White Leads Cowboys Over Falcons

Quarterback Danny White celebrated his return to the lineup Sunday by scoring a touchdown and hitting Tony Hill with a 35-yard touchdown pass to give the Dallas Cowboys a 24-10 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

White, who sat out Dallas’ 16-14 loss to Philadelphia last week with sore ribs, came out throwing against the single-coverage in the Atlanta secondary and completed 27 of 42 passes for 362 yards.

But White also showed some rust. Three of his passes were intercepted and he had to make a touchdown-saving tackle on safety Scott Case at midfield after an interception in the fourth period.

“It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win,” White said. “I did some good things and some bad things. It was good to get back. My ribs still hurt.”

The Falcons jumped to a 10-0 lead on Dave Archer’s three-yard scoring pass to tight end Allama Matthews and Mick Luckhurst’s 38-yard field goal.

But the Cowboys struck for 17 second-quarter points on a 35-yard pass from White to Hill, Tony Dorsett’s 60-yard scoring run and Rafael Septien’s 28-yard field goal with just two seconds left in the half.

Dallas put the game away in the fourth period with an 81-yard drive climaxed by White’s one-yard scoring run. White’s 27-yard pass to Hill put the ball on the one.

The Cowboys’ defense pressured Archer into four interceptions, including two by Dextor Clinkscale, and sacked him five times.

“We knew we were going to have a tough time,” Dallas Coach Tom Landry said. “We had to make the big plays to beat them.

“Danny had to run for his life back there. We don’t like to see him run because of those blitzes but sometimes you have to. He did what he had to do. He is hurting and this game probably didn’t help him any.”

Landry said he was most pleased with the Cowboys 6-2 start, good for first place in the NFC East.

“I never thought we’d be 6-2,” Landry said. “If they’d give me 6-2 in the second half I’d go fishing or play golf.”

Atlanta, which fell to 1-7, lost starting guard John Scully in the first quarter with a fractured leg. Gerald Riggs fell on Scully’s right leg and the lineman is expected to be out for the season.

Tony Hill eludes Scott Case (25) and Wendell Cason en route to a second-quarter Cowboy touchdown.