Dak Prescott Leads Cowboys By Struggling Washington Commanders to Launch Holiday Triple-Header.

Dak Prescott passed for 307 yards and a pair of scoring strikes, and the Dallas Cowboys squandered a large portion of an 18-point lead before narrowly defeating the Washington Commanders 30-23 on Thursday night.

The Cowboys, now 7-8-1, found the end zone on their initial three drives to build a 21-3 lead. Although the Commanders (4-12) closed the deficit to a touchdown on three separate instances, they couldn’t complete the comeback and suffered their tenth defeat in 11 games.

Both teams were previously eliminated from playoff contention, which severely lessened the stakes of this matchup between historic NFC East rivals.

Prescott's Record-Tying Performance

Prescott completed 19 of 37 passes and was instrumental on all six of its fourth-down attempts. His two TD passes gave him 30 for the season, equaling the franchise record of four seasons with 30 or more touchdown passes.

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

Washington's QB Dilemma

Forced to play minus their top QBs Jayden Daniels (elbow) and Marcus Mariota (quad, hand), Washington called upon veteran Josh Johnson. In his 10th NFL start and his first in over two years, Johnson went 15 for 23 for 198 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions.

The Commanders' Scoring Drives

Jacory Croskey-Merritt found paydirt with runs of 10 and 72 yards for Washington. The 72-yard scamper got the Commanders to 24-17 in the third quarter, but Dallas restored its double-digit lead with a 52-yard kick by kicker 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 pass to Deebo Samuel, Johnson’s biggest play since 2018.

Cowboys' Methodical Drives

On their second possession, the Cowboys successfully executed three fourth downs on a lengthy, 17-play drive that ended with a touchdown run by Javonte Williams. Prescott then completed the hat-trick in three drives with an 86-yard touchdown strike to KaVontae Turpin.