Dak Prescott Pilots Cowboys Past Struggling Commanders to Launch Christmas Tripleheader.

The Cowboys' quarterback accumulated 307 yards and a pair of scoring strikes, as Dallas blew most of an 18-point lead before squeezing past the Washington Commanders 30-23 on Thursday night.

Dallas (7-8-1) found the end zone on their initial three drives to go up 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.

Each squad were already out from postseason consideration, which severely lessened the importance of this matchup between historic NFC East rivals.

Prescott's Record-Tying Performance

Prescott completed 19 of 37 passes and helped Dallas convert all six of its fourth-down tries. His pair of touchdown throws gave him 30 for the season, matching 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 Situation

Playing without their top QBs Jayden Daniels (elbow) and Marcus Mariota (quad, hand), Washington turned to 39-year-old journeyman 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.

The Commanders' Scoring Drives

Jacory Croskey-Merritt found paydirt with 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.

Aubrey added a 51-yarder to extend the lead to 30-20 with under four minutes to play.

Following a Prescott touchdown pass to tight end Jake Ferguson on the first possession, 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 longest since 2018.

Cowboys' Sustained Drives

On their next drive, the Cowboys successfully executed three fourth downs on a lengthy, 17-play drive 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.