Panthers lead Cowboys 7-0 at halftime

ARLINGTON, Texas — Mike Jenkins had an interception for the Cowboys’ first takeaway of the season and Felix Jones had some explosive plays in the first start of his career, yet Dallas trailed the Carolina Panthers 7-0 at halftime Monday night.

Carolina was set up for its touchdown after a mistake-filled drive by the Cowboys, including a costly penalty by Jones.

Dante Rosario caught a 25-yard scoring pass from Jake Delhomme with 1:03 left in the first half. That was the third catch on the drive for Rosario, who came into the game with three catches this season.

The Cowboys went 9½ quarters before finally forcing a turnover, Jenkins intercepting a deep ball by Delhomme intended for Muhsin Muhammad with 7:26 to go before halftime.

On the series after Dallas’ first takeaway, the Cowboys had first-and-10 at the 47. That was after Jones had a 7-yard run and was tackled out of bounds by Jon Beason, who was penalized for unnecessary roughness. But on the next snap, Jones was penalized 15 yards for a personal foul when he tried to leg whip rushing linebacker Thomas Davis.

That penalty made it first-and-25, then there was a short completion, a holding penalty and two more short runs before the Cowboys punted. The Panthers drove 90 yards in eight plays.

Delhomme was 11 of 16 passing for 132 yards. Steve Smith and Muhammad also had three catches.

Jones started in place of injured running back Marion Barber, who was out because of a left quadriceps strain sustained in the 33-31 loss to the New York Giants in the inaugural regular-season game at the nearly $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium eight days earlier.

While there was significantly less pomp and pageantry for the second game in the football showplace, Jones was involved right away after kickoff.

Within the first four plays of the game, Jones already had a 20-yard gain on a screen pass and two rushes for 22 yards. Jones had seven rushes for 54 yards at halftime to go with his opening-play catch.

On the Cowboys’ opening drive, Jones picked up 18 yards on a handoff to the left side, then shuffled his feet to send safety Charles Godfrey spinning and reaching at air. That pushed Dallas to the Carolina 30, and Roy Williams converted a third down play with a 17-yard catch. But the Cowboys didn’t capitalize.

After Davis sacked Romo, and an incomplete pass, Nick Folk was wide right on a 40-yard field goal. That ended his streak of 16 consecutive made kicks.

On the second drive for Dallas, Jones had a 16-yard run up the middle and might have gone all the way for a touchdown if not for Quinton Teal’s ankle-grabbing tackle.

Romo, coming off a 127-yard passing game with three interceptions against the Giants, was 13 for 19 for 132 yards with two sacks. Tight end Jason Witten had eight catches for 71 yards.

The Cowboys, who led the NFL with 59 sacks last season, were still looking for their first sack of this season.

The Panthers are trying to avoid an 0-3 start.