Rico Dowdle stars against ex-mates as Panthers top Cowboys
Bryce Young threw for three touchdowns, Rico Dowdle rushed for 183 yards and caught a touchdown pass against his former team and the Carolina Panthers beat the Dallas Cowboys with a field goal on the final play Sunday afternoon in Charlotte.
Ryan Fitzgerald's 33-yard kick for his third field goal of the game gave the Panthers (3-3) their second consecutive victory. They held the ball for 15 plays on the game's last possession.
Young threw two touchdown passes to Tetairoa McMillan and another to Dowdle. He completed 17 of 25 passes for 199 yards and an interception. Dowdle, in his first season with Carolina after four years with the Cowboys, carried the ball 30 times and made four receptions for a team-high 56 receiving yards.
Dowdle finish with 239 scrimmage yards. He is the first player in Panthers history to top 200 in consecutive games.
Fitzgerald kicked first-half field goals of 31 and 55 yards.
Dak Prescott threw for three touchdowns and 261 yards on 25-for-34 passing for the Cowboys (2-3-1), who had only 31 rushing yards.
The Cowboys tied the score at 27 on Brandon Aubrey's 28-yard field goal with 9:20 remaining. In the game Following punts by both teams, the Panthers gained possession at their own 17-yard line with 6:07 remaining. They converted on a fourth-and-4 play from the Dallas 40 on the final play before the two-minute warning on the way to setting up the winning field goal.
The Panthers went ahead when they drove 80 yards in the third quarter, with Young's 36-yard pass to Dowdle finishing the four-play series.
Dallas was back ahead 24-20 by the end of the third quarter on Prescott's 34-yard pass to George Pickens. Carolina regained the lead when Young's 2-yard pass to McMillan completed a 10-play drive.
Dallas led 17-13 at halftime, largely because of Donovan Wilson's interception and an ensuing penalty setting up the Cowboys at the Carolina 12-yard line. Prescott passed 3 yards to Hunter Luepke on fourth down for the points.
Young threw 19 yards to McMillan for Carolina's first touchdown. That was countered by the Cowboys using 13 plays on a march that ended with Prescott's 19-yard TD pass to Jake Ferguson.