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Daily Play Call

2026 Week 4 · Oct 4, 2026 · Medium

Cowboys at Texans final drive: call the plays

DAL27
2:154th
30HOU
1st & 10Ball on own 26
DALHOU101020203030404050504040303020201010

Field goal ties · TD wins

You’re the play-caller. Tap a play to snap it.

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The situation

Dallas Cowboys down 3 (27–30), 2:15 left in the fourth quarter, 1st & 10 on the own 26. You are the play-caller for this Cowboys at Texans final drive.

Score
Cowboys 27, Texans 30
Clock
2:15, Q4
Ball
1st & 10, own 26
Timeouts
2 left (defense 3)
Difficulty
Medium
Typical win rate
29%

The difficulty comes from how often a typical NFL play-caller wins from this spot in our simulation. The real head coach was Brian Schottenheimer; the defense was coached by DeMeco Ryans.

What really happened on this drive

Play the drive first: the real calls are below.

Show the real play-by-play (11 plays)

The Cowboys scored a touchdown. Final score: Cowboys 34, Texans 30, a win for Cowboys.

  1. 1st & 10 at the own 26, 2:15 · Play action (close)
    4-D.Prescott pass incomplete deep left to 88-C.Lamb (5-J.Pitre).
  2. 2nd & 10 at the own 26, 2:10 · Quick out (close)
    4-D.Prescott pass short right to 88-C.Lamb to DAL 35 for 9 yards (27-K.Ramsey).
  3. 3rd & 1 at the own 35, 2:00 · Screen (close)
    4-D.Prescott pass short left to 88-C.Lamb to DAL 32 for -3 yards (27-K.Ramsey).
  4. 4th & 4 at the own 32, 1:34 · Short middle (best call)
    4-D.Prescott pass short middle to 87-J.Ferguson to DAL 39 for 7 yards (2-C.Bullock).
  5. 1st & 10 at the own 39, 1:16 · Quick out (costly)
    4-D.Prescott pass incomplete short left [51-W.Anderson].
  6. 2nd & 10 at the own 39, 1:12 · Quick out (costly)
    4-D.Prescott pass short right to 88-C.Lamb to HOU 46 for 15 yards (5-J.Pitre).
  7. 1st & 10 at the opp 46, 1:02 · Quick out (close)
    4-D.Prescott pass short right to 33-J.Williams to HOU 42 for 4 yards (35-J.Hansen) [51-W.Anderson].
  8. 2nd & 6 at the opp 42, 0:58 · Quick out (close)
    4-D.Prescott pass short left to 88-C.Lamb to HOU 34 for 8 yards (3-K.Lassiter).
  9. 1st & 10 at the opp 34, 0:52 · Deep sideline (best call)
    4-D.Prescott pass deep left to 3-G.Pickens pushed ob at HOU 12 for 22 yards (6-R.Blankenship).
  10. 1st & 10 at the opp 12, 0:47 · Quick out (close)
    4-D.Prescott pass incomplete short right to 19-R.Flournoy [51-W.Anderson].
  11. 2nd & 10 at the opp 12, 0:43 · Short middle (best call)
    4-D.Prescott pass short middle to 88-C.Lamb for 12 yards, TOUCHDOWN.

By our grades, Brian Schottenheimer made the best or a near-best call (green) on 3 of 11 graded snaps and gave up 2.5 win-probability points per call on average. Plays with penalties are not graded.

How this final drive is graded

Every call you make is compared with every other call available on that snap. We play out the rest of the drive hundreds of times from your exact down, distance, field position, clock and timeouts, with results drawn from real NFL plays and a typical NFL play-caller making the later calls. The difference in win probability between your call and the best call is your grade for that snap. The final drive result, touchdown or not, does not change the grades. Read the full method.

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