Dak Prescott Leads Cowboys Beyond Reeling Commanders to Launch Christmas Triple-Header.

Dak Prescott passed for 307 yards and two touchdowns, as Dallas blew most of an 18-point lead before narrowly defeating the Washington Commanders 30-23 Thursday.

Dallas (7-8-1) scored touchdowns on their first three possessions to establish a 21-3 lead. Although the Commanders (4-12) narrowed the margin to a touchdown on three different occasions, they were unable to finish the comeback and suffered their 10th loss in 11 games.

Both teams were previously eliminated from postseason consideration, which greatly diminished the significance of this matchup between longtime NFC East rivals.

Prescott's Historic 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, tying Tony Romo’s 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 Situation

Forced to play minus 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 went 15 for 23 for 198 yards with zero touchdowns and zero picks.

The Commanders' 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 second half, but Dallas reclaimed a double-digit lead with a 52-yard kick by Brandon Aubrey.

Aubrey added a 51-yarder to make it 30-20 with under four minutes to play.

Following a Prescott touchdown pass to tight end Jake Ferguson on the game’s opening drive, Johnson completed three passes 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 Possessions

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 scoring pass to KaVontae Turpin.