A No. 1 WR, vengeful FA and nomad coach walked into the Cowboys’ lives…

When the Cowboys force opponents to play their brand of football, Dallas is a juggernaut. On Sunday they became the first team in NFL history to both run and throw for 150 yards or more while scoring 25 points in five straight games.

That switch can come quickly, too, as the Indianapolis Colts learned the hard way. With the score 21-19 in the fourth quarter, it seemed liked a game the Colts could steal. They stayed close enough to continue running the ball, they had just put up a touchdown drive that spanned 15 plays for 90 yards and lasted eight minutes. They were rolling and looking for a primetime road game upset and then the Cowboys hit that switch.

Dallas would have a fourth quarter to remember. They rotated touchdowns and turnovers for eight straight possessions. They broke the record for most fourth quarter points scored, going 33-0 in route to a 50 burger and a blowout victory. There were a ton of options for three stars in just the fourth quarter alone, but here were the top three players for the game.

Malik Hooker

Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Hooker gets the third star of the game over names like Tony Pollard, Michael Gallup, or DaRon Bland because the timing of his big plays was more impactful than the plays made by others against the Colts.

The score was 14-13, the Cowboys were leading but the past two drives for Dallas ended in an interception and then a three and out that netted zero yards. The Colts had the momentum and a chance to score to go up at halftime while in line to get the third-quarter kickoff.

That’s when Hooker made his first big play.

CB Anthony Brown made a great play (DPI? Where?) on a slant to get a pass deflection. The ball popped up in the air and Hooker did what many expected when he was drafted by the Colts in 2017, he picked the ball off to get an extra possession for Dallas and the offense cashed it in for a TD right before half.

His second big play is the one that broke the game open.

Indianapolis set up a nice tight end screen, but rookie LB Damone Clark made a strong tackle and the ball bounced loose. Hooker brought in the fumble and took it in for a scoop and score. The score ballooned to 35-19 and the Cowboys went on to break records for scoring in the fourth quarter.

CeeDee Lamb

A (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)

While the rest of the team took a while to warm up in the game, Lamb played well from the first quarter through the end of the game. Dallas was down 3-0 early and it was a 3rd-and-9. Lamb took a four-yard slant that should’ve been a stop for Indianapolis and a field-goal attempt for the Cowboys, spun out of a tackle and ran the ball in for a TD.

Lamb went on to extend drives for Dallas over and over again, he had seven total touches and six of them went for first downs or scores. That is great production and kept the offense in the mix the first three quarters before the team exploded in the fourth.

Lamb also helped put the final nail in the coffin with another 3rd-and-long conversion; a catch that was 7 yards away from the first down marker that forced Lamb to make a guy miss. He also finished off the run with a punishing hit, setting the team up for another TD.

Dan Quinn

(Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)

What Quinn has done this season is nothing short of miraculous. With a healthy unit early on in the season his defense put clamps on quarterbacks like Tom Brady, Joe Burrow, and Matt Stafford. The Cowboys went 4-1 with back up QB Cooper Rush leading a bottom-five offensive unit in the NFL.

Then as Prescott returned, and the Cowboys offense began to take off, the injuries hit Dan Quinn’s unit, and he had to put it together with what he had, and no game signifies that better than this one did.

Now maybe this star is partly for Will McClay, and his ability to find players that fit what Dan Quinn likes to do, but Quinn still has to coach them up. In his lineup he had much maligned Kelvin Joseph playing outside cornerback for Brown, who went down with an achilles injury. He was already starting Daron Bland, a fifth-round rookie corner out of Fresno State for an injured Jourdan Lewis in the slot. Sam Williams was a rookie in rotation on the defensive line and Clark was forced into starters snaps after Anthony Barr pulled a hamstring.

This isn’t an ideal situation for any defensive coordinator, but Quinn’s defense is far from just surviving these injuries, they are thriving. Many of the big plays in this game were made by the young players on this roster. The Clark forced fumble showed earlier, the Williams fumble recovery, and Bland made two interceptions, ripping away a second.

Quinn is a special defensive coordinator and his ability to get guys to buy in a ball out whether it is veterans like Jonathan Hankins or rookies like Bland and Clark are paying dividends and he gets the top star for it versus the Colts.

You can find Mike Crum on Twitter @cdpiglet or at Youtube on the Across the Cowboys Podcast.

Story originally appeared on Cowboys Wire