Cowboys-Commanders takeaways: Dak Prescott’s big day helps Dallas hold off Washington – The New York Times

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NFL Week 17
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Dak Prescott threw for 307 yards and the Cowboys had 480 yards of total offense. Greg Fiume / Getty Images
Dak Prescott threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns and the visiting Dallas Cowboys held on for a 30-23 win over the undermanned Washington Commanders in an NFC East matchup on Christmas Day.
The Cowboys seemed to be in control of the game from the start, but the Commanders hung around. Dallas led by just one score, 27-20, early in the fourth quarter. But a 14-play drive took 7 minutes and 33 seconds off the clock and ended with a 51-yard field goal by Brandon Aubrey, giving the Cowboys a 30-20 lead with four minutes left. It was one of three field goals from Aubrey, who also hit from 52 and 42 yards.
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With the win, the Cowboys improved to 7-8-1 on the season. They can finish with a .500 record if they beat the New York Giants in next week’s season finale. The Commanders fell to 4-12.
Josh Johnson — starting at quarterback for Washington because both Jayden Daniels and backup Marcus Mariota were sidelined by injury — completed 15 of 23 passes for 198 yards.
Dallas started quickly and when Prescott threw an 86-yard touchdown pass to KaVontae Turpin midway through the second quarter it gave the Cowboys a 21-3 lead. However, despite 480 yards of total offense and no turnovers, the Cowboys weren’t able to put the game away until the final minutes.
The recent messaging from the Cowboys front office, coaching staff and players has focused on finishing the season strong. With playoff hopes ended, the goal has been to build momentum going into the offseason. Not sure this performance qualifies as a momentum-builder, but it’s a win over a division opponent, improving the Cowboys to 4-1 against the NFC East. The biggest positive might just be that we only have to watch this defense for one more game. — Jon Machota, Cowboys reporter 
Dak Prescott has been adamant about wanting to play the full season. “I want to make it 17, and just show that every chance I get out there, I’m just trying to play to my standard and expectations,” he said this week. “And not only that, we were just talking about how important it is to stop this losing streak and finish the season off with two wins. So, yeah, I’d play and I’d fight” coach Brian Schottenheimer to play.
While that’s what you want from your franchise leader, Prescott shouldn’t play in the season finale. He took too many hits against the Commanders and the last thing the Cowboys need is him suffering a significant injury. Forget talk of building positive momentum to end the season, losing Prescott to a Patrick Mahomes-type injury would be about the biggest negative momentum to end a season. — Machota
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Washington’s depleted pass rush was able to notch six sacks, the most it’s had in a game since Week 5 of last season. But the defense as a whole couldn’t get off the field. The Cowboys’ offense was on the field for 87 plays, the third-most of any team this season. In the first half alone, they ran 46 plays (compared to the Commanders’ 18) and scored on all four of their drives. Three of those scoring drives spanned 12 or more plays. The other one was a five-play drive that ended with the 86-yard touchdown by Turpin, who blew by safeties Jeremy Reaves and Quan Martin in coverage. — Nicki Jhabvala, Commanders reporter
Jacory Croskey-Merritt, the seventh-round rookie back better known as “Bill,” was Washington’s lead back and played like one, rushing for 105 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries. Chris Rodriguez Jr. was out with an illness, paving the way for Bill to get the bulk of the snaps, and he flashed all of what made the team excited about his potential in training camp: explosiveness, decisiveness and quick cuts.
But the player who had more to prove was Johnny Newton, the second-year defensive tackle whose fit and play was limited in Year 1 and in the early going of Year 2. He had three of the team’s six sacks of Prescott to become the first Washington player since Preston Smith in 2015 to record a hat trick. — Jhabvala
The Commanders entered the game with most of their original offensive starters on injured reserve and lost another in the second quarter. Center Tyler Biadasz suffered a right knee injury and was later ruled out. Washington had a total of 30 players miss a combined 140 games coming into Thursday. — Jhabvala
 

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