Friday 24 November 2017 17:11, UK
The red-hot Los Angeles Chargers continued their recent winning ways as they dominated the Dallas Cowboys 28-6 at AT&T Stadium - a result that moves both teams to 5-6, but it's clear the Chargers are the team on the way up.
Philip Rivers was near perfect, completing 27 of 33 passes for a whopping 434 yards and three touchdowns while Keenan Allen built on his huge performance last week adding a touchdown to an 11-catch, 172 yard performance.
On the other side of the ball, Dak Prescott and the Cowboys hit a new low. The second-year QB threw two interceptions, and the offense was held without a touchdown until the fourth quarter, making it ten straight quarters without a score - the longest streak in team history.
In the first half, the Chargers put up 228 yards of offense compared to 84 for the Cowboys. While Prescott struggled to get anything going, the Chargers had three players with catches over 20 yards before half time, while the longest play for Dallas was an eight-yard Jason Witten catch.
The Chargers had a host of opportunities to build up a big lead, but an ailing Nick Novak missed his first field goal attempt and went to the locker room. Down a kicker, the Chargers were forced to go for it in the redzone and couldn’t convert. Later, Novak was able to convert a chip shot for a 3-0 lead, and it looked like LA had left the door open for a Dallas comeback.
In the second half, Los Angeles came out firing. They scored touchdowns on their first two drives to open up a 16-0 lead against a hopeless Dallas defense that couldn’t do anything to slow them down.
Even though Dallas were able to find the end zone in the fourth, their defense simply couldn’t stop Rivers and didn’t force a punt in the entire game.
Allen put the game to bed with a fantastic 42-yard catch and run with 10 minutes to go, and rookie corner Desmond King picked off Prescott and returned it 90 yards for a score to put the icing on the cake.
On the very next possession, Casey Hayward intercepted Prescott again and Los Angeles went on to run out the clock.
At 5-6, the Chargers now face four teams with losing records in their final five games. The other? A huge AFC West bout with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Cowboys, also 5-6, still have a shot at the playoffs, but in a tough NFC they'll need a huge turnaround and they looked far from capable in front of their own fans in Arlington.
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