Sometimes survival is good enough

It was not pretty.

It was not perfect.

It was not fun to watch, for the most part.

But it was a win for the Cowboys (10-3), and really isn’t that all that matters?

I would say so. In the NFL, a victory, no matter how you come by it, is worth celebrating.

So, let’s not get stuck on what went wrong in Sunday’s 27-23 come-from-behind win over the lowly 1-11-1 Houston Texans at AT&T Stadium.

We might be here all day talking about the poor play from the defense, the lack of execution from the offense, a loss in the turnover battle and time of possession, as well as getting away from the ground attack too early in the game.

Instead, let’s dwell on that final drive that propelled the Cowboys to a victory they probably did not deserve. Because, in all reality, it was everything you could have hoped for from a team that wants to play deep into January.

First, despite a tough day, the Cowboys’ defense stood strong when they absolutely had to. With Houston going for a touchdown and what would have been a two-score lead on fourth-and-goal from the Cowboys 3-yard line with just 3:20 to play in the game, the defense bowed up. Cowboys defensive tackle Neville Gallimore made the play of the game when he and linebacker Anthony Barr stopped Houston quarterback Jeff Driskel on the read option for a 1-yard gain, but 2 yards short of the goal line.

They gave Dak Prescott, who was clearly having his struggles against Houston, and the Cowboys’ offense a final chance, and they seized it.

Instead of using the first play to try to get a few yards and get out of the shadow of their own goal line, Dallas and Dalton Schultz caught the Texans’ secondary snoozing. Prescott threw a dart, and the Cowboys were in business at their own 23-yard line and plenty of time left to pull it out.

He followed that up with a designed quarterback draw for 9 yards before hitting Schultz for 13 yards to set the Cowboys up close to midfield in just three snaps.

A quick 6-yard pass to Ezekiel Elliott over the middle put Dallas in Houston territory at the two-minute warning.

After another quick 6-yard run from Prescott, he took deep aim at the Houston secondary. Dak hit Noah Brown and Schultz on back-to-back 18-yard strikes to set up the Cowboys at the Houston 4-yard line with 55 seconds still to play.

The Cowboys then went to their hammer, and Elliott delivered with a pair of 2-yard runs, with Prescott’s only incompletion on the drive sandwiched in between, to give the Cowboys the lead they would hold onto over the final 40 seconds.

It was the kind of drive that can define a season.

Especially on a team that has Super Bowl aspirations.

Those teams always have struggles; they never play perfect football for an entire 16-game schedule (or 17-game schedule now). But they find ways to beat teams they should, even when they play poorly.

This was that win for the Cowboys.

This team, and this season, are starting to show all the signs of a real Super Bowl contender.

It’s about time.