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The Arizona Cardinals dominated Monday Night Football with a 38-10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in AT&T Stadium.
Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray heated up in the second quarter to give Arizona a 21-0 lead. From there, Arizona remained in control. With the loss of quarterback Dak Prescott, the Cowboys questioned how their offense would run under backup quarterback Andy Dalton. The answer: lots of turnovers.
Murray Heats Up Cardinals’ Offense
The first quarter featured a display of punting from the Cardinals’ Andy Lee and the Cowboys’ Chris Jones.
At the end of a scoreless first quarter, the Cowboys offense made their first turnover of the night. Cowboys’ running back Ezekiel Elliott turned the ball over on a fumble. The Cardinals defense got the best of Elliott, forcing him to turn the ball over twice on Monday night.
At the start of the second quarter, Murray and company capitalized on the first Dallas turnover. Furthermore, Murray capped off a 54-yard drive with a six-yard pass to Christian Kirk. Arizona went up 7-0.
On the following drive, Elliott fumbled the ball for the second time setting up another Arizona touchdown. A one-yard run from Kenyan Drake put the Cardinals up 14-0.
Kenyan Drake put up numbers on MNF. #HaveADay #RedSea | @KDx32 pic.twitter.com/cwet8N97S4
— NFL (@NFL) October 20, 2020
Arizona went on to score one more touchdown in the second quarter. Murray found Kirk again for another Cardinal touchdown giving them a 21-0 lead.
Cardinals’ head coach Kliff Kingsbury commented on Murray’s performance.
The Cowboys responded with a 34-yard field goal from kicker Greg Zuerlein to cut the lead, 21-3, heading into the half.
The Turnover Story
With two fumbles in the first half, Dallas continued to make offensive errors in the second half.
On the first drive of the second half, Arizona cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick picked off Dalton on a pass intended for CeeDee Lamb.
Dalton commented on the impact of turnovers early in the game.
Murray scored his third touchdown of the night on a one-yard run. Furthermore, Murray threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns against Dallas.
The Dallas offense couldn’t catch a break on any end. Dallas’ Zuerlein missed a 58-yard field to keep the score at 28-3. With the Dallas offense finally seeing the red zone, Arizona’s Budda Baker cut the trip short. Dalton threw his second interception of the night, this time to Baker.
.@BuddaBaker32 lays out for the interception! #RedSea
📺: #AZvsDAL on ESPN
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/vHTeaUAgV3 pic.twitter.com/wr02YVt1TZ— NFL (@NFL) October 20, 2020
The Cardinals chipped in a 26-yard field goal to further their lead 31-3.
Midway through the fourth quarter, the Dallas offense finally found momentum. Furthermore, Dalton capped off a 75-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown to Amari Cooper.
Arizona would respond with a touchdown of their own. For the second time, Drake found the end zone on a 69-yard rushing touchdown to put Arizona on top 38-10.
Up Next
Dallas (2-4) continues to sit atop the NFC East. The Cowboys will travel to Washington on Sunday for a 1 p.m. game.
The Cardinals (4-2) look ahead to Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks for an NFC West matchup. The Cardinals and Seahawks are set to kick off at 4:05 p.m. on Sunday.
