{"id":425921,"date":"2025-12-05T07:10:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T07:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/425921\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T07:10:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T07:10:17","slug":"cowboys-lions-takeaways-jahmyr-gibbs-scores-3-tds-as-barry-sanders-watches-detroit-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/425921\/","title":{"rendered":"Cowboys-Lions takeaways: Jahmyr Gibbs scores 3 TDs as Barry Sanders watches Detroit win"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Colton Pouncy, Jon Machota and Alex Valdes<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a topsy-turvy season for the Detroit Lions. Thursday night was topsy.<\/p>\n

Jahmyr Gibbs rushed for three touchdowns and Jared Goff threw for 309 yards as the Lions defeated the Dallas Cowboys 44-30<\/a> at Ford Field. Gibbs tied Lions legend Barry Sanders<\/a> \u2014 in attendance at the game \u2014 for the most touchdowns (47) before turning 24 years old.<\/p>\n

Detroit, which only had a 30 percent chance to make the playoffs<\/a> entering the game, improved to 8-5. Dallas (23 percent) dropped to 6-6-1 and had its three-game win streak snapped.<\/p>\n

Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb had six catches for 121 yards but left the game with a concussion<\/a> in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

Lions rise to the occasion<\/p>\n

The Cowboys were heating up at the right time, winning three of four. Their offense was already among the best in the league. Their defense had tightened things up after some high-quality deadline additions. They looked like a dangerous team, while the Lions limped into Week 14, losers of three of their previous five contests.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s something about Detroit when pushed to the brink. It tends to hunker down and rise to the occasion. We haven\u2019t seen it much this season, but we did Thursday night. This was a gutsy performance by the Lions in a game they absolutely needed. The offense was brilliant. The defense got five sacks and three turnovers. It wasn\u2019t always pretty, but they took care of business. \u2014 Colton Pouncy, Lions beat writer<\/p>\n

Detroit\u2019s playoff hopes boosted<\/p>\n

If the Lions had lost, their playoff chances would\u2019ve fallen from 30 percent to 12 percent. Dallas would\u2019ve passed Detroit in the standings. The Lions are now 8-5 and the playoff push is very much alive. The Athletic\u2019s playoff simulator<\/a> now gives Detroit a 45 percent chance. If the Lions win three of their final four games, it should get them in. Easier said than done, and there\u2019s still work to do, but this was a huge step in the right direction. \u2014 Pouncy<\/p>\n

Dallas hopes are hurting<\/p>\n

The playoff window is not closed, but it took a major hit. A win would\u2019ve pretty much allowed the Cowboys to control their fate. Now, their chances drop to 40 percent if they win their remaining four games. This loss shouldn\u2019t completely take away from what they\u2019ve accomplished over the previous three games, beating the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. But it does show that there\u2019s still a lot that needs to be cleaned up. \u2014 Jon Machota, Cowboys reporter<\/p>\n

Special teams, run D were poor<\/p>\n

Special teams was subpar, particularly in kickoff coverage. The Detroit starting field position average was pretty much midfield. The run defense was the worst it has been since adding Quinnen Williams. Defensive help is obviously still needed, particularly on the back end. But there also wasn\u2019t nearly enough pressure on Goff. I do wonder how the game would have gone if Lamb hadn\u2019t exited with the concussion. \u2014 Machota<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Colton Pouncy, Jon Machota and Alex Valdes It\u2019s been a topsy-turvy season for the Detroit Lions. Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":425922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[8998,9000,1232,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-425921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-dallas-cowboys","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115665713870393369","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}