QB JACKSON SHOWS NO ILL EFFECTS AGAINST COWBOYS
Lamar Jackson ran for 94 yards and a touchdown as the focal point of a relentless rushing attack that amassed 294 yards, and the Baltimore Ravens emerged from a COVID-19 outbreak to beat the Dallas Cowboys 34-17 on Tuesday night.
Returning from a one-game absence after testing positive for the potentially deadly virus, Jackson carried 13 times and threw for two scores. He was one of 23 Ravens to spend time on the reserve/ COVID-19 list while four different strains of the virus swept through the organization.
The game was played on Tuesday night because Baltimore’s previous game — against Pittsburgh last Wednesday — was pushed back three times while the Ravens had at least one player test positive for 10 consecutive days.
Gus Edwards ran for 101 yards on just seven carries and rookie J.K. Dobbins — who also missed time on the COVID-19 list — added 71 yards rushing with a TD to help Baltimore (7-5) break a threegame skid and stay alive in its quest to reach the postseason for a third straight year.
Dallas came in with the worst rush defense in the league, and it showed. The Ravens averaged 7.9 yards per carry and prevailed despite getting only 107 yards passing from Jackson.
The last-place Cowboys (3-9) have lost six of seven. Andy Dalton went 31 for 48 for 285 yards and two touchdowns, and Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 77 yards.
But Greg Zuerlein missed three field goal tries and Dallas yielded 20 straight points after taking an early 10-7 lead.
Ravens 34, Cowboys 17
The game was supposed to feature Ravens receiver Dez Bryant going against his former team, but Bryant left during warmups and was scratched with what Baltimore termed “an illness.”
Bryant wrote on Twitter that he tested positive for COVID-19 and later posted: “Yea I’m going to go ahead and call it a quit for the rest of the season I can’t deal with this.”
He subsequently posted a series of tweets, including, “Yea I’m coming back I’m being smart.”
Bryant scored 73 touchdowns with the Cowboys from 2010-17. He was signed by the Ravens in October and saw his first action in two years, catching four passes in three games.
On his first series since Nov. 22, Jackson threw a pass that was tipped and intercepted. That led to a Dallas field goal, but Jackson answered with a 37-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-2 play.
Tony Pollard took the subsequent kickoff 66 yards to set up a 13- yard touchdown pass from Dalton to Michael Gallup. It would be the last time Dallas led.
An interception by rookie Patrick Queen set up a 38-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to Miles Boykin for a 14-10 lead.
Jackson’s second TD pass of the game, a 20-yarder in the third quarter to Marquise Brown, made it 2410.
Hurts to start over Wentz
Jalen Hurts will start for the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday against New Orleans, sending Carson Wentz to the bench.
Eagles coach Doug Pederson made the announcement Tuesday on the team’s website.
“We’re not where we want to be as an offense,” Pederson said. “I looked at the whole thing and decided that for this week to look for that spark again to try to get the team over the hump, to try to get everybody playing better.”
Pederson insisted Monday the decision was his, even though Wentz’s $128 million, four-year contract begins in 2021. Hurts replaced Wentz in the third quarter of a 30-16 loss to Green Bay and completed 5 of 12 passes for 109 yards, one touchdown, one interception and took three sacks.
“Carson is like all of us right now, he’s disappointed. He’s frustrated,” Pederson said. “He’s been a professional through it all. He supports his teammates and that’s what you want to see from him, the leader of the team. I know sometimes the quarterback gets a lot of the blame like the head coach does. It’s the good with the bad.”
Notable
The Giants signed the versatile free agent Joe Webb and promoted defensive end Niko Lalos from their practice squad.
Webb, 34, is listed as a quarterback, but has also caught passes, run the ball and returned kickoffs. He has played in 102 regular-season games with Minnesota, Carolina, Buffalo and Houston. His most recent action was at the end of the 2018 season with the Texans.
The Titans put wide receiver Adam Humphries on injured reserve, two days after he played his first game after a month in the concussion protocol.
• The Vikings waived third-year cornerback Holton Hill, during another season of extended absences for a once-promising prospect.