Hours after agreeing to the richest contract in NFL history, Dak Prescott threw for 179 yards and one touchdown and the visiting Dallas Cowboys overwhelmed the Cleveland Browns’ punchless offense in a season-opening 33-17 rout Sunday.
Prescott, who agreed to a four-year, $240 million extension, completed 19 of 32 passes but didn’t need to do much more. Dallas limited Cleveland to one first down in taking a 20-3 halftime lead and held them in check from then on. The Browns managed just 230 yards on 70 plays.
Deshaun Watson was largely ineffective until the Cowboys built a 24-point lead in the third quarter, finishing the day 24-of-45 passing for 169 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Cleveland rushed for just 93 yards and gave up six sacks, two apiece to Eric Kendricks and DeMarcus Lawrence.
The Browns scored first on Dustin Hopkins’ 51-yard field goal just over 5 1/2 minutes into the game, but the rest of the game belonged to Dallas. Prescott put the Cowboys ahead for good on a 21-yard touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks, starting a stretch of 27 straight points.
Ezekiel Elliott made it 14-3 with 5:15 left in the first half on a 3-yard scoring jaunt. Kicker Brandon Aubrey tacked on 57- and 40-yard field goals in the last 2:06 of the half for a 20-3 lead at the break.
The Cowboys upped the cushion to 27-3 when KaVontae Turpin returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown with 12:59 left in the third quarter. Watson found Jerry Jeudy for a 6-yard strike on Cleveland’s next possession.
Aubrey added 50- and 46-yard field goals to increase the margin to 33-10 with 11:51 remaining in the game. The Browns made the final margin a bit more respectable on Jerome Ford’s 2-yard touchdown run with 29 seconds left.
The game was somewhat sloppy as the teams were each flagged for 11 penalties. Neither offense gained 300 yards.
–Field Level Media
