Dallas Cowboys jump out to 17-7 lead, behind playmakers on offense and defense
When the Dallas Cowboys traveled to Cincinnati on Sunday, it was billed a homecoming for quarterback Andy Dalton, who played the first nine years of his career with the Bengals.
But the Cowboys defense stole the show early with forced fumbles on the first three drives to spark a 17-0 lead.
Defensive end Marcus Lawrence stripped running back Giovani Bernard on the first drive of the game that the Cowboys turned into a 34-yard field goal from Greg Zuerlein.
On the ensuing drive, Bengals running back Traevon Williams coughed it up after running into the back of one of his own teammates. Defensive end Aldon Smith returned it 78 yards to the end zone for his first career score.
It is the fifth-longest fumble return in team history, and the longest since Greg Ellis had a 98-yard fumble return TD against Arizona on Oct. 3, 1999.
And the third time the Bengals had the ball safety Darian Thompson knocked it loose from Bengals receiver Alex Erickson on fourth-and-1 at the Dallas 15. Jaylon Smith recovered.
And that’s when Dalton got into the act, leading Cowboys 88 yards to the end zone. Dalton, who completed 9 of 11 passes for 92 yards in the first half, hit Amari Cooper for an 11-yard score to make it 17-0.
The three forced fumbles and fumble recoveries in the first half are tied for the most forced fumbles in the first half of a game in team history.
The Cowboys came into the game tied for last in the league with just 11 takeaways, including six fumble recoveries. They had three Sunday in the first half.
And they had scored just 28 points all season on turnovers. They had 17 in the first half against the Bengals.
