Dallas Cowboys vs Cincinnati Bengals Box Score on Dec 13, 2020

Andy Dalton was sharp in his return to Cincinnati, and the visiting Dallas Cowboys took advantage of three first-half fumbles from the Bengals to snap a two-game skid with a 30-7 win on Sunday.

Dalton was a second-round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft with the Bengals before being let go by the club in April. He was 16-of-23 passing for 185 yards and two touchdowns.

Amari Cooper had four catches for 51 yards and touchdown for Dallas (4-9), which scored at least 20 points for just the second time in the last eight games.

Aldon Smith, Jourdan Lewis and Jaylon Smith each had a fumble recovery for the Cowboys.

Brandon Allen completed 27 of 36 attempts for 217 yards and a touchdown, but Cincinnati gave away the game with fumbles that ended each of its first three possessions. Allen didn't finish the game due to a lower-leg injury in the fourth quarter.

The Bengals (2-10-1) dropped their fifth straight game and have just 10 combined second-half points during the stretch. Cincinnati has scored only 24 offensive points since a season-ending injury to rookie quarterback Joe Burrow.

Dallas, essentially, had just two possessions and was outgained 196-108 in the first half. The Cowboys led 17-7 at the break anyway.

After Giovani Bernard fumbled on the Bengals' second play on the opening possession, Greg Zuerlein gave the Cowboys an early 3-0 lead with a 34-yard field goal.

Cincinnati's second lost fumble from Trayveon Williams was scooped up and returned 78 yards for a defensive score by Smith, giving Dallas a 10-0 lead with 6:28 left in the first quarter.

The Bengals' third fumble came from receiver Alex Erickson, who had just converted a fourth-and-1 from the Dallas 15-yard line on the first play of the second quarter. The Cowboys turned the takeaway into a 15-play, 88-yard drive that took 8:12 off the clock, and Dalton finished the series with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Cooper with 6:38 left.

Cincinnati used its own long drive, a 16-play sequence that lasted 6:30, to get on the board with A.J. Green's 5-yard touchdown late in the half. Dallas had time for a single kneel down after the ensuing kickoff.

After neither team punted in the first half, the teams combined for four punts in a sluggish second. Tony Pollard's 60-yard kickoff return set up Zuerlein's 20-yard field goal early in the third quarter, and Zuerlein added a 55-yard field goal with 5:12 remaining to make it 23-7.

Dalton flipped a 7-yard touchdown pass to Tony Pollard with 1:55 left on a fourth-and-1 play to finish it off.

--Field Level Media