Clarence Hill: 5 Things from Cowboys’ 20-17 win vs. Bengals as Rush delivers in clutch

Not many gave the Dallas Cowboys a chance Sunday against the defending AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals and rising superstar quarterback Joe Burrow.

Not with quarterback Dak Prescott out 4-6 weeks with a fractured thumb and with seemingly no hope after the ugliest season-opening loss in franchise history.

But the Cowboys believed.

More important, they believed in backup quarterback Cooper Rush, who now has two starts and two victories in his Cowboys career.

The Bengals rallied from a 17-3 halftime deficit to tie the game in the fourth quarter on a Burrow touchdown pass to Tee Higgin and 2-point conversion pass to Tyler Boyd.

But it was Rush who calmly drove the Cowboys 33 yards, setting up a 50-yard game-winning field goal from Brett Maher as time expired and a 20-17 victory before a shocked crowd of 92,944 at AT&T Stadium.

The Cowboys, who lost the season opener 19-3 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, improved their record to 1-1. But most importantly, they avoided going 0-2 to open the season.

They are no longer in basement in the NFC East and they renewed hopes they can keep their season alive until Prescott returns.

The Cowboys play at the New York Giants (2-0) next Monday night.

A week after saying the loss to the Buccaneers was the worst season-opening performance he’s seen since buying the Cowboys, owner Jerry Jones said this week’s win as just as impactful on the other direction.

“I think so. I think so,” Jones said. “This was such a downer for our opening day compounded by losing Dak. To come back and get this addressing of our quarterback spot with a performance like this, plus play a Super Bowl team and do some good things where our strengths were, blocking, running, our running game, as well as defense. Yeah, I feel good about this ball game we just played, very good.”

Clarence Hill’s 5 Things from the Cowboys 20-17 victory against the Cincinnati Bengals:

Cooper Rush did what he could for as long as he could

The Cowboys were confident in Cooper Rush being able to handle the job with Dak Prescott sidelined for at least four weeks with a fractured thumb because of his knowledge of the offense and because they knew the moment was not going to be too big for him mentally.

Rush proved them right early on, completing 5 of his first 6 passes passes, 7 of his first 9 and 9 of his first 12 as the Cowboys jumped out to a 14-3 first quarter lead.

He tossed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Noah Brown and converted a fourth-and-2 to Brown for a 17-yard pass and 46-yard toss to Tony Pollard that set up a touchdown.

His passer rating of 155.8 in the first quarter is the 10th-highest in a first quarter by a Cowboys quarterback since 1991.

Rush was 12 of 18 for 162 yards and a touchdown at half.

But the thing the Cowboys like most about Rush is his calm demeanor and that showed up on the final drive as he led drove them 33 yards on six plays to set up 50-yard game winning field by Brett Maher.

Rush finished 19 of 31 for 235 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions and passer rating of 95.5.

Rush beat Minnesota last season with a late-game scoring drive in his only other career NFL start.

They was no blink in Rush on Sunday.

With 57 second left the game and the ball at the Cowboys 35, Rush hit CeeDee Lamb for 8 yards, then Brown for 12 yards before a 10-yard pass to Lamb.

With a 1st down at the Bengals 35, it was only a matter of time now. A 3-yard run by Tony Pollard and then calming spike by Rush with :03 proved to be more than enough time for Maher to nail the game winner.

“We all had confidence in Cooper coming in,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. “it just gives you an opportunity to keep building and growing. That’s what we are all about. We’re about stacking success. Just really happy for Cooper. That fits his personality. It’s never too big for him.”

Cowboys defense shuts down ground game

After giving up rushing 121 yards to Leonard Fournette in the season opener, one area the Cowboys’ defense seemed most vulnerable was on the ground.

It was a huge emphasis heading into Sunday’s game against the Bengals. But the defense proved to be nothing but a wall for Bengals running back Joe Mixon.

He had 5 yards on five carries in the first half as the Bengals could get nothing going, allowing the Cowboys pass rushers to ravage Joe Burrow in building a 17-3 halftime lead.

Mixon finished with 57 yards on 19 carries.

Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence led the way up front with six tackles. Linebackers Anthony Barr and Leighton Vander Esch chased him down from sideline to sideline.

With Mixon unable to run effectively, it made the Bengals one dimensional and played a huge role in the Cincinnati converting just 6 of 17 third downs chances.

“Last week we were playing Tampa Bay, there were number one or number two in all passing categories the year before,” McCarthy said. “They came in and were really committed to the run. They flipped the game on us, had success doing it. To me that’s all about September football, you’re going to have 30-35 percent un-scouted looks. This is the time of year you really just have to trust your camp rules, trust your off season program. I think our guys did an excellent job of that.

“Anthony Barr was outstanding. He’s so instinctive. you really felt Anthony Barr today.”

Micah Parsons and Cowboys pass rush torment Joe Burrow until 4th

At this point, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow needs some hazard pay. He was sacked 70 times last year in the regular season and playoffs combined.

The Bengals rebuilt their offensive line in the offseason with former Cowboys right tackle La’el Collins one of the key newcomers. It has made no difference.

After getting sacked seven times in the season-opening loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, linebacker Micah Parsons and the Cowboys defense got their turn to eat on Sunday. The Cowboys recorded six sacks. Parsons had two and defensive end Dorance Amstrong had two to lead the way.

Parsons abused Collins for much of the day, forcing the Bengals to double and even triple him at times to contain him. The other rushers took advantage of the attention being given to Parsons, setting up sacks for linebacker Leighton Vander Esch and defensive end Dante Fowler.

“That feels just as good. It’s all a team in here,” Parsons said. “One lion can’t do it by himself. You need a pride. It’s just like when 10 hyenas go after one lion, the lion is liable to lose. The fact that I’ve got 10 other guys other that I feel that I can rely on, that’s what makes this boat go round. That was cool for Leighton because I knew exactly we were going to set it up. We drew it up knowing they were going to crash in on me. That’s just mastering the game plan. That’s just how to feed off each other. That’s what teamwork is.”

But the second half proved to be a different story as the Bengals chipped away with two field goals in the third quarter.

And when Burrow directed a 19-play, 83-yard drive to tie the game late in the fourth quarter, the pass rush, tired and worn down for being on the field too long, was nowhere to be found.

But give the Cowboys defense, especially the secondary, for forcing a three-and-out on the Bengals next possession after the touchdown.

Cornerback Trevon Diggs, not known to be a great tackle, had the hit and stop of the game on third-and-3, holding Tee Higgins to one yard after a catch. It forced the final punt to get the offense ball back, setting up the game-winning kick.

“That was huge,” Parsons said. “We even said that’s the hardest we’ve ever seen Diggs tackle. He shot out like a cannon. I was proud of him myself. When I saw that was 7, I was shocked for a second. But that was huge momentum. Way to get off the field, three and out. We were able to go down the field with enough time.”

Mike McCarthy and Kellen Moore had it going early

When the Cowboys went for it on fourth-and-2 from their own 44 on the first drive of the game, you knew how much this game went to the coach Mike McCarthy.

He was going all in to win.

Cooper Rush delivered a perfect strike to Noah Brown for a 17-yard gain. Cooper and Brown finished off the drive with 9-yard touchdown connection.

“I hope they see that with me every time I get in front of them, every time I interact with them,” McCarthy said of his tone-setting call. “We’re here to win, in fourth and two, especially that early, especially with our defense, punting is not a bad decision. Once again, just felt good about the way we started, I think it just really points to where the team was coming in here, the preparation leading into it. Any time you can show confidence in your team, that’s what you want to do as a coach.

“I don’t want to be taking crazy risks and so forth. Tried it, it’s not worth it most of the time. We felt good, I just like the way we started, it was a very easy decision.”

It was the beginning of a perfect first two possessions by the Cowboys offense and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who came under fire last week for some questionable play calls in the 19-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Moore was even called out by McCarthy for not being conservative enough. Of course, the same McCarthy who green-lit the fourth down gamble.

Everything Moore called on his opening script worked as the Cowboys gained 155 yards on their first two drives combined and led 14-3 after one quarter.

The Cowboys couldn’t have asked for a better start in their first game without starting quarterback Prescott.

Once the script went it, it was a different story for the Cowboys offense.

A fumble by tight end Dalton Schultz robbed the Cowboys of a scoring chance in the third quarter.

The Cowboys had three punts and that fumble in the second half before the final scoring drive.

But Moore was able to dial up the right plays in the final seconds to secure the victory.

McCarthy is now 6-1 the week following a season-opening loss, including a 3-0 mark with Dallas.

Tony Pollard makes impact

Ezekiel Elliott came into the game believing the Cowboys needed to lean on him and the running game to make the offense go without quarterback Dak Prescott.

Elliott was right.

It would be a running back who gave the offense juice on Sunday.

Tony Pollard had a 46-yard catch and run, setting up his own 1-yard run give the Cowboys a 14-3 lead in the second quarter.

Pollard had nine carries for 43 yards in the games to complement 15 carries and 53 yards on the ground for Elliott.

Credit a balance game plan from offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. The Cowboys wanted to run the ball and keep the Bengals offense off the field.

They had 27 rushes for 107 yards in the game, compared to 31 passes.

“We were committed to the run game,” McCarthy said. “That was the game plan. We wanted to commit to the run. Had the shot plays come off of that. I thought Kellen Moore did an excellent job and stayed the course with the game plan. We didn’t overreact to last week.”