Dak Prescott Pilots Dallas Cowboys By Struggling Commanders to Kick Off Christmas Three-Game Slate.
The Cowboys' quarterback threw for 307 yards and a pair of scoring strikes, as Dallas squandered a large portion of an 18-point lead before narrowly defeating the Washington Commanders 30-23 on Thursday night.
Dallas (7-8-1) found the end zone on their first three possessions to go up 21-3 lead. Although the Commanders (4-12) cut the gap to a touchdown on three separate instances, they couldn’t complete the comeback and absorbed their tenth defeat in 11 games.
Each squad were previously eliminated from playoff contention, which greatly diminished the significance of this matchup between historic NFC East rivals.
Prescott's Historic Outing
Prescott completed 19 of 37 passes and helped Dallas convert all six of its fourth-down tries. His two TD passes gave him 30 for the season, tying Tony Romo’s record of four seasons with 30 or more touchdown passes.
The signal-caller endured six sacks, including three credited to defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton.
Washington's Quarterback Dilemma
Playing without injured quarterbacks Jayden Daniels (elbow) and Marcus Mariota (quad, hand), Washington called upon veteran Josh Johnson. Making his 10th career start and his first in over two years, Johnson was 15 for 23 for 198 yards with zero touchdowns and zero picks.
Washington's Scoring Drives
Jacory Croskey-Merritt scored on runs of 10 and 72 yards for Washington. The 72-yard scamper got the Commanders to 24-17 in the third quarter, but Dallas reclaimed a double-digit lead with a 52-yard field goal by Brandon Aubrey.
The kicker later nailed a 51-yarder to make it 30-20 with 3:59 remaining.
After Prescott threw to tight end Jake Ferguson on the first possession, Johnson went 3 for 3 for 68 yards to get Washington to 7-3. A crucial connection was a 41-yard completion to Deebo Samuel, Johnson’s biggest play since 2018.
Dallas' Sustained Possessions
On their second possession, the Cowboys converted three fourth downs on a 17-play march that culminated in a touchdown run by Javonte Williams. Prescott then completed the hat-trick in three drives with an 86-yard scoring pass to KaVontae Turpin.
