Cowboys @ Texans · Week 4

WEEK 4 · FINAL

THE READ

Texans beat Cowboys, 28-24

Texans handled Cowboys 28-24. Joe Milton did the damage for Cowboys — 21/39, 297 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT — in a losing effort. Dak Prescott did the damage for Texans — 19/30, 276 yards, 2 TD. A season best for Blake Corum. Total yards: Cowboys 420, Texans 388.

The Wire · league beat

THE WIDER PICTURE

Team	SRS	SOS	MARGIN	TO +/-
Cowboys	-13.4	-1.1	-12.2	-11
Texans	+9.1	-4.2	+13.3	+11

SRS is how many points a side beats an average team by once you account for who they played — beat a good team by 3 and it counts for more than beating a bad one by 20. SOS is how hard that schedule has been. Full table.

Texans — AFC #1 · division · 7-1 Playoff picture →

IN THE BOOTH

Talia Morgan Beat reporter

Dallas had every chance to steal this one. The Cowboys out-gained Houston 420 to 388 yards and CeeDee Lamb was unstoppable with 127 yards and 2 touchdowns, but one turnover versus none decided it — that's the margin in a 4-point game.

Marcus Reyes The numbers guy · replying

Houston did what it needed to do against a team that out-gained them: Prescott threw 276 yards with no mistakes while Dallas couldn't hold the ball, and that was enough. The Texans didn't have to be better—they just had to be clean.

They only ever read the box score and this league's own numbers — none of them has a source, and none of them can report anything that did not happen.

Joe Milton

Cowboys

21/39, 297 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT

Dak Prescott

Texans

19/30, 276 yards, 2 TD

CeeDee Lamb

Cowboys

4 catches, 127 yards, 2 TD

THE STORY SO FAR

⭐ Blake Corum has not had a better afternoon this season.

⭐ Nico Collins has not had a better afternoon this season.

⭐ Joe Milton has not had a better afternoon this season.

⭐ CeeDee Lamb has not had a better afternoon this season.

WHAT DECIDED IT

Total yards Cowboys 420, Texans 388 Cowboys

Through the air Cowboys 297, Texans 276 Cowboys

On the ground Cowboys 123, Texans 112 Cowboys

Giveaways Texans 0, Cowboys 1 Texans

THE ROOM Final. The recap is below.

📺 THE WEEK 4 SHOW this game is in the week's show ▶ Watch the show

THE MATCHUP SCOUT every number below is counted from the export or read off the roster — nothing is inferred about playcalling

LEAGUE DATA counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it

Balanced Pass 58% · Rush 42% · 23.5 scored, 35.8 allowed

6.5 yds/att 53.4% completions 5.8 yds/carry 330.9 yds/game 2.2 giveaways/game 8.2% sack rate last 5: 2-3

Primary weapon: CeeDee Lamb WR — 38% of the receiving yards · DEPENDENCY HIGH

SAPPHIRE METRICS QB efficiency 31 · Turnover-prone Balance 92 Ball security 37 Back usage 31% QB runs 5.8/game

Most exposed: ball security -- 2.2 giveaways a game

PERSONNEL off the roster — unit averages, best starters only

QB 81 WR 88 TE 85 RB 82 OL 82 DL 85 LB 82 DB 86

Best: CeeDee Lamb WR 94 Fastest: KaVontae Turpin WR 97 SPD 9 at star dev or better

YOUR NOTEBOOK what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic

HOW THEY PLAY the man, not the franchise — only weeks the record attributes to him, this season

Toldher

Texans · his last 7 games

Balanced

Pass / run61% / 39% Points for / against35.9 — 22.6 Margin+13.3 Giveaways a game1.0 Sacks taken2.2% of dropbacks Lead backBlake Corum · 13.0/g Top targetNico Collins · 29% QB carries2.6 a game

Bilodeau29

Cowboys · his last 8 games

Balanced Gives it away One target

Pass / run58% / 42% Points for / against23.5 — 35.8 Margin-12.2 Giveaways a game2.2 Sacks taken8.2% of dropbacks Lead backJaydon Blue · 12.0/g Top targetCeeDee Lamb · 38% QB carries4.4 a game

Counted from the weeks each man actually held his team — so a franchise that changed hands is not credited to whoever has it now. Nothing above is a playcall: the export does not carry those, and neither does this.

THE SERIES Bilodeau29 against Toldher — the men, not the teams

Toldher leads it 1-0. Toldher won the last one.

1 meeting avg 24.0 — 28.0 biggest: 4 pts to Toldher

S1 · week 4 Bilodeau29 24 — 28 Toldher TOLDHER

Only meetings Sapphire can attribute to both men are counted — a Madden export never says who owned a team last season, so the series starts where the record does.

MATCHUP ADVANTAGES unit averages against each other — inside three points is a push

Cowboys receivers vs Texans secondary 88 v 88 EVEN

Texans receivers vs Cowboys secondary 85 v 86 EVEN

Cowboys line vs Texans front 82 v 89 TEXANS

Texans line vs Cowboys front 82 v 85 COWBOYS

Cowboys backs vs Texans run defence 82 v 85 TEXANS

Texans backs vs Cowboys run defence 82 v 84 EVEN

Cowboys passer vs Texans secondary 81 v 88 TEXANS

Texans passer vs Cowboys secondary 94 v 86 TEXANS

TOP PERFORMERS

Joe Milton QB Cowboys 297 pass yds

Dak Prescott QB Texans 276 pass yds

Nico Collins WR Texans 133 rec yds

CeeDee Lamb WR Cowboys 127 rec yds

Blake Corum HB Texans 111 rush yds

Jayden Higgins WR Texans 101 rec yds

Jaydon Blue HB Cowboys 83 rush yds

KaVontae Turpin WR Cowboys 78 rec yds

George Pickens WR Cowboys 50 rec yds

Danielle Hunter REDG Texans 1.5 sacks

🎬 The Game Recap
this game as an episode -- the score, the stars, the numbers that decided it -- and a video you can post ›

BOX SCORE

COWBOYS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Joe Milton QB	21/39	297	2	1	2	92	85

TEXANS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Dak Prescott QB	19/30	276	2	0	1	80	115.4

COWBOYS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG
Jaydon Blue HB	14	83	5.9	1	4	50	26
Javonte Williams HB	8	29	3.6	0	2	1	7
Joe Milton QB	4	14	3.5	0	0	0	7
KaVontae Turpin WR	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
CeeDee Lamb WR	1	-3	-3	0	2	0	0

TEXANS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG
Blake Corum HB	18	111	6.2	2	6	73	32
Trey Benson HB	5	3	0.6	0	0	0	6
Nico Collins WR	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Dak Prescott QB	4	-2	-0.5	0	0	0	1

COWBOYS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	DRP	LNG
CeeDee Lamb WR	4	127	31.8	2	103	2	92
KaVontae Turpin WR	5	78	15.6	0	18	0	30
George Pickens WR	6	50	8.3	0	6	0	15
Taysom Hill TE	3	21	7	0	11	1	9
Javonte Williams HB	2	19	9.5	0	13	0	18
David Njoku TE	1	2	2	0	0	0	2

TEXANS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	DRP	LNG
Nico Collins WR	7	133	19	1	90	2	80
Jayden Higgins WR	8	101	12.6	1	27	0	23
Trey Palmer WR	2	23	11.5	0	0	0	15
Trey Benson HB	1	14	14	0	2	0	14
Marlin Klein TE	1	5	5	0	2	0	5

COWBOYS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	CMP ALW
Bobby Okereke MIKE	10	0	2
Cobie Durant CB	5	0	5
DaRon Bland CB	4	0	4
Jalen Thompson FS	3	0	3
Markquese Bell SS	3	0	3
Malachi Lawrence LEDG	2	0.5	0
Caleb Downs SS	2	0	1
Kenny Clark DT	2	0	0
Quinnen Williams DT	2	0.5	0
Rashan Gary LEDG	2	0	0
DeMarvion Overshown WILL	2	0	1
Malik Hooker FS	1	0	0
Jaishawn Barham WILL	1	0	0
P.J. Locke SS	1	0	0
Sam Williams REDG	1	0	0

TEXANS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	INT	PD	CMP ALW
Ronnie Hickman SS	7	0	1	1	4
Calen Bullock FS	6	0	0	0	4
Shavon Revel Jr CB	6	0	0	2	5
Danielle Hunter REDG	5	1.5	0	0	0
Henry To'oTo'o WILL	4	0	0	0	2
Derek Stingley Jr CB	3	0	0	0	1
Upton Stout CB	3	0	0	1	1
Kayden McDonald DT	2	0	0	0	0
E.J. Speed SAM	2	0	0	0	1
Justin Eboigbe DT	2	0.5	0	0	0
Kamari Lassiter CB	1	0	0	2	0
Logan Hall DT	1	0	0	0	0

COWBOYS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Brandon Aubrey K	1/1	3/3	23

TEXANS

nothing recorded

RECENT FORM

Cowboys

L 9–47 vs Ravens WK 3

L 19–44 vs Commanders WK 2

W 30–27 vs Giants WK 1

Texans

W 31–30 vs Colts WK 3

W 38–24 vs Bengals WK 2

W 21–9 vs Bills WK 1

TEAM STATS

Cowboys		Texans
420	TOTAL YARDS	388
297	PASSING YARDS	276
123	RUSHING YARDS	112
2	SACKS ALLOWED	1
1	SACKS MADE	2
1	GIVEAWAYS	0
0	TAKEAWAYS	1

Bold is the side that won that line. Giveaways come off a team's own offensive rows and takeaways off its own defensive rows — two separate payloads, so they need not tie out against each other.

ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD

0 COWBOYS — 1 TEXANS

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