Cowboys, Prescott pull away from Giants
Dak Prescott passed for 257 yards and three touchdowns, Jourdan Lewis returned a fumble 63 yards for a touchdown in the last minute and the Cowboys kept their place atop the NFC East with a 37-18 victory Monday against the Giants in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Prescott threw touchdown passes of 42 yards to Blake Jarwin, 15 yards to Michael Gallup and 45 yards to Amari Cooper for the Cowboys (5-3), who also got three field goals from Brett Maher and overcame a 12-3 deficit in the second quarter to stay a half-game ahead of the Eagles in the division.
Daniel Jones passed for 210 yards and a touchdown and ran for 54 yards for the Giants (2-7), but he also lost two fumbles — including one that Lewis returned for his touchdown — threw an interception and was sacked five times. Aldrick Rosas kicked four field goals for the Giants, who lost their fifth game in a row.
The game was delayed briefly in the second quarter when a black cat scampered onto the field during a Giants drive.
Browns cut safety after Twitter rant
Browns safety Jermaine Whitehead’s disturbing social-media rant cost him his job.
The Browns cut Whitehead after reprimanding him Sunday for ‘‘totally unacceptable and highly inappropriate’’ posts in the wake of their 24-19 loss to the Broncos.
Whitehead made several threatening and expletive-laden posts on Twitter while still in uniform after the Browns’ fourth consecutive loss. One of his tweets was directed at Dustin Fox, a former NFL player who works for the Browns’ radio network. Fox had posted an earlier tweet criticizing Whitehead’s tackling.
Twitter suspended Whitehead’s account.
This and that
Colts quarterback Jacoby Brissett suffered a sprained ligament in his left knee when teammate Quenton Nelson fell into his leg Sunday against the Steelers, but coach Frank Reich didn’t rule him out for the team’s game Sunday against the Dolphins.
♦ Jets running back Le’Veon Bell had an MRI exam on one of his knees, and the team is awaiting the results to see whether he will have to miss any time. Coach Adam Gase said he’s unsure when Bell was hurt Sunday against the Dolphins.
♦ Dolphins coach Brian Flores said rookie receiver Preston Williams will miss the final eight games of the season with an unspecified knee injury suffered Sunday against the Jets. Williams caught two touchdown passes in the game.
♦ The NFL suspended Dolphins running back Mark Walton for the next four games for violating its personal-conduct and substance-abuse policies.