89 net yards of total offense in the first 30 minutes. Somehow, they managed to score once on a Chris Boswell field goal in that span. The Cowboys got two Aubrey scores in the first 30 minutes. 

Dowdle finished with 87 yards on 20 carries and the Cowboys ran the ball for 109 yards against the Steelers after entering 32nd in the NFL in rush.

The Steelers rushing offense never got on track, with Najee Harris rushing 14 times for 42 yards.

Fields finished 15 of 27 for 127 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked three times, losing 16 yards and ran six times for 27 yards.

The Steelers, now 3-2, are tied for first place in the AFC North. They’ll head to Las Vegas for a Week 6 matchup with the Raiders next Sunday.