Rush & Prescott Shine In Cowboys Win Over Raiders
ARLINGTON (AP) — Ezekiel Elliott has made his preseason cameo.
Now the star Dallas running back waits to see if his regular-season debut will be on hold until late October.
Elliott had eight touches in 10 plays in his only series of the exhibition season with a looming six-game suspension for domestic violence before undrafted rookie Cooper Rush rallied the Cowboys with two touchdown passes in a 24-20 win over the Oakland Raiders on Saturday night.
Oakland (0-3) left tackle Donald Penn played 17 snaps over two series just three days after ending his camp-long holdout. The first series covered 10 plays and 81 yards, capped by Cordarrelle Patterson's 17-yard pass from Derek Carr, who also had a 48-yard scoring toss to Amari Cooper.
Carr was 13 of 17 for 144 yards before EJ Manuel replaced him late in the second quarter.
Elliott was held out of the first three preseason games even though he was healthy throughout training camp. He is appealing the NFL's conclusion that he roughed up his girlfriend at the time a year ago in Ohio in a case that prosecutors didn't pursue.
The 2016 NFL rushing leader will be excused from the only two days of practice next week to attend the appeal hearing Tuesday in New York, and won't play in the preseason finale at Houston. If the suspension is upheld, Elliott's first possible game is Oct. 29 against Washington.
Elliott had six carries for 18 yards and two catches for 2 yards on a drive to Dan Bailey's 42-yard field on Dallas' opening series. Elliott had about the same preseason workload before his standout rookie year, although he had a hamstring injury in camp.
Dak Prescott, last year's NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, had yet another solid preseason outing. The Dallas quarterback was 11 of 14 for 113 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown to Jason Witten. The 15th-year tight end had six catches for 74 yards.
Trailing 20-10 in the fourth quarter, Rush had scoring tosses of 7 yards to Ronnie Hillman and 44 yards to Lance Lenoir. Rush got the second-team nod over veteran Kellen Moore after three strong preseason showings. He was 12 of 13 for 115 yards and a 143.1 rating.
The Cowboys (3-1) preserved the win by forcing two incompletions from Connor Cook at their 9-yard line in the final seven seconds.
