It was billed as “essentially a must-win’’ for both the Dallas Cowboys and the Detroit Lions as they faced off in Week 14’s “Thursday Night Football’’ showcase.

But too often in Detroit’s 44-30 victory at Ford Field, the visiting Cowboys looked like “Not Ready for Prime-Time Players’’ – as if this stage was somehow too big for them – by committing a series of odd gaffes to create a 20-9 halftime hole that they never quite escaped in the final two quarters.

Fish’s 10 Observations on a lost night in Detroit …

FISH TAKE 1 Weird plays like an offensive facemask penalty on George Pickens while running a route, a needless hands-to-the-face penalty on Jake Ferguson, and an illegal fair-catch signal by KaVontae Turpin consistently robbed Dallas of field position and even scoring chan

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