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A20
SPORTSFriday 24 November 2017
Rivers, Chargers beat fading Cowboys 28-6 on Thanksgiving
By SCHUYLER DIXON
AP Pro Football Writer
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) —
Philip Rivers and the Los
Angeles Chargers are on
the move.
Dak Prescott and the Dal-
las Cowboys are fading
fast.
Rivers threw for 434 yards
and three touchdowns in
his first Thanksgiving game
in his 14th season and the
Chargers beat the fading
Cowboys 28-6 on Thursday.
Desmond King returned
an interception 90 yards
for the punctuating touch-
down as the Chargers (5-6)
moved within 1½ games of
AFC West-leading Kansas
City after starting 0-4 while
the Chiefs won their first
five.
The defending NFC East
champion Cowboys (5-6)
lost their third straight by at
least 20 points, all without
star running back Ezekiel
Elliott, in a damaging de-
feat for their fading playoff
hopes.
Dallas, playing its 50th
Thanksgiving game, fi-
nally ended a touchdown
drought at a team-record
10 quarters on Rod Smith’s
2-yard run early in the
fourth quarter. The Cow-
boys have been outscored
72-6 in the second half of
the three losses.
Keenan Allen had a ca-
reer-high 172 yards on 11
catches with a touchdown,
giving him 23 grabs for 331
yards and three scores in
the past two games.
Suit over erotic fiction about NFL player Gronkowski tossed
By DAN SEWELL
Associated Press
CINCINNATI (AP) — A fed-
eral appeals court has
spiked an Ohio couple’s
case against companies
that distributed an erot-
ic fiction book about a
budgetaruba@setarnet.aw
Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Tyrell Williams (16) catches
a pass for a touchdown over Dallas Cowboys’ Anthony Brown
(30) in the second half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Nov.
23, 2017, in Arlington, Texas. a groin injury.
Prescott has looked lost
without Elliott, his backfield Rookie of the Year has
mate for a pair of remark-
able rookie seasons that
led the Cowboys to the
best record in the NFC last
season. Prescott had two
interceptions, giving him
five in two games after
throwing just four a year
ago.
woman’s desire for New
England Patriots star Rob
Gronkowski.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruling Tuesday up-
held a lower court’s dismiss-
al of the case against Am-
azon.com, Barnes & Noble
in the same game that Dal-
las’ Dan Bailey returned af-
ter missing four games with
Just like last week in the
Associated Press Cowboys’ blowout loss to
division-leading Philadel-
Last year’s NFL Offensive phia, neither of the kickers
mattered much with the
nine picks for the season. Dallas offense sputtering
Elliott is halfway through a and the defense not get-
six-game suspension for al- ting key stops.
leged domestic violence. Novak returned to make a
LA overcame the loss of 22-yard field goal after the
kicker Nick Novak to a back injury, but left for good af- It was the longest gap (48
injury, the second straight ter missing an extra point.
game that Dallas’ oppos- Punter Drew Kaser was 1 of
ing kicker was injured and 3 on extra points.
The Chargers went for a
fourth-and-13 in field goal
range in a scoreless game
early in the second quar-
ter with Novak’s status in
doubt, coming up a yard
short.
Four-time Pro Bowl left
tackle Tyron Smith returned
for Dallas after missing two
games with back and groin
injuries, but the Cowboys
lost 2014 All-Pro right guard yards on the holiday.
Zack Martin to a concus-
sion in the first half.
Rivers, who was 27 of 33
for a 149.1 passer rating
without a sack, had seven
completions of at least 22
yards. That included Allen’s
weaving 42-yard catch-
and-run for a score when
he ran past safety Jeff
Heath on the sideline, cut
between two more safeties
in Xavier Woods and Byron
Jones before past cutting
inside cornerback Anthony
Brown for a 22-6 lead.
Austin Ekeler had a 38-yard
Inc. and Smashwords filed out their knowledge and
by a couple referred to as used on the cover of “A
John and Jane Roe. Gronking to Remember.”
The couple says an en- The book was self-pub-
gagement photo that lished using the defendant
shows them embracing companies’ online servic-
was pulled from their pho- es by a male author writ-
tographer’s website with- ing under the pseudonym
“Lacey Noonan,” accord-
ing to court records.
The couple’s lawsuit de-
scribes the 2014 book as
raunchy and distasteful
and says their privacy rights the case was then trans-
were violated.
The book began showing
up in Gronkowski’s media
appearances, including at
the Super Bowl media day
in 2015 and in a jocular
catch to set up San Diego’s
first touchdown in the third
quarter, and Tyrell Williams
added a 31-yard grab be-
fore making a 27-yard scor-
ing catch.
THANKSGIVING STREAK
LA now has a Thanksgiv-
ing winning streak in Texas,
since the Chargers’ previ-
ous holiday showing was a
21-17 AFL win at Houston in
1969, the year before the
merger.
years) between Thanksgiv-
ing games in NFL history.
THAT KIND OF DAY
Prescott ran free on a read
option for what looked like
a 34-yard touchdown, but
Smith was called for hold-
ing. The Cowboys were
down 9-0 at the time.
WITTEN RECORD
Dallas tight end Jason Wit-
ten, already the Thanksgiv-
ing record-holder in catch-
es, passed Detroit’s Her-
man Moore for the most
Witten now has 80 catches
for 853 yards.
BRIEFLY
Chargers LT Russell Okung
was the only player from
either team with a display
during the national an-
them, raising his fist while
he was a step behind
teammates lined up on the
sideline.
... Head referee Jerome
Boger caught himself while
announcing a timeout for
the Chargers, saying “time-
out San Diego,” before cor-
recting it to Los Angeles.q
reading he gave on ABC’s
“Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
Court records indicate
that the “Gronking” author
changed the cover at least
twice, first to remove imag-
es with the Patriots’ trade-
marks after the NFL club
complained, and then
again after hearing from
the Roes. The couple sued
in Miami County, Ohio,
court in February 2015, and
ferred to federal court.q
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