Woody Marks — Week 4: The Go-Ahead Score With 2:26 Left

27 to 23, Cowboys, two 26 left, first and goal at the Dallas six. Woody Marks went off left tackle for six yards and the touchdown, and the extra point put Houston ahead 30 to 27. +1.5 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and nine points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. Dallas scored the winner with 43 seconds left.

The same drive had two Marks carries that cost. Second and one at the Houston 43 with five 36 left: right tackle, a loss of a yard, −7 points of win probability, and Nico Collins bailed it out on third down. Then an eight-yard run to the Dallas 15 came back on a holding penalty.

The line: six carries, 22 yards, one touchdown, one first down, two of the six successful, about minus point three expected points on the carries. The longest was nine, on the first snap of a first-quarter drive that ended in a 51-yard field goal. One target, incomplete, in the first quarter.

Marks had six of Houston's 17 designed runs to David Montgomery's 10, and for the second straight week the touchdown run was his.

Back in June the preview said Houston's trade for Montgomery made the backfield split the open question. Week 1 went 20 carries to nine Montgomery's way, Week 2 eight to six Marks's, Week 3 11 to five Montgomery's, and Sunday 10 to six. Four games: 28 carries, 87 yards, two touchdowns, both in the last two weeks.

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_Data via nflverse._