The Dallas Cowboys avoided another fourth-quarter collapse on Sunday, rallying for a 27-23 win over the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium after trailing with 97 seconds left.

Javonte Williams scored the winning touchdown on a one-yard run with 1:08 remaining, capping a four-play, 65-yard drive that took just 29 seconds. Rookie safety Caleb Downs then intercepted Daniel Jones with 35 seconds left to seal the victory.

Prescott rescues Dallas in 29 seconds

Dallas had led 20-10 before the Colts fought back. Indianapolis tied the game on a 59-yard field goal in the fourth quarter and then took a 23-20 lead on a 50-yard kick with 1:37 remaining, leaving the Cowboys on the verge of losing a late lead for the second week in a row.

Quarterback Dak Prescott answered immediately. He found Ryan Flournoy for a 46-yard pass, and two Indianapolis penalties then moved the ball to the one-yard line, where Williams walked in for the decisive score. It was the 28th game-winning drive of Prescott's 11-year career.

Prescott finished with 335 passing yards and two touchdowns, his joint-highest passing total of the season. CeeDee Lamb caught 10 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown, including a 44-yard score with 21 seconds left in the first half, although a second potential touchdown catch was overturned on replay.

Williams powers the ground game

Williams carried 20 times for 101 yards and the winning touchdown, his second 100-yard rushing game of the season, and added four catches for 23 yards. Dallas outgained Indianapolis 508 yards to 271 and held the ball for 35 minutes and 43 seconds.

The win was far from clean. Dallas committed 14 penalties, and head coach Brian Schottenheimer admitted afterwards that the closing stages had felt uncomfortably similar to the previous week, when the Cowboys blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead and lost 33-30 in overtime to the Arizona Cardinals.

Colts chief operating officer Stephen Jones said on Monday that the game had felt eerily similar to the Arizona defeat as it unfolded, but this time Dallas held on.

Colts slide to fifth straight defeat

The defeat was Indianapolis's fifth in a row and dropped the Colts to 2-7, while Dallas improved to 4-5. Ashton Dulin had sparked the Colts' comeback with a 55-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter, but the home side could not finish the job after taking the lead late on.

Dallas now opens a three-game homestand against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday 15 November, with kick-off at 3:25 p.m. Central Time.