Brett Maher kicked a 50-yard field goal as time expired to lift the host Dallas Cowboys to a 20-17 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday in Arlington, Texas.
Cooper Rush, who started in place of the injured Dak Prescott (thumb), completed three passes for 30 yards to move Dallas to Cincinnati’s 35-yard line. A short Tony Pollard run set up Maher, who kicked the ball just inside the right upright to win the game.
Rush finished 19-for-31 for 235 yards and one touchdown in his second career NFL start. Rush tossed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Noah Brown to cap a 12-play, 75-yard drive in the first quarter.
Brown had five catches for 91 yards for the Cowboys (1-1), who rebounded from a 19-3 loss in their season-opening loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Micah Parsons recorded two of his team’s six sacks to become the fourth Dallas defender since 1982 to start a season with multiple sacks in each of the first two games, He joined Charles Haley (1994), DeMarcus Ware (2011) and DeMarcus Lawrence (2017).
Sacks are nothing new to Joe Burrow, who was taken down seven times during Cincinnati’s 23-20 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers last weekend. Burrow completed 24 of 36 passes for 199 yards and a touchdown for the Bengals, who fell to 0-2 after representing the AFC in Super Bowl LVI last season.
Cincinnati trailed 17-3 at halftime before Evan McPherson brought his team within one score by making field goals of 50 and 46 yards during the third quarter.
Burrow connected on a 5-yard touchdown pass to Tee Higgins to cap a 19-play, 83-yard drive that spanned 8:54 of playing time. Burrow then found a wide-open Tyler Boyd for the two-point conversion to forge a 17-17 tie with 3:45 to play in the fourth quarter.
After being limited to a field goal in its season opener, Dallas scored a touchdown on its first two possessions Sunday to take a 14-3 lead.
Rush connected with Brown on a 17-yard play on fourth down to extend the Cowboys’ opening drive. The former then rolled out and found the latter for a 9-yard touchdown pass.
McPherson answered with a 43-yard field goal on the next possession, however Dallas had an immediate response. Pollard followed up a 46-yard reception to the 1-yard line by scoring on the next play to give the Cowboys a 14-3 lead.
Maher drilled a 54-yard field goal just before halftime to extend Dallas’ advantage.
–Field Level Media
