The Cowboys and Chargers each scored a touchdown in the first quarter, but it took until the last seconds of the second for either team to put up more points.
But with Brandon Aubrey’s 32-yard field goal, Dallas has a 10-7 lead at halftime.
The Cowboys’ first chance to score late in the second quarter came when they went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Chargers’ 13. But Dallas’ version of the “tush push” (or “Brotherly shove” if you prefer) left the Cowboys short of the sticks for a turnover on downs.
On the ensuing drive, Los Angeles got to midfield but a holding penalty on second down put the offense behind the sticks. Herbert’s third-down pass to Quentin Johnson was incomplete.
That’s when the Cowboys got the ball back with three timeouts on their own 29. With a 23-yard completion to CeeDee Lamb, Dallas was in L.A. territory. An unnecessary roughness penalty on Chargers safety Derwin James gave Dallas the ball at the Chargers 17 with 14 seconds left. But after a short completion to Tony Pollard, head coach Mike McCarthy elected to let the clock run down to three seconds before calling his second timeout to kick a field goal.
The Chargers went down the field on their first drive, scoring on a 1-yard pass from Herbert to receiver Keenan Allen. That ended a five-play, 42-yard drive that began with good field position after a long punt return.
While the Cowboys went three-and-out on their first possession, they came back with a nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive on their second. Prescott kept a zone-read and darted 18 yards into the end zone on fourth-and-1 to tie the game at 7-7.
Prescott is 15-of-20 passing for 161 yards. He’s also Dallas’ leading rusher with four carries for 33 yards with a TD. Lamb has caught all five of his targets for 84 yards. The Cowboys could stand to feed him more in the second half.
On the other side, Herbert is 11-of-18 for 113 yards with a touchdown. He was under heavy pressure at points in the first half.
The Chargers…
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