LANDOVER, Maryland- The Dallas Cowboys beat the Washington Redskins on the road 31-21 in week two.
This matchup marked back-to-back games for Dallas with 30 plus points against a division opponent. The Cowboys are now 2-0.
Dallas got off to a slow start in the first quarter. The team went scoreless and Daron Payne put continuous pressure on Dak Prescott, causing him to throw his first interception against the Redskins of his career. The intended receiver, Randall Cobb, tipped the ball but was not able to come away with it. Defensively, the Cowboys were struggling to stop Adrian Peterson, who made his own way on runs and broke through tackles.
Things began to shift in the second quarter after Tyrone Crawford’s sack and Dak Prescott’s 15-yard run. The offense began to move the chains and Prescott’s 51-yard pass to Devin Smith for the touchdown tied the score at seven. He threw a perfect pass off play-action and hit Smith in stride to the end zone.
On the next series, Prescott set up the team’s first lead of the day with a career-high 42-yard run. He continues to show his ability as a run-threat and Kellen Moore has created an offensive scheme that plays into his strengths with play-action, RPO’s, and design runs. A few plays later, The Cowboys took advantage of Washington’s roughing the passer penalty and holding penalty with a touchdown. Jason Witten caught a two-yard pass from Prescott to extend the team’s lead to 14-7.
In the third quarter, all the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place and everyone got involved on offense. Ezekiel Elliott had a big run and Michael Gallup had a great catch running across the field on an over route. The offensive line provided great protection for Prescott up front and Amari Cooper cleared space from behind and blocked the perimeter to provide a big gain for Devin Smith. The team capitalized on the next play with Prescott’s 10-yard TD pass to Amari Cooper to bring the score to 21-14. However, the Redskins struck back with a TD of their own. The Cowboys next drive ended with a Tony Pollard touchdown run, the rookie’s first, that was called back by a holding penalty. The team had to settle for a field goal.
In the fourth quarter, Ezekiel Elliott had a two-yard TD rush to bring the score to 31-14 and the Redskins scored to lessen the Cowboys lead. Terry McLaurin caught a one-yard pass in the corner of the end zone against Byron Jones to make the final score 31-21.
Not as smooth as week one, but the Cowboys had an overall solid performance on offense yet again. Dak Prescott finished 26 of 30 for 269 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. Elliott tallied 23 carries for 111 yards, 4.8 average per carry, and one touchdown. Newcomer Devin Smith led the team in receiving yards with three receptions for 74 yards, a 24.7 average, and a touchdown.
Cowboys had 474 yards of total offense and Washington had 255.
