It wasn’t the smoothest performance by the Dallas Cowboys, but the team’s defense locked down the Arizona Cardinals offense after a slow start and the stars of the Dallas offense came up big when it mattered most in a 28-17 win on Monday Night Football.
With the victory, the Cowboys move to 2-1, but look much more vulnerable than the team that went 13-3 a year ago. Still, it was a good bounce back for the team after a frustrating loss last week and a rough first half.
For the Cardinals, the loss drops the team to 1-2, with plenty of reason to be concerned about the team’s current state.
Here are some of the defining moments of the night:
1. Jerry Jones and the Cowboys kneeled and then stood for the anthem
Many teams and players made statements of unity after Donald Trump took aim at the NFL over the weekend. The Cowboys and Cardinals joined that list Monday night, although Dallas did a little something different with its protest.
With Jerry Jones and Jason Garrett joining the players on the field, the Cowboys collectively kneeled with linked arms prior to the national anthem, but stood for the performance.
The Cardinals and Cowboys both linked arms during the song.
2. Carson Palmer came out firing
On the opening drive of the game, the Cardinals offense finally looked like the unit of previous seasons when Arizona was a force to be reckoned with.
Palmer completed all five of his passes for 78 yards on the eight-play, 82-yard drive with three completions of at least 20 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown pass to Jaron Brown. While the team’s rushing attempts on the drive didn’t net much, the early shredding of the Dallas secondary looked like it would be unstoppable.
3. The Cowboys defense buckled down
The hot start for the Cardinals looked like it would lead to far more points — especially with the Cowboys offense starting in neutral. But Arizona couldn’t get its run game going and the passes of 20 yards or more started becoming passes of just a few yards at a time.
Dallas was fortunate to only allow seven points in the first half, but the pass rush of DeMarcus Lawrence and other Cowboys defensive linemen created enough negative plays for the Cardinals to keep the game in reach.
4. Dak Prescott flipped into the end zone to get things rolling
Ezekiel Elliott burst through traffic for a few big plays, but struggled to consistently get more than a yard or two at a time. Prescott wasn’t able to take advantage of the Cardinals secondary either.
The Cowboys quarterback finished the first half with just 25 passing yards, but still managed to be the offense’s savior when he dove over a pair of Cardinals defenders and flipped into the end zone.
The touchdown sent Dallas into the locker room at halftime tied 7-7.
5. Dez Bryant bullied the Cardinals defense for a touchdown
It was another underwhelming game for Dez Bryant, who now has just 114 yards through three games after adding just 12 to his season total Monday. It was a game that Patrick Peterson can mark in the win column.
However, when Bryant had a chance to get into the end zone, he wouldn’t be denied.
The touchdown was Bryant’s 69th touchdown in his 100th career game. Nice.
6. Larry Fitzgerald wouldn’t let the Cardinals lose
It’s becoming difficult to argue that Fitzgerald is an immortal robot. I mean, how else could he continue to be such a ridiculously good receiver after more than 200 games in the NFL?
He caught all six passes that were thrown his direction in the first quarter and then caught a touchdown in the third quarter that brought the score back to even.
He wasn’t done Monday, but we’ll get back to that in a little bit.
7. Dak Prescott finally connected on a deep ball
If the second-year quarterback for the Cowboys can start hitting deep passes and forcing teams to worry about getting burned over the top, it’ll open everything else up for Dallas.
Early in the fourth quarter, he finally made Arizona pay with a beautiful pass on the run and off one foot that traveled about 50 yards in the air and into the arms of Brice Butler.
It wasn’t the best first half for Prescott, but he finished the game with 183 passing yards and two touchdown passes, and did enough to efficiently move the Cowboys down the field.
8. No really, LARRY FITZGERALD IS IMMORTAL
Fitzgerald started strong for the Cardinals, but his best moment of the game was when he turned a sure interception into one of the most ridiculous catches you’ll ever see.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Fitzgerald’s heroics didn’t result in a touchdown at the end of the drive and the team settled for a field goal instead.
He finished with 13 receptions, 149 yards, and a touchdown reception. The game matched his personal record for receptions and the eighth most yardage he’s ever tallied.
Amazingly, it’s also the first time he’s ever caught a touchdown against the Cowboys.
9. Dak and Zeke put the game on ice
When the Cardinals settled for a field goal, it put a lot of pressure on the Arizona defense to get a stop while the team was down 21-17. But Prescott and Elliott came up big when it mattered most.
Prescott connected with Butler again on a 53-yard pass that was originally ruled a 75-yard touchdown, but reversed when it was ruled Tyrann Mathieu touched Butler while he was on the ground.
The damage was done, though. Once the Cowboys got in the red zone, Elliott did the rest with a 7-yard run to get Dallas inside the 10 and 8-yard touchdown run to give Dallas a 28-17 lead.
With the pass rush continuing to get home, the Cardinals offense wasn’t able to respond on a pair of drives in the last five minutes.
Elliott finished the game with 80 yards on 22 rushing attempts, a fine bounce back from his 8 yards in Week 2.