Prescott Leads Dallas Cowboys By Struggling Commanders to Kick Off Christmas Triple-Header.
The Cowboys' quarterback threw for 307 yards and a pair of scoring strikes, as Dallas blew most of an 18-point lead before edging the Washington Commanders 30-23 Thursday.
Dallas (7-8-1) scored touchdowns on their first three possessions to build a 21-3 lead. Washington, falling to 4-12, cut the gap to a touchdown on three separate instances, they were unable to finish the comeback and suffered their tenth defeat in 11 games.
Each squad were already out from playoff contention, which greatly diminished the stakes of this matchup between historic NFC East rivals.
The Quarterback's Historic Performance
Prescott connected on 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 30 or more touchdown passes.
The signal-caller endured six sacks, with three credited to Jer’Zhan Newton.
Commanders' QB Dilemma
Forced to play minus their top QBs Jayden Daniels (elbow) and Marcus Mariota (quad, hand), Washington turned to veteran Josh Johnson. In his 10th NFL 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 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.
Aubrey added 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 completion to Deebo Samuel, Johnson’s biggest play since 2018.
Cowboys' Methodical Drives
On their next drive, the Cowboys successfully executed three fourth downs on a 17-play march that culminated in a touchdown run by Javonte Williams. Prescott then made it three TDs in three drives with an 86-yard touchdown strike to KaVontae Turpin.
