Dak Prescott Pilots Dallas Cowboys Beyond Skidding Washington Commanders to Begin Holiday Triple-Header.

The Cowboys' quarterback passed for 307 yards and a pair of scoring strikes, and the Dallas Cowboys squandered a large portion of an 18-point lead before squeezing past the Washington Commanders 30-23 on Thursday night.

The Cowboys, now 7-8-1, found the end zone on their first three possessions to go up 21-3 lead. Washington, falling to 4-12, narrowed the margin to a touchdown on three different occasions, they were unable to finish the comeback and suffered their tenth defeat in 11 games.

Each squad were previously eliminated from postseason consideration, which greatly diminished the importance of this contest between longtime NFC East rivals.

The Quarterback's Historic Outing

Prescott connected on 19 of 37 passes and was instrumental on all six of its fourth-down attempts. His pair of touchdown throws gave him 30 for the season, tying Tony Romo’s record of four seasons with 30 or more touchdown passes.

Prescott shrugged off six sacks, including three coming from defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton.

Commanders' QB Situation

Playing without their top QBs Jayden Daniels (elbow) and Marcus Mariota (quad, hand), Washington turned to 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 Offensive Highlights

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 extend the lead to 30-20 with under four minutes to play.

After Prescott threw to tight end Jake Ferguson on the game’s opening drive, Johnson went 3 for 3 for 68 yards to get Washington to 7-3. A crucial connection was a 41-yard pass to Deebo Samuel, Johnson’s biggest play since 2018.

Dallas' Methodical Drives

On their next drive, the Cowboys successfully executed three fourth downs on a 17-play march that ended with a touchdown run by Javonte Williams. Prescott then made it three TDs in three drives with an 86-yard touchdown strike to KaVontae Turpin.