Breakout Moment: Unexpected Star Shines Bright for Cowboys With Game-Changing Touchdown

Facing 3rd-and-5 from just outside the red zone, nursing a slim 13-9 lead with five minutes and change to play, the Cowboys offense was hoping for a dagger. A field goal- no sure thing this past Sunday- would extend their margin, but it would keep Washington within a single score.

The Commanders, understandably, focused on CeeDee Lamb, far and away the primary target within the Dallas passing attack all afternoon and season. Instead, Cooper Rush went a different direction, arcing a pass down the middle of the field to a wide-open Luke Schoonmaker. He had to extend his six-foot-five-inch frame and even leave his feet just to collect the throw, but the moment proved to be massive.

Not just in the Week 12 win, but maybe within the tight end’s football life.

“Well, the seas parted, right? I just needed to catch the ball,” he explained to reporters after the Cowboys’ thrilling 34-26 win. “Gosh, I didn’t even know what to do after that moment, but it was the best feeling.”

Luke Schoonmaker is wide open to extend the Cowboys lead!

Schoonmaker’s score- his third catch of the afternoon and the third touchdown of his career- actually marked the first touchdown reception for a Dallas tight end all season.

“Someone needed to get a touchdown this year, so it was great to have that for the room.”

The Michigan man implied he was doing it for his position mates: third-stringer Brevyn Spann-Ford, practice squadder Princeton Fant, and John Stephens Jr., who’s been on injured reserve since last month, as well as Jake Ferguson, the concussed starter he was subbing for on nearly two-thirds of the offense’s Week 12 snaps.

“That’s what’s great about the room, is the competition and the chemistry,” Schoonmaker continued. “Every day, we’re going out there. Lunda [Wells, Cowboys tight end coach] is working us hard as ever. Just credit to him for each and every one of us, just taking the practice field to the game field, and that’s certainly helped everybody rise to the occasion and not have any dropoff at all.”

But coming through in that fourth-quarter gotta-have-it moment could well prove to be a turning point in Schoonmaker’s young career trajectory.