Cowboys rally, have playoff hopes
Dalton keeps Dallas in playoff hunt, but Eagles eliminated from contention
Andy Dalton passed for a season-high 377 yards and three touchdowns and kept the Dallas Cowboys' playoff pulse beating with a 37-17 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in Arlington, Texas.
Thanks to Carolina's win Sunday against the Washington Football Team, the NFC East race comes down to the final weekend.
Dallas (6-9) won its third straight game and can secure the division's playoff berth with a victory next Sunday at the New York Giants (5-10), coupled with a loss or tie by Washington (6-9) in Philadelphia.
Washington swept the Cowboys this season and owns the head-tohead tiebreaker.
Dalton completed 22-of-30 passes with one interception.
Michael Gallup had six catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns (all in the first half ) and Amari Cooper had 121 yards on four receptions. Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 105 yards on 19 carries.
The Eagles (4-10-1) were finally eliminated from the playoff picture after suffering their sixth loss in seven games. Rookie Jalen Hurts, making his third start, passed for 342 yards and one touchdown and ran for 69 yards.
Dallas outscored Philly by a 34-3 margin over the last three quarters.
Dalton's 52-yard TD pass to rookie Ceedee Lamb on the opening drive of the second half stretched the Cowboys' lead to 27-17.
Cooper's 69-yard catch set up a 21-yard Greg Zuerlein field goal for a 30-17 lead midway through the third quarter, and Lamb's 19-yard touchdown run with 1:53 left provided the only points of the fourth quarter.
The Eagles' seven second-half possessions ended with three punts, a turnover on downs and three turnovers by Hurts (two interceptions and a fumble).
Philadelphia began the game with an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. Miles Sanders' fouryard run with nine minutes left (plus Jake Elliott's extra point) made it 440 points surrendered by the Cowboys this season, breaking the franchise record of 436 in 2010.
After a 35-yard field goal by Zuerlein, that mark got another update. Desean Jackson hauled in an 81-yard touchdown from Hurts to put the Eagles up 14-3.
It was the fifth career TD catch of 80-plus yards for Jackson, tying the NFL record shared by Derrick Alexander, Lance Alworth, Bob Hayes and Jerry Rice.
The second quarter was the Dalton- Gallup show as Dallas stormed to a 20-17 lead at intermission.
The Cowboys scored the first 10 points of the period on Dalton's 21-yard touchdown pass to Gallup and a 20-yard field goal by Zuerlein, which was set up by Gallup's 55-yard grab.
Following Elliott's 38-yard field goal, Dallas capped an 11-play, 75yard drive with a seven-yard strike from Dalton to Gallup with 12 seconds left in the half.
STEELERS RALLY PAST COLTS, CLINCH AFC NORTH
Ben Roethlisberger led a second-half comeback as the Pittsburgh Steelers broke a three-game losing streak and clinched the AFC North title with a 28-24 win over the visiting Indianapolis Colts.
After the Steelers (12-3) trailed by 17 points in the third quarter, Roethlisberger's 25-yard touchdown pass to Juju Smith- Shuster put the Steelers ahead for the first time and for the final score with 7:38 left in the fourth quarter.
The Colts (10-5) had won three straight.
Roethlisberger was 34-of-49 passing for 342 yards.
Diontae Johnson and Eric Ebron also had scoring catches. James Conner ran for a touchdown.
Indianapolis quarterback Philip Rivers was 22-of-35, passing for 270 yards and a touchdown to Zach Pascal. Rookie Jonathan Taylor rushed for two touchdowns.
The first possession for each team was a microcosm of the first half.
Pittsburgh, after three straight incompletions, punted.
Indianapolis drove 70 yards in nine plays, with Taylor's six-yard run up the middle giving the Colts a 7-0 lead.
The Steelers failed to score in the first quarter for the sixth straight game.
In the second quarter, Rivers coughed up the ball when he was sacked by NFL sack leader T.J. Watt, and Mike Hilton recovered the ball at the Colts' 3. That set up Conner's one-yard scoring run for a 7-7 tie.
Taylor bulled his way into the end zone from a yard out to give Indianapolis a 14-7 lead, and Rivers shrugged off a blitz to hit Pascal in the end zone from 42 yards to push it to 21-7, the halftime score.
Rodrigo Blankenship's 28-yard field goal pushed the Colts' lead to 24-7 with 9:23 left in the third quarter.
The Steelers got to the Indianapolis 1 later in the third quarter, but the Colts held strong and got the ball back on downs when Pittsburgh opted against a field goal.
When the Colts stalled, the Steelers got favourable field position. On first down, Johnson made a leaping catch from Roethlisberger for a 39-yard touchdown to close it to 24-14.
On the second play of the fourth quarter, Roethlisberger threw five yards to Ebron for a touchdown, slicing it to 24-21.