ARLINGTON, Texas — Dak Prescott threw two touchdown passes to Cole Beasley to spark the previously punchless Dallas passing game and rushed for a career-high 82 yards in the Cowboys’ 40-7 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
- Dak Prescott threw two touchdown passes to Cole Beasley as the Dallas Cowboys easily defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars
- The Cowboys led 24-0 at halftime
- The Jaguars trailed at halftime by more than 20 points for the seocnd straight week
Perhaps pumped up by some pregame mingling with UFC fighter Conor McGregor , the Cowboys rolled to a 24-0 halftime lead, with Beasley getting his first two touchdowns of the season for the NFL’s 30th-ranked passing offense that was facing the league’s No. 1 pass defense.
Prescott had 151 of his 183 yards passing in the first half because Dallas didn’t need to throw while coasting during a second-half blowout.
The 2016 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year had already his personal best in rushing for a game when he spun out of a sack for the longest run of his career, a 28-yarder. He scored Dallas’ first touchdown on a 17-yard run .
The Cowboys (3-3) won their first three games of the season at 9-year-old AT&T Stadium for the first time. Most of their offensive struggles have been in the three road losses.
No such difficulties this time, even when Prescott lost control of the ball twice and basically dribbled to himself on two of his career-high 11 runs. He also completed a first-down pass to former Baylor power forward Rico Gathers, making it quite the basketball day as well.
Beasley had his second career 100-yard receiving game with 101 yards on nine catches. The scoring plays were from 17 and 9 yards.
Trailing by at least 20 at halftime for the second straight week, the Jaguars (3-3) had to abandon their preferred running attack again. They also were without Leonard Fournette for the fourth time with a hamstring injury, and have a banged-up offensive line on its third left tackle.
Blake Bortles, who established a career high in yards passing in consecutive weeks and had a chance to become the fifth NFL quarterback with three straight games of at least 375 yards, was 15 of 26 for 149 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
The Dallas defense, a top 10 unit overshadowed coming into the game, lost its shutout on Bortles’ 34-yard pass to Dede Westbrook midway through the third quarter.
But the Cowboys answered with their second interception of the season, by Jeff Heath as part of triple coverage , and Jourdan Lewis’ recovery just barely inbounds of receiver Keelan Cole’s fumble after a catch.
The centerpiece of the Dallas offense, NFL rushing leader Ezekiel Elliott, was something of an afterthought with the prolific passing in the first half. But he finally passed Prescott’s rushing total for good on a 15-yard scoring run for a 37-7 lead and finished with 106 yards on 24 carries.