Cowboys edge Rams in Hawaii
HONOLULU (AP) —
Dak Prescott appears ready for the regular season, with or without Ezekiel Elliott.
The Dallas quarterback completed all five of his pass attempts in his only series, and the Cowboys came away with a 14-10 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday night.
Prescott dropped back to pass seven times, completed passes to five different receivers, had one short completion negated by an ineligible lineman downfield penalty and was sacked once.
Prescott's only drive covered 97 yards in 12 plays, took more than six minutes and culminated with Tony Pollard's 14-yard touchdown run.
"It's always a challenge coming off your own goal line. We call that a 'coming out situation.' One of your goals is to get a first down and change field position. To be able to have a 13-play drive and cash it in for points was big for us," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said.
Through his first two preseason games, Prescott has completed
all nine of his pass attempts.
"It is a small sample size and we're not going crazy about him being 9 for 9, but what he's done well though is play well. He's played well in practice, he's played well in preseason games, he's handled himself well, he's making good decisions, making good throws and that follows with how he prepares," Garrett said.
It marked the first Dallas touchdown in a preseason game since Aug. 18, 2018. Dallas was held to three field goals in last week's 17-9 loss at San Francisco to open the preseason.
With starting quarterback Jared Goff among the large number of Rams starters that did not make the trip to Hawaii, Blake Bortles got the start and finished 7 of 11 for 62 yards. His 7-yard scoring pass to JoJo Natson capped Los Angeles' second drive, which was extended by a fumbled punt return by Dallas return man Reggie Davis and recovered by rookie Jake Gervase.
"Blake did a really good job, got us in and out of the right run calls and I thought it was exactly what we wanted to accomplish for him," Rams coach Sean McVay said.
Los Angeles (0-2) took its only lead on Greg Zuerlein's 29-yard field goal in the second quarter. Zuerlein attempted a 56-yard field goal just before halftime, but missed wide left.
"I thought the first half was good, really," McVay said. "The second half was really sloppy, not even close to the standards that we expect to operate with. I'm not even talking about whether we end up scoring points and I'm talking about not beating yourself with things that take no talent."
Dallas (1-1) pulled back ahead late in the third quarter, when third-string quarterback Cooper Rush found Devin Smith for an 8-yard touchdown.
Pollard, who started in place of Elliott, finished with five rushes for 42 yards. Elliott, a two-time league rushing champion, missed his second preseason game while he continues his holdout. Alfred Morris, who signed with the team during training camp, saw his first action of the preseason and carried three times for 6 yards, all before halftime.
The teams met in the NFC Divisional round of last year's playoffs. The Rams won 30-22 en route to an appearance in the Super Bowl.