Final score: Chiefs top Cowboys 19-9 for a big win at Arrowhead

The Kansas City Chiefs secured a 19-9 victory over the Dallas Cowboys to improve their record to 7-4 ahead of their Week 12 bye.

Kansas City’s defense started the game with a quick three-and-out. On first down, Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott overthrew Michael Gallup — who was wide open after Charvarius Ward tripped coming out of his pedal. A dropped pass by Noah Brown on third down got the Chiefs’ defense off the field.

The Chiefs took over and immediately started driving. Clyde Edwards-Helaire was back in the starting lineup for the Chiefs — and the team made a point to get him involved early. The running game opened up a few quick passes to wide receiver Tyreek Hill — and a reverse that Hill took 33 yards up the sideline. After a drop by wide receiver Mecole Hardman, Mahomes scrambled to the Dallas 4-yard line to bring up first-and-goal. Tight end Travis Kelce took a direct snap and ran up the middle for a Kansas City touchdown. Trey Smith and Andrew Wylie had a terrific combo block on the play. After a missed extra point by Harrison Butker, the Chiefs were up 6-0.

The Cowboys began the next drive at their 25-yard line. On first down, Nick Bolton and Charvarius Ward shot into the Dallas backfield to stop Ezekiel Elliott for a loss of a yard. On second down, cornerback L’Jarius Sneed timed a screen pass to Gallup perfectly — hitting him while he was midair and driving him to the ground for a loss of 3 yards. On third down, Frank Clark came zooming off the edge to sack Prescott, who fumbled the ball. Chris Jones recovered it for the Chiefs.

The Chiefs took over at the Dallas 22-yard line, but they could not capitalize on the turnover with a touchdown. On second down, two questionable ‘no calls’ helped stall the drive — a potential roughing the passer penalty on Micah Parsons and potential pass interference on Leighton Vander Esch. A dropped pass by Josh Gordon on third down took the Chiefs’ offense off the field. Harrison Butker hit a 37-yard field goal to extend the Chiefs’ lead to 9-0.

The Cowboys started moving the ball on their third drive. Dallas offensive coordinator Kellen Moore mixed in uptempo offense to get the Chiefs on their heels. With the Chiefs double-teaming CeeDee Lamb, Gallup was able to beat Ward for a big third-down conversion. On the next play, running back Tony Pollard took a direct snap, faked a reverse to Prescott — who was lined up as a receiver on the play — and took a big run up the sideline for 31 yards. In the red zone, the Cowboys went back to Gallup on third down, but Ward had tight coverage this time, and the pass fell incomplete in the end zone. The Cowboys would make a 33-yard field goal to cut the Chiefs’ lead to 9-3.

After a 38-yard kickoff return by Byron Pringle, the Chiefs began their next drive on the Cowboys’ 35 yard-line. On first down, a 12-yard pass to Edwards-Helaire was nullified by a questionable holding call on Smith. Hill kept the drive alive with an 8-yard reception on third-and-5. On the next play, Mahomes hit Pringle for a big gain of 37 yards to get the Chiefs into Cowboys’ territory. Mahomes hit Hardman on a quick slant to bring up first-and-goal at the Dallas 1-yard line. Mahomes pitched to Edwards-Helaire on an option play, who glided into the endzone for a touchdown. After a taunting call on Edwards-Helaire, Butker converted a 48-yard extra-point try to extend Kansas City’s lead to 16-3.

Third-down miscues by Kansas City’s defense would give the Cowboys life on their next drive. Linebacker Willie Gay Jr. missed on a potential interception, which Dallas tight end Dalton Schultz took for a first down. A big hit from Sneed prevented a deep completion to Gallup. After an untimely penalty on Sneed for illegal use of hands kept the Cowboys driving on third-and-19, the cornerback was able to disrupt Prescott’s pass attempt on a blitz to end the drive.

Kansas City’s next drive was short-lived. After Hill took a short completion for 23 yards, Mahomes could not connect with him again on third-and-4 — and the Chiefs were forced to punt.

The Chiefs forced a quick three-and-out — keeping Dallas’ rushing and passing attempts in front of them and tackling well to hold them for short gains. The Cowboys punted.

On the next drive, back-to-back penalties on Smith — holding and unsportsmanlike conduct — brought up second-and-29 for the Chiefs. Completions to Gordon and Williams were not enough to keep the drive alive — and the Chiefs punted.

Dallas started the next drive from their own 26-yard line with 2:39 left in the half. After a run for plus yardage on first down, Chris Jones sacked Prescott to bring up third-and-6. Jones got Prescott again on third down (Clark also had pressure) to force the Cowboys to punt.

With 1:43 left before the half, the Chiefs took over at their own 45-yard line. On second down, Parsons came off the edge and sacked Mahomes — forcing a fumble that was recovered by Cowboys’ defensive end Tarell Basham at the Kansas City 43-yard line.

With a short field, Dallas attempted to take advantage of a one-on-one matchup between Lamb and Ward. Lamb beat Ward on a quick slant for a first down — but on the next play, Ward rose to the challenge, picking off a Prescott pass intended for Lamb in the end zone.

The Chiefs ran out the clock to take a 16-3 lead into the locker room.

Kansas City started the second half with the ball. On third-and-2, Mahomes ran the ball and extended his arm to get it just past the sticks for a first down. On the next play, Mahomes hit Kelce for a gain of 24 yards. Once the Chiefs got into Cowboys’ territory, Kelce bobbled a pass from Mahomes that was intercepted by Jayron Kearse and returned 34 yards to the Kansas City 36-yard line.

With Lamb sidelined with a head injury, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo kept the pressure on Prescott during the next Dallas drive. A diving reception by receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr. kept the drive alive once, but the Cowboys were unable to convert on their next third-down attempt. Ward had a good amount of contact on Gallup to break up the pass, but the officiating crew let the potential penalty slide once again. Cowboys kicker Greg Zuerlein hit a 30-yard field goal to cut Kansas City’s advantage to 16-6.

On their next drive, the Chiefs were unable to take advantage of another nice return by Pringle. Parsons continued to give Kansas City’s offensive line fits; he got past Orlando Brown Jr. on second down to sack Mahomes for a loss of 7 yards. Mahomes was pressured again on third down to cause an incompletion and get the Cowboys’ defense off the field.

The Chiefs caused a quick three-and-out to tip the momentum back in their favor. On third down, Gay showed off his speed — beating Elliott to the flat on a short reception to stop him short of the sticks.

On the first play of the next drive, Mahomes went right back to Kelce and hit him over the middle of the field for a gain of 22 yards. Hill added 10 yards on the next play. Past midfield, Hardman took a short completion for 12 yards. But the Cowboys’ pressure would once again stifle the Chiefs. On third-and-7, Dorance Armstrong Jr. sacked Mahomes for a loss of 6 yards. Butker hit a 53-yard field goal to give the Chiefs a 19-6 lead.

Dallas got Pollard rolling on the next drive, which opened up a 12-yard completion to Gallup and an 18-yarder to Wilson. In Kansas City territory, Prescott went back to Pollard in the screen game — which the speedy running back rewarded with a 14-yard gain. But then the defense would step up again. After Sneed tripped up Gallup for a loss of 2 yards on a screen pass, Jones resumed to his dominance from the interior — sacking Prescott for a 6-yard loss. Zuerlein hit a 48-yard field goal, narrowing the Chiefs’ lead to 19-9.

The Chiefs returned to methodically moving the ball on their first drive of the fourth quarter, using RPOs to dice up the Dallas defense. However, as the Chiefs looked to push the ball downfield in Dallas’ territory, the Cowboys stepped up to stall the drive. Butker missed a 51-yard field goal to give the ball back to the Cowboys at their 33-yard line.

On the first play of the next drive, Prescott tried to hit Wilson deep — but Ward made another nice play downfield to break up the pass. Then on third down, the interior of Kansas City’s defensive line again wreaked havoc on the Cowboys. Reed and Jones both got into the backfield to sack Prescott for a 2-yard loss.

Edwards-Helaire started the next Chiefs’ drive with a 14-yard run up the gut of the Dallas defense. After two more carries by the running back, Mahomes hit Kelce on a critical third-and-2 to keep the drive alive — and the clock ticking. With 5:13 to go, Williams took a carry up the middle for four yards. Hill juked out a defender on third-and-6 for another big Chiefs’ conversion — and wisely got down inbounds to run the clock. Williams added a 10-yard run to take the Chiefs down to the Dallas 33-yard line. Parsons sacked Mahomes for a loss of 8 yards on a busted option play. Dallas used its last timeout to stop the clock at 2:45 (and then the Chiefs used their first). The Chiefs lined up in field goal formation, but Butker executed a pooch punt that was downed at the Dallas 3-yard line.

The Cowboys took over with 2:35 left in regulation — and Prescott started cooking. He hit Schultz for a gain of 19 yards and followed it up with a bullet to midfield intended for Wilson that was dropped by the receiver. The Chiefs flushed Prescott out of the pocket, but he was able to hit Elliott for a gain of 19 yards. The running back added 7 yards on the ground to take the game to the 2-minute warning. On the next play, Prescott hit Malik Turner for 11 yards. Then, he hit Gallup for 16 yards. But Sneed would cap a brilliant performance — and ice the game — with a red-zone interception.

The Chiefs came out in victory formation to run out the clock to a 19-9 win.

Injuries

Rashad Fenton exited the game in the fourth quarter after making a tackle.

Special teams

Butker was 1/2 on extra-point attempts and 2/3 on field goal attempts. He added a nice pooch punt that pinned the Cowboys deep in their own territory.

Pringle had a solid day as a returner — taking multiple kickoff returns for 30-plus yards. He finished with 104 return yards on the day.

Tommy Townsend had three punts for 166 yards. His longest was 68 yards.

Statistics