The Dallas Cowboys move to 4-2 on the season as they defeat the Los Angeles Chargers 20-17 on Monday night at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

The Los Angeles Chargers tied the game midway through the 4^th quarter when Justin Herbert threw a 1-yard pass to Gerald Everett at 17 apiece.

Shortly after, the Dallas Cowboys would retake the lead 20-17 after a made field goal from Brandon Aubrey. With 2:19 left in the game, the Chargers had a chance to either tie the game or grasp the lead.

After a 5-yard scramble on 1^st down, Justin Herbert was sacked on 2^nd down by Micah Parsons and pushed 8 yards. On the next play, Herbert was pressured in the pocket and picked off by Stephen Gilmore on a pass intended to Quinton Johnston ending the game.

Dallas Bounces Back

With this win, the Dallas Cowboys returned to form after their uncharacteristic performance last week against the San Francisco 49ers.

Dak Prescott led the Dallas offense with 272 yards and a touchdown on an efficient 21/30 passing. He also ran for an 18-yard touchdown in the 2^nd quarter.

“We were physical, way more physical than we were last week,” said Dak Prescott. “Right now, we’re moving forward. This is a great [win] for us to get going into this bye week and continue to stack after this”.

CeeDee Lamb also had a good performance for the Cowboys. He caught 7 receptions on 7 targets for 117 yards.

“We knew the work that we put out last week wasn’t our best work,” said CeeDee Lamb. “Coming into the week we played with a chip on our shoulder, continued to get better, granted we didn’t play our best game we got a lot of things to clean up, but coming out with the [win] going into the bye is probably the best thing for us”.

In addition to the Cowboy’s offense returning to form, their defense stepped up their performance as well.

Last week, the Cowboys allowed 42 points and 421 total yards against the San Francisco 49ers. This week they only gave up 17 points and 272 yards.

Micah Parsons and Stephon Gilmore played crucial roles in securing the win for Dallas. Parson recorded a sack, a tackle for loss, and three QB hits. Gilmore added three total tackles, a pass deflection, and the game sealing interception.

“[The last drive] was big. It was a lot of back and forth all night,” said Stephon Gilmore. “Just trying to keep that short term memory. Was able to make a big play at the end and that’s what big time players do”.

Chargers Fall Short Yet Again

The Los Angeles Chargers lose their third game of the season to drop to 2-3 on the season, with all their losses coming in one score games.

Though their offense failed to score over 20 points for the first time this season, they had a good performance from their QB-WR duo of Justin Herbert and Keenan Allen. Herbert had 227 yards and 2 touchdowns on 22-37 passing, while Allen recorded 7 receptions for 85 yards and a touchdown.

“I think we could do a lot better on offense, especially at quarterback, I can play a lot better,” said Justin Herbert. “I thought the defense came up with some big stops today. Held them when we needed them to, so it’s on us as an offense”.

The Chargers received a solid performance from their defense, who struggles thus far this season. The Los Angeles pass rush was consistently in the Cowboys back field combining for five sacks, seven tackles for loss.

Morgan Fox led the team in sacks with 2, while Kenneth Murray Jr. led the team in tackles with 9 total.

“I thought our defense really competed well in the game,” said head coach Brandon Staley. “I thought we were really good most of the night on 3^rd down. I thought we pressured the quarterback at a high level, but Dak made a couple plays on the last drive and it hurt us”.

Up Next

Next week the Dallas Cowboys will not be playing as they have a bye week, while the Los Angeles Chargers travel to Kansas City to take on Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs on Sunday.