Cowboys 34, Texans 30: Lamb's 17th Catch Wins It

October 4, 2026 - Houston - Forty seconds. Third trip to the end zone in a half that had already belonged to Javonte Williams. Dak Prescott threw it to CeeDee Lamb anyway. Twelve yards. Catch number 17. The Dallas Cowboys left NRG Stadium with a 34-30 win over the Houston Texans and a 2-2 record that still needed this one after Rio.

Houston is 0-4. C.J. Stroud threw for 347 yards and two scores. Nico Collins came back from a two-game hamstring absence, caught seven for 118 and two touchdowns, and still walked off with the first 0-4 start in Houston since 2020.

Collins, Fairbairn, and a 10-point hole

Collins took a 45-yard catch-and-run on Houston's first snap and finished the drive from 7. 7-0. Ka'imi Fairbairn stacked field goals, including one from 54, and it was 16-6 at the half. Brandon Aubrey was 2 of 4. Dallas had 6 points and no rhythm. Prescott said a week ago the offense had to put games away. Through two quarters it could not start one.

KaVontae Turpin returned the second-half kickoff 48 yards to the Houston 49. Four plays later, including 30 yards to Lamb, Williams scored from 8. 16-13. Jaylin Noel brought the ensuing kick back 53 yards. Collins scored again. 23-13. That was the lead Dallas had to climb.

Williams scored from short yardage after a stuffed first down, 23-20 with about seven minutes left in the third. He finished 19 carries for 62 and three rushing touchdowns, all after halftime, a career high. The run game did not explode. It punched the ball in when the Cowboys finally reached the 8, the 1, and the 2.

Seventeen catches, then 40 seconds

Prescott completed all nine of his throws on a 14-play drive that started the fourth. Five of them went to Lamb for 69 yards. Williams from 2. 27-23, Dallas' first lead. Houston was not done. Facing third-and-14, Stroud hit Dalton Schultz for 2, and David Montgomery took a hook-and-ladder 19 yards. Woody Marks scored from 6 with about two and a half minutes left. 30-27.

Prescott drove 74 yards in 11 plays. A fourth down. Fifteen yards to Lamb. Twenty-two to George Pickens. Then Lamb from 12 with 40 seconds left. Stroud's last heave fell incomplete. Dallas had the Governor's Cup and a win it did not have in Brazil.

Prescott was 32 of 45 for 335, one score, no picks. Lamb's 17 catches are second in franchise history behind Witten's 18. The Cowboys said the 189 yards moved him past Drew Pearson for fourth on the club's career receiving list at 7,914. Pickens had two for 75. Ryan Flournoy added four for 37. Joey Porter Jr., in the lineup less than a week after the trade, was the shutdown piece Dallas wanted, per the club.

Quinnen Williams had a sack. Rashan Gary had another. Jake Hansen led Houston's tackle sheet and added a sack. Will Anderson Jr. had a half-sack. Jadeveon Clowney stuffed Williams for a loss of 3 on a first down that still ended in a Dallas touchdown two snaps later, per the AP. It was not enough once Lamb started seeing every down.

Dallas trailed 16-6 at the break and scored 28 in the second half. Houston scored 14 after halftime and still lost. That is the difference between a 2-2 team that finishes and an 0-4 team that leads in the fourth and cannot close.

Lamb grew up treating NRG like a second home. The Cowboys said this was his first NFL game in the building. He treated it like a possession drill that ended in the end zone. Prescott needed that after the Rio miss. Houston needed a stop on third-and-short in the last minute and never got the down.

Stroud still threw it all over the field. Collins still scored twice in a return game. Marks still punched in the go-ahead 6-yarder. None of it survived Lamb's 17th catch. The Cowboys host Tampa Bay on Thursday night. Houston visits Tennessee. 0-4 is a hole. 2-2 after a last-minute throw in your own state is a stay of execution.

AthX Engine on a 17-catch night

AthX Engine NFL scoring already has the Week 4 lines in. Lamb's 17 catches, 189 yards, and the late score land at 60.25, the top total in this game. Hansen is 47.50. Collins is 45.00. Stroud is 42.76. Javonte Williams is 41.25. Quinnen Williams is 41.00. Prescott is 34.55. Dallas' team line is 75.50.

Fantasy points measure the box. Price is what traders will pay for Lamb after a career catch night in Houston, and for a Texans 0-4 that still put up 30. They move together. They are not the same number.

Track Lamb, Prescott, Stroud, Collins, and both clubs on the marketplace. Tampa Bay visits Dallas on Oct. 8. Houston visits Tennessee on Oct. 11.

*Sources: Cowboys.com, AP recap (CBS), ESPN recap, Reuters. AthX Engine Week 4 lines scored from nflverse weekly stats (CC-BY 4.0). Information only; not financial advice.*