Cowboys On The Rise

The Cowboys boasted Trevon Diggs’ two interceptions, Dak Prescott’s 35-yard touchdown to Amari Cooper, Ezekiel Elliott’s longest rush since his 2016 rookie season and an AT&T Stadium crowd erupting in cheers as momentum built upon momentum in response to 20 unanswered points in that period alone.

Dallas disposed of the Carolina Panthers and their top-ranked defense 36-28 to improve to 3-1, maintaining their hold on the NFC East lead. The Panthers suffered their first loss of the season.

The first half was competitive, the Cowboys offense inconsistent against a frenetic Panthers front while Dallas’ defense failed to account for Carolina quarterback’s Sam Darnold’s ground threat. Darnold duped Dallas’ defense with a fake right before slipping up the middle for a 1-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Darnold glanced left then barreled 11 yards upfield, breaking through Cowboys defenders for the score. Credit running back Chuba Hubbard’s speed and wide receiver DJ Moore’s acrobatics with advancing the Panthers downfield in Christian McCaffrey’s absence.

Carolina’s weapons were sufficient to carry a 14-13 lead into halftime. Then the Panthers’ visit to North Texas unraveled.

That line-of-scrimmage mastery Panthers coach Matt Rhule had compared to the likes of Hall of Fame-caliber players Drew Brees and Peyton Manning? Prescott’s early magic consisted more of avoiding disaster, flipping a ball to Elliott to avoid a sack and rescuing a botched snap on fourth-and-1 to rip off a 21-yard scramble.

But the Cowboys’ running game was even more punishing, Ezekiel Elliott unleashed for 143 yards, a threshold he had crossed just once since 2018.

The Cowboys’ scoring attack fired on all cylinders, from a jumbo package leading Elliott to cross the plane to tight end Blake Jarwin powering his size down the seam. Prescott sailed a dime to Cooper, who cradled it as he fell in the end zone; receiver Cedrick Wilson, meanwhile spun out of a defender’s grasp.

Defensively, the Cowboys’ pass rush tallied a season-high five sacks while Diggs aimed to conjure up Darnold’s ghosts of Jets past with interceptions on consecutive drives. Diggs has intercepted a pass in each of four Cowboys games this season, Darnold becoming his first two-time victim.

The fourth quarter became risky for the Cowboys when Diggs was sidelined for what Fox reporter Pam Oliver termed “player management.” Cowboys fans questioned the decision when Darnold found Moore for a pair of red-zone touchdowns that brought the game back to a one-score gap.

But the Cowboys held off, maintaining their unblemished home record this season and reminding the league how many ways this offense can threaten. Dallas will host a division contest against the New York Giants next Sunday, one year after Prescott suffered his season-ending compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle.