ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -Dallas finally got its first takeaway and first sack of the season, Felix Jones had several explosive plays in his first career start and the Cowboys led the Carolina Panthers 10-7 after three quarters on Monday night.
on a 5-yard run with 5 minutes left in the third quarter to give the Cowboys their first lead of the game.
The Cowboys had to settle for Nick Folk’s 24-yard field goal on the previous drive, when a 40-yard run by Jones made it first-and-goal before a TD catch by Choice was overturned. Replay showed that Choice’s knee bounced on the turf before he was able to reach the ball into the end zone.
Dallas was set to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1, but rookie tight end John Phillips was called for a false start. That drew an earful from perturbed quarterback Tony Romo and brought the field goal unit on the field.
Carolina, trying to avoid an 0-3 start, went three-and-out in each of its three offensive possessions in the third quarter.
Muhsin Muhammad sprinted to the end zone on what would have been a 79-yard score, but he was penalized for offensive pass interference when he shoved cornerback Mike Jenkins before making the catch downfield.
Jenkins had gotten Dallas’ first takeaway of the season midway through the second quarter when he intercepted a deep ball by Jake Delhomme intended for Muhammad.
The Cowboys, who led the NFL with 59 sacks last year, finally got their first of this season when Jay Ratliff took down Delhomme 5 1/2 minutes into the second half.
Dallas went into Week 3 as the only team in the league without a sack or takeaway.
and pageantry for the second game in the nearly $1.2 billion showplace, and fewer people than the record crowd of 105,121 that was there for the 33-31 loss to the New York Giants eight days earlier. The team announced that 90,588 tickets were distributed for Monday night’s game.
There were many empty seats and more room on party decks where spectators can buy $29 standing-only tickets.
Dante Rosario caught a 25-yard scoring pass from Delhomme with 1:03 left in the first half for a 7-0 Panthers lead. That was the third catch on the drive for Rosario, who came into the game with three catches this season.
On the series after Dallas’ first takeaway, the Cowboys had first-and-10 at the 47. That was after Jones had a 7-yard run and was tackled out of bounds by Jon Beason, who was penalized for unnecessary roughness. But on the next snap, Jones was penalized 15 yards for a personal foul when he tried to leg whip rushing linebacker Thomas Davis.
That penalty made it first-and-25, then there was a short completion, a holding penalty and two more short runs before the Cowboys punted. The Panthers drove 90 yards in eight plays.
Delhomme was 14 of 21 passing for 166 yards.
Jones started in place of injured running back Marion Barber, who was out because of a left quadriceps strain sustained in the last game.
ass and two rushes for 22 yards. Jones had seven rushes for 54 yards at halftime to go with his opening-play catch. The Cowboys got as far as the 13, but didn’t capitalize when Folk was wide right on a 40-yard field goal. That ended his streak of 13 consecutive made kicks.
Romo, coming off a 127-yard passing game with three interceptions against the Giants, was 20 for 28 for 215 yards with two sacks. Tight end Jason Witten had nine catches for 77 yards.
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