Dak Prescott shines in Cowboys’ victory over Cardinals

The Dallas Cowboys’ high-flying offense hit its stride in the second half of a 28-17 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Monday night. Here’s what we learned from the game:

1. Dak Prescott had one of his best games throwing on the run of his young career. The second-year passer connected twice with Brice Butler, first for a touchdown and later for a massive gain on a drive that ended in a touchdown run from Ezekiel Elliott that crushed Arizona’s comeback hopes. Prescott also rushed for a touchdown, front-flipping over a defender and the goal line in one of his most complete games of the season. He did get some help on a gutsy, 15-yard TD catch by Dez Bryant in the third quarter (coach Jason Garrett said after the game the catch showed how Dez is “all about scratch, claw, battle”). While other components of Dallas’ offense (and defense) still work on putting things together, Prescott is showing his rookie season was no fluke.

2. Dallas found unusual success with base rushes against Arizona’s offensive line, which struggled mightily on the edges and forced Palmer to constantly step up to avoid being sacked. Demarcus Lawrence was a terror off the edge, recording three sacks and getting to Palmer many more times than that. With 6.5 sacks in three games, Lawrence is in the middle of the race for the sack crown as we near the quarter pole. Maliek Collins was right behind Lawrence on Monday night with two sacks of his own.

3. Dallas’ frequent pressure, which included six sacks was visibly affecting Palmer, who lofted a pass off his back foot with room to step into a third-down throw, underthrowing an open receiver. He was effective on a drive late in the fourth, despite the pressure, but the next possession went down in flames after a three-man rush got to Palmer on third down, effectively ending Arizona’s comeback hopes. Another three-man rush ran right around Cardinals tackles John Wetzel and Jared Veldheer on the Cardinals’ next drive, and a five-man attack resulted in another sack shortly thereafter on a night to forget for the two tackles.

4. Has Larry Fitzgerald aged at all? The wideout caught 13 passes for 149 yards and a touchdown, including an outrageous grab in which he took the ball from Orlando Scandrick in mid-air, bobbling it off his forearm before securing it once on the ground. The catch extended a Cardinals drive that resulted in a Phil Dawson field goal. The 34-year-old passed Marvin Harrison for eighth place on the NFL’s all-time receiving yards list with his touchdown grab (hat tip, @NFLResearch) and was a frequent target of Palmer’s, who is as Around the NFL’s Marc Sessler tweeted one of the league’s more entertaining quarterbacks to watch, win or lose. We’ll miss Fitz once he hangs it up.

5. It might just be me (I don’t think it is), but through three games, Ezekiel Elliott has looked a step slow. Save for a 30-yard run in the first half, he again struggled to get going until the fourth-quarter drive that put the game away. Elliott did look more like his rookie-season self on that drive, breaking tackles on his two carries inside the 15, first for seven yards and then for eight, with the latter finishing in the end zone. Elliott’s top speeds — 17.84 mph maximum, which came in Week 1, per Next Gen Stats — seem to agree with this notion. His max speeds were up and down through most of last season (as expected), but he’d neared 19 mph by Week 3 of last season. In eight of those weeks, he was above 19. He hit a 17.69 maximum on Monday and hasn’t cracked 18 so far this season, which has a lot to do with …

6. The Cowboys’ offensive line. This is a unit that just isn’t where it was last season at this time, and misses Ron Leary and Doug Free. The hope is they’ll get it going — considering the talent that remains within the group, they will — but right now, they aren’t consistently creating opportunities for Elliott to run. Fortunately, they’re protecting one of the better mobile quarterbacks who is improving by the week.

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Maria Cripples Puerto Rico’s Main Airport, Leaving Thousands Stranded

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—After Hurricane Maria knocked out radar systems and power, the U.S. territory’s main airport is struggling to get thousands of stranded passengers off the island.

Agustín Arellano, chief executive of Aerostar Airport Holdings LLC, which operates the airport, said only about 2,000 passengers are flying out every day despite standby lists that are in the tens of thousands. That is down from an average of 15,000 passengers departing daily prior to Maria.

“Our limitations are airspace, and we are missing radar,” he said. “We are trying to get radar and equipment to be able to have communication with Miami.”

The airport is relying on 21 generators to supply power to the control tower, tower radar, some terminal lighting, navigation equipment and the equipment necessary to screen baggage. There is no air conditioning, Mr. Arellano said, and only one food-and-beverage concession is operating.

The difficulty getting the airport up and running is emblematic of the difficulties across the island. Authorities continue to rescue people isolated after the storm cut across the island, flattening forests, throwing down power lines, destroying roofs, and causing small streams to turn into raging rivers that flooded nearby towns. Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said there have been more than 5,500 rescues.

On Monday, Coast Guard leadership, federal officials and congressional lawmakers met in San Juan with Mr. Rosselló who carried an urgent message of need. “What Puerto Rico is experiencing after Hurricane Maria is an unprecedented disaster. The devastation is vast,” he said. “This is a humanitarian disaster involving 3.4 million U.S. citizens.”

Sen. Marco Rubio said Monday the logistics of getting supplies, equipment and personnel to the airport and ports is challenging. “I think there’s a lot of great needs,” he said. “One is being able to get into the island things needed for rapid recuperation.”

At San Juan’s airport, military and aid flights are arriving daily with critical supplies from power generators to drinking water. But because of those arrivals, only about 10 commercial flights are leaving to the U.S. mainland a day—down from 176 daily flights normally, according to Mr. Arellano. And only five airlines are flying out of San Juan, down from 31 airlines that used the airport before the storm.

American Airlines Group
Inc.

resumed limited service to San Juan on Friday, when it sent three flights, all carrying relief supplies like cots, tarps and generators. The airline wasn’t able to send any flights on Saturday, but had one San Juan-bound flight and two return flights on Sunday, said Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for the airline. On Monday, American operated one flight to San Juan and back.

“We want to resume more operations and get more flights in there, but it’s a very challenging environment,” Mr. Feinstein said, adding that a typical day for the airline involves roughly 20 flights departing to, and returning from, San Juan.

Three of four radars used by air-traffic controllers, as well as telecommunications systems, sustained damage, Mr. Arellano said. So planes heading to the island can only engage in radio contact with air-traffic controllers when they are within 30 miles, he said.

That means airplanes need to be spaced 100 miles apart—compared with 5 miles apart during normal operations—along dedicated air corridors at specified altitudes for safety reasons.

The Federal Aviation Administration is working to restore radars, navigational aids and other equipment damaged during Hurricane Maria, according to a news release by the agency Monday. Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport handled nearly 100 total arrivals and departures on Sunday, including military and relief operations.

The FAA is transporting replacement systems to the Caribbean by air and sea to restore radar, navigational and communication services, the agency said.

Technicians were trying Monday to reach another long-range radar site at Pico del Este, located atop a mountain in a national park in Puerto Rico, the FAA said. But the final 2 miles to the site wind through rain forest that is impassable, so workers were using chain saws to clear a path for equipment.

In the airport’s passenger terminal, the situation was chaotic. Flights were booked, and rebooked, and rebooked again—only to be canceled. Would-be passengers waited in long lines, many in their own chairs, to try to get on flights that had brought in humanitarian aid.

“I’m here, and it looks as if I won’t be able to get on,” said Joel Rosas after waiting in line Monday. He said he planned to sleep at the airport to be first in line Tuesday for a flight to the U.S.

At the American Airlines counter, José Manuel Teijido, who had been vacationing in Puerto Rico, stood in a long line. “My reservation is worthless,” said Mr. Teijido, who was worried that he would run out of hypertension medicine before being able to return home to Spain.

Delta Air Lines
Inc.

had one flight to San Juan Sunday and two Monday, said Michael Thomas, an airline spokesman. Because of the limited service, the airline has been using larger airplanes to accommodate more passengers, he said.

Mr. Arellano said it would take a long time for the airport to return to normal, but that he expects to see big improvements within the next two weeks.

He was pleased that the airport recovered Wi-Fi and cellphone use on Sunday night. And by Monday afternoon, screening equipment used by the Transportation Security Administration was back in operation, he said.

—Siobhan Hughes contributed to this article.

Write to José de Córdoba at jose.decordoba@wsj.com and Arian Campo-Flores at arian.campo-flores@wsj.com

Appeared in the September 26, 2017, print edition as ‘Puerto Rico Airport Reels.’

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