The Dallas Cowboys could’ve run into a serious roadblock following their Week 1 dominance over the New York Giants. Instead they shook off a slow start and turned the jets on in their Week 2 visit to the nation’s capital, throttling the life and joy out of the crowd with a 31-21 victory over the Washington Redskins.

Well, out of half the crowd, because the other half was donning blue jerseys and stars, as per usual whenever the Cowboys travel to FedEx Field in Maryland. In front of the half-home crowd, Dallas turned a 7-0 deficit into a 31-7 run and a second-straight NFC East win to start their slate of 2019 games.

The biggest factor, once again was quarterback Dak Prescott, and he leads off our takeaways from the contest.

Dak Prescott is an early MVP candidate

The first major stat on Prescott’s ledger was an interception today. After escaping a sack, Prescott had a chance to scramble for a first down, but instead threw it to Randall Cobb who tipped the pass leading to a Montae Nicholson interception. Washington scored to take a 7-0, second-quarter lead, but it was on from there.

It took one more drive, but Prescott used his arms and legs to lead a 97-yard scoring drive, including a deep bomb to reclamation project Devin Smith. The next drive Prescott made the biggest play yet again, keeping it himself on a shotgun zone read and racing 42 yards down field for the longest run of his career. He’d eventually find Jason Witten for the score.

Dallas would score on five straight drives, four touchdowns and a field goal, to build an insurmountable 31-14 lead, despite a couple breakdowns from the Cowboys’ defense that allowed Washington to build their totals in vein.

By the end of the game, Prescott’s line was a stunning one: a mind-numbing 26 of 30 passing (86.7%) for 269 yards, three touchdowns and a 123.5 passer rating. He had three carries for 59 yards, a 19.7 average.

Added on top of his 405 yard, four-touchdown performance from Week 1, and there’s no question he’s sitting in the pole position for MVP.

Teen Titans

It may just be me, but watching the Cowboys wide receivers run all over opposing defenses two games in a row has been enhanced by their jersey number choices.

Even without No. 10 Tavon Austin, a series of wideouts wearing 13, 15, 18 and 19 just looks faster. OK, maybe it’s the fact that all of these wideouts are really, really good. Yeah, we should probably go with that.

The Teen Titans had themselves a day on Sunday, recruiting Devin Smith as the latest member. Smith caught a 51-yard touchdown bomb where Josh Norman thought he would get some help but got exposed again.

Michael Gallup was Prescott’s favorite target, getting eight looks and hauling in six for 68 yards. Amari Cooper checked in with another score on his four catches for 44 yards and Randall Cobb once again showed his prowess after the catch with a solid five receptions.

Defense still not where it needs to be

Dallas won by double digits, but there’s still going to be something for the coaching staff to build on. Dallas opened the second half with a score that stretched the lead to 14 points, but they weren’t able to lock things down. Washington was able to score on the next drive to cut the lead to seven. After the Cowboys answered with a field goal, they got a crucial stop on fourth down at midfield, thanks to an overthrow by Washington QB Case Keenum.

Keenum’s errors saved them a play earlier, because he absolutely missed a wide open Paul Richardson for an easy touchdown.

Under pressure, Keenum looks to the underneath route, but look at Paul Richardson streaking down the middle. Wide open #Redskinspic.twitter.com/D0goD537LG

– Mark Bullock (@MarkBullockNFL) September 15, 2019

Later after Dallas had stretched the lead to 17, Washington was still able to drive the field once again and score when rookie Terry McLaurin beat Byron Jones to the spot for a short score.

The secondary, notably Jones and Anthony Brown, didn’t have the best of games. There was some pressure on Keenum, but there wasn’t enough.

Dallas has one more game that should come with a win when they host Miami next week, but the defense will need to shore things up quickly.

— COWBOYS WIRE