Prescott Leads Cowboys Past Skidding Commanders to Launch Christmas Tripleheader.
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.
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) cut the gap to a touchdown on three different occasions, they were unable to finish the comeback and suffered their 10th loss in 11 games.
Each squad were previously eliminated from postseason consideration, which greatly diminished the stakes of this contest between longtime NFC East rivals.
The Quarterback's Historic Outing
Prescott completed 19 of 37 passes and was instrumental on all six of its fourth-down tries. His two TD passes gave him 30 for the season, tying the franchise record of four seasons with at least 30 touchdown passes.
Prescott shrugged off six sacks, with three coming from Jer’Zhan Newton.
Washington's Quarterback Situation
Forced to play minus injured quarterbacks Jayden Daniels (elbow) and Marcus Mariota (quad, hand), Washington turned to veteran Josh Johnson. In his 10th NFL start and first since 2021, Johnson was 15 for 23 for 198 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions.
The Commanders' Scoring Drives
Jacory Croskey-Merritt scored on runs of 10 and 72 yards for Washington. The latter touchdown got the Commanders to 24-17 in the third quarter, but Dallas reclaimed a double-digit lead with a 52-yard field goal by kicker Brandon Aubrey.
The kicker later nailed a 51-yarder to make it 30-20 with 3:59 remaining.
Following a Prescott touchdown pass 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. The key play was a 41-yard pass to Deebo Samuel, Johnson’s biggest play since 2018.
Cowboys' Sustained Possessions
On their next drive, 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 touchdown strike to KaVontae Turpin.
