Dak Prescott, Cowboys Cruise to 31-6 Win over Josh Rosen, Winless Dolphins

The Dallas Cowboys are still undefeated. The Miami Dolphins are, well, still pretty defeated.

Just not as badly as they had been the first two weeks.  

Dak Prescott and the formerly hot Cowboys offense stalled in the first half before coming on strong after halftime, earning a 31-6 win over the Dolphins on Sunday. 

The Cowboys opened the game with their worst performance of the season against a team that entered Week 3 having been outscored 102-10. It was, for all intents and purposes, the proverbial letdown game. The Dallas offense came out flat, with Prescott failing to show the MVP-level of performance he displayed the first two weeks and the Dolphins seeming motivated to prove they're more than a glorified retread of The Replacements.

Josh Rosen looked solid in his first start in a Dolphins uniform and even had Miami in a position to go into halftime ahead before a Kenyan Drake fumble late in the second quarter. 

The result was a contest far more competitive than the historic spread would have indicated. The Cowboys nevertheless righted the ship in the second half as they moved to 3-0.

Notable Stats

Cowboys

QB Dak Prescott: 19-of-32 passing, 246 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT (2 carries, 7 yards, 1 TD)

RB Ezekiel Elliott: 19 carries, 125 yards (2 receptions, 14 yards)

RB Tony Pollard: 13 carries, 103 yards, 1 TD (3 receptions, 25 yards)

WR Amari Cooper: 6 receptions, 88 yards, 2 TD

Dolphins 

QB Josh Rosen: 18-for-39, 200 yards passing (3 carries, 13 yards)

RB Kenyan Drake: 13 carries, 44 yards (3 receptions, 34 yards)

DE Taco Charlton: 2 tackles, 1 sack

Dak Prescott Continues to Build MVP Resume

Three words: Pay. The. Man.

Prescott's price continues to go up by the week, as he overcame a shaky first half to add three more total touchdowns to his rapidly growing stat line. Patrick Mahomes is running away with the league MVP through three weeks—as he should, have you seen that dude?—but Prescott is leading the charge among secondary candidates after Lamar Jackson looked human Sunday.

Prescott has thrown for 920 yards and nine touchdowns against two picks through the first three weeks, adding another 88 yards and a score on the ground. This game was more of a Dak Classic performance than the first two games, with Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard pounding the Dolphins into submission on the ground.

That said, Prescott came out of the gates hot at the beginning of the second half and accounted for two touchdowns to seal the game, hitting Cooper for his second score and then running the ball in from eight yards out.

The ground game took over in the fourth quarter, particularly Pollard. The former Memphis standout got his first career 100-yard rushing game and at times looked like the more explosive option to Elliott, who himself rushed for an efficient 125 yards on 19 carries.

The Cowboys have one of the NFL's best quarterbacks, possibly the best offensive line in football and the game's best one-two punch at running back. This might be the NFC Super Bowl favorite.

Josh Rosen Gives Dolphins Offense (Slight) Glimmer of Hope

Admittedly, we're damning with faint praise here. The Dolphins offense is terrible, and Rosen was mostly bad Sunday. This is a very bad football team, and in most cases, bad things are going to happen when the Dolphins are on the field.

That said, Rosen did make some solid throws and had the offense looking more in rhythm than at any point in the Ryan Fitzpatrick era. The talent around him is just not there. Rosen took three sacks, was hit 11 times and had to be checked out for a concussion in the second quarter.

There is no quarterback who could look good under these circumstances. Not prime Peyton Manning, not Tom Brady, not Aaron Rodgers. There may be no quarterback in NFL history who has been set up with worse supporting talent his first two seasons than Rosen, who faced similar issues while at UCLA.

It's a sad result for a guy with a ton of talent.

What's Next?

The Cowboys travel to New Orleans to take on the Saints next Sunday night. The Dolphins host the Los Angeles Chargers.