Odell Beckham Jr. caught two touchdown passes and ran for a third that helped stave off a furious Dallas Cowboys comeback in the fourth quarter Sunday as the Cleveland Browns held on for a 49-38 win at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
In increasing its record to 3-1 for the first time since 2001 with its third straight victory, Cleveland ran roughshod over Dallas' leaky defense, piling up 307 rushing yards despite losing leading rusher Nick Chubb (knee injury) in the first quarter.
Beckham accounted for 50 of those yards on the play that kept the Browns from blowing a 41-14 fourth-quarter lead. With 3:25 remaining, Beckham went right on a reverse, skirted a tackle attempt and used some nice downfield blocking to race into the end zone after Dallas had closed to 41-38.
Dak Prescott finished with a monstrous stat line thanks to the late rally. The Cowboys' quarterback completed 41 of 58 passes for 502 yards and four touchdowns. His only mistake was an interception by Denzel Ward at the Cleveland 4 with 1:36 left in the game that sealed the outcome.
Dallas (1-3) led 14-7 after one quarter before the Browns owned the middle two quarters. Running at will against a team that has allowed a whopping 126 points in the past three games, Cleveland rattled off 34 straight points.
Kareem Hunt collected a pair of touchdowns in that span on runs of 2 and 14 yards, while quarterback Baker Mayfield added 4- and 1-yard scoring strikes to Beckham and tight end Austin Hooper, respectively.
Given a dominant running game, Mayfield didn't have to be spectacular, just efficient. He fulfilled that role, hitting on 19 of 30 attempts for 165 yards with the short touchdown passes and no interceptions.
The Browns' most spectacular passing play came from a receiver. Jarvis Landry initiated scoring on a 37-yard strike off a reverse to Beckham, zinging a perfect pass over tight coverage less than three minutes into the game.
Amari Cooper grabbed 12 passes for 134 yards and a touchdown for the Cowboys.
--Field Level Media
Cleveland | Dallas | |
D'Ernest Johnson | Player | Ezekiel Elliott |
13 | Attempts | 12 |
95 | Yards | 54 |
7.3 | Avg Yards | 4.5 |
0 | Touchdowns | 0 |
28 | Long | 24 |
Cleveland | Dallas | |
Odell Beckham Jr. | Player | Amari Cooper |
5 | Receptions | 12 |
81 | Yards | 134 |
16.2 | Avg Yards | 11.2 |
2 | Touchdowns | 1 |
37 | Long | 20 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Cleveland | 508 | 307 | 201 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3.0 | 2 |
Dallas | 566 | 85 | 481 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 | 0 |