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Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys had another efficient preseason showing.

Andy Dalton bogged down a bit with his Cincinnati Bengals.

Prescott led a pair of scoring drives in three possessions , capped by a scrambling 6-yard scoring pass to Terrance Williams, before the Bengals rallied after halftime for a 21-13 exhibition victory Saturday night.

The Bengals had just two first downs in three Dalton-led possessions a week after he threw for two touchdowns with an offense that was revamped after finishing last in the NFL. One of the first downs was on Dalton's 13-yard scramble after the Bengals (2-0) started with a pair of three-and-outs.

A week after throwing a 30-yard touchdown to rookie Michael Gallup on his only drive of the preseason opener in San Francisco, Prescott was 10 of 15 for 86 yards. The TD drive for a 10-0 lead was kept alive by an 8-yard slant to Gallup, who reached out for a nice catch inside the Cincinnati 10.

The concern for the Cowboys (0-2) was the status of four-time Pro Bowl guard Zack Martin, who left early on what would have been his last drive with a knee injury.

Owner Jerry Jones said an MRI was planned Sunday and he was optimistic about the outcome. Martin was injured when he bent down to block cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick in the open field on a run by Rod Smith. Martin was on the sideline in street clothes late in the game.

"I just want to say we've got more to gain from (the MRI), but from what we've seen, I'll sleep good tonight on Martin," Jones said.

Dalton finished 5 of 7 for 41 yards, with his final drive stalling near midfield.

On Cincinnati's first offensive play after Dalton left, Dallas defensive end Taco Charlton forced a fumble on a short completion to Tyler Boyd, with cornerback Byron Jones getting the recovery.

"We've got things we can work on , attacking the football, throwing balls down the field," coach Marvin Lewis said. "We had opportunities. We just missed the timing of it and we've got to be better at those things."

The Cowboys forced two turnovers after getting three against the 49ers. The highlight was Chidobe Awuzie's leaping interception , which he tipped to himself along the sideline late in the first half.

Cincinnati's first points came on backup kicker Jonathan Brown's 55-yard field goal in the third quarter.

The Bengals went ahead 11-10 when Tra Carson scored on a 2-yard run and Jeff Driskel threw a 2-point conversion pass to John Ross. Matt Barkley's 3-yard touchdown pass to Brian Hill wrapped up the scoring midway through the fourth quarter.

LONG TIME COMING

Dallas defensive end Randy Gregory played for the first time since the finale of the 2016 regular season. He missed all of last season after getting suspended three times in 2016 for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy. Gregory didn't show up in the defensive stats but pressured Dalton on a third-down misfire to an open A.J. Green on Cincinnati's opening possession.

TALE OF TWO WORKLOADS

With star running back Ezekiel Elliott sitting again for Dallas, Smith had 13 carries in the first 18 minutes, finishing with 49 yards. His workload was helped by a nearly nine-minute drive to Williams' touchdown. Bengals starter Joe Mixon got just four carries for 8 yards.

O-LINE OVERHAUL

The work in progress that is the overhauled offensive line for the Bengals remains that way, this time after fired line coach Paul Alexander was watching from the opposing sideline after getting hired by Dallas. Cedric Ogbuehi was at right tackle to start the second half when gave up a sack to Charlton while getting called for holding. Cincinnati running backs had just 7 yards on six carries before halftime.

NATIONAL ANTHEM

The Cowboys were standing for the national anthem in the first preseason home game, "toe on the line" as owner Jerry Jones declared they would be in his opening remarks at training camp last month. The Dallas players, with some coaches sprinkled in, were single file on the sideline, spanning about 50 yards. As usual , all the Bengals were standing.

INJURY REPORT

Bengals: Rookie CB Davontae Harris was ruled out with a knee injury in the first half. ... TE C.J. Uzomah sustained a cut to his face early in the game, but came back with a 23-yard catch in the first half.

Cowboys: S Xavier Woods left with a hamstring injury. ... Rookie RB Bo Scarbrough, a seventh-round pick out of Alabama, went to the locker room with a hip injury. ... DE Datone Jones and S Jameill Showers left with knee injuries.

UP NEXT

For "dress rehearsal" week, the Bengals will be at Buffalo and the Cowboys will be home against Arizona. Both games are next Sunday.
This story has been corrected to reflect that Cincinnati two first downs on three possessions instead of one first down on four possessions with Andy Dalton at quarterback.

Since divisional play began in 1969, only three times has a division had two teams with at least 100 wins.

That could happen again this year in the AL East – and maybe the AL West as well.

The Yankees, Red Sox, Astros and Mariners are all on pace to win over 100 games, and they’ve created tight races atop those two divisions. With two wild cards in each league, those four teams have some breathing room in the race for the postseason, but there should be plenty of incentive to win the division title and avoid the one-game , winner-take-all scenario that the wild cards have to deal with.

The Yankees and Red Sox just played a three-game series in New York. The games weren’t all that suspenseful – they ended 8-1, 11-0 and 11-1, with the Yankees winning two of three.

The first time two teams from one division won at least 100 games was in 1980, when the Yankees (103-59) outlasted the Orioles (100-62) atop the AL East. A seven-game winning streak in mid-September helped New York hold on.

In 1993, the last year before the wild card, the Braves (104-58) and Giants (103-59) dueled all the way to the final day before San Francisco was done in by a 12-1 loss to the rival Dodgers. Atlanta was 10 games out on the morning of July 23 but went 49-16 the rest of the way.

The only time in the six-division era that a 100-win team failed to finish first was when Oakland went 102-60 in 2001 and still ended up 14 games behind a 116-win Seattle team.

None of the teams involved in those three previous examples made it to the World Series, so consider that a word of caution to this year’s American League behemoths.

Some other developments around the majors:

SHORTER WAITS

If the Mariners make the postseason this year, it will be their first appearance since that remarkable 2001 season. Baseball’s next-longest drought belongs to the Marlins, who haven’t made it since winning the World Series as a wild card in 2003.

The addition of extra wild cards has made it easier for teams to avoid long stretches without a postseason berth. The Padres haven’t made it since 2006 and the White Sox haven’t been in since 2008. Aside from those two teams, the Marlins and the Mariners, every major league franchise has made the postseason at least once since 2011.

HIGHLIGHT

The outfield wall in Toronto is high enough that it doesn’t lend itself to home run-robbing catches. Blue Jays center fielder Kevin Pillar figured out a solution , however, planting a foot on the wall and using it to vault himself up while making a catch on a drive by Detroit’s Nicholas Castellanos. Even Castellanos applauded that catch Sunday.

LINES OF THE WEEK

Two from the Red Sox-Yankees series: Chris Sale allowed one hit in seven innings, striking out 11 in Boston’s 11-0 win Saturday night. The following evening, it was New York delivering an 11-1 blowout. Aaron Hicks hit three home runs for the Yankees in that game.

Sale has a 1.73 career ERA against the Yankees, best among pitchers with at least 10 starts against them since 1920. But Sunday’s six-homer barrage brought New York’s season total to 137, a franchise record for before the All-Star break.

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