Elliott shines in Sunday night thriller
ARLINGTON, Texas — Ezekiel Elliott celebrated a short touchdown run by jumping into an oversized Salvation Army red kettle and the Dallas Cowboys closed in on home-field advantage in the playoffs with a 26-20 victory Sunday night over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Cowboys (12-2) bounced back after their franchise-record 11-game winning streak ended, hanging on after what looked to be a festive night following Elliott’s antics turned tense when Jameis Winston rallied the Bucs from a 17-3 deficit to a 20-17 lead.
Making his debut in the Sunday night spotlight, Winston threw for 247 yards and two touchdowns, but had four turnovers, including an interception that led to Dan Bailey’s 38-yard field goal that gave Dallas a 23-20 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Tampa Bay (8-6) had its five-game winning streak snapped and fell a game behind Atlanta in the NFC South.
Dallas stayed two games ahead of the New York Giants in the NFC East and needs a win without any help to clinch home field throughout the NFC playoffs.
Elliott, the NFL’s rushing leader, had a career-high 159 yards, including a 42-yard run to set up Bailey’s fourth field goal for the six-point lead.
Fellow rookie Dak Prescott bounced back from his worst game as a pro, going 32 of 36 for 279 yards a week after completing less than 50 per cent of his passes in a 10-7 loss to the New York Giants.
Winston had scoring passes of 42 yards to Adam Humphries and 10 yards to Cameron Brate to put Tampa Bay up 20-17.
Meanwhile, Dallas tight end Jason Witten passed former teammate Terrell Owens for seventh place on the NFL’s career receptions list, getting his 1,079th on a six-yarder in the second quarter. The 34-year-old Witten, in his 14th season, had eight catches in the first half and 10 for the game, giving him 1,086.
Witten is one of two NFL tight ends with at least 1,000 catches and 10,000 yards receiving. Tony Gonzalez is the other. Owens spent three seasons with the Cowboys.