Dak Prescott spent Sunday rewriting a familiar Dallas script, and then he turned it into a milestone night.
Prescott threw four touchdown passes as the Cowboys beat the Commanders 37-20, and the final one carried extra weight: a 24-yard strike to CeeDee Lamb with 3:07 left that gave Prescott his 249th career touchdown pass and moved him past Tony Romo for the franchise record. He kept the ball afterward.
Prescott finished 26-of-31 for 279 yards, and his touchdown work came in waves. He hit Lamb for a 3-yard score early, then found Jake Ferguson for touchdowns of 10 and 12 yards before closing the door with the long pass to Lamb.
“To now put myself in that category, it’s humbling, but I expect to play for a long time. And in my mind, I’m just getting started,” Prescott said last week.
Lamb was just as central to the Cowboys’ night, catching eight passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns. Dallas opened fast, led 17-3 early and took a 17-10 edge into halftime, then steadily pulled away after the break.
The Commanders, meanwhile, were left dealing with more than the loss.
Jayden Daniels injured his left elbow on the final play of the first half when Washington tried to score from the 1 with three seconds left. Chris Paul accidentally stepped on Daniels as the quarterback took the snap from under center, and Daniels tried to brace himself as he started to fall to the ground. The replay was so hard to watch that Fox analyst Tom Brady blurted, “Oh, shit.”
The injury looked eerily similar to the 2025 game against the Seahawks last season when Daniels dislocated his left elbow.
Washington also lost Brandon Coleman, Javon Kinlaw and Sam Cosmi late in the fourth quarter. Coleman went out with a finger injury, while Kinlaw and Cosmi also left the game.
There was another moment that went against the Commanders when a 29-yard touchdown pass from Marcus Mariota to Dyami Brown was ruled incomplete after officials and replay review. The broadcast crew disagreed with the call, and the score would have tied the game at 17-17.
Even with the Cowboys in control, Washington moved the ball better in the yardage column, outgaining Dallas 389 to 332. But the Commanders were only 1-for-3 in the red zone, and that inefficiency helped keep them from turning production into points.
Prescott’s record-setting afternoon also added another line to his home dominance inside the division. He is now 23-2 in division home games, the best winning percentage at home against division opponents, with a minimum of 15 starts, since the merger, according to NBC Sports Research. It was also his 20th straight home win against NFC East teams since 2017, matching Tom Brady’s NFL record.
Dallas improved to 1-1. Washington dropped to 0-2.
In Other News...
Commanders Face Early NFC East Test With Extra Attention On Sunday
The Commanders head to AT&T Stadium on Sunday for an early NFC East measuring stick against the Cowboys, and it comes with the kind of spotlight that tends to follow this rivalry. Kickoff is set for 4:25 p.m. ET on FOX, with Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady on the call and Shawn Hochuli working the game. Dallas enters as a 3.5-point favorite, which only adds a little more edge to a matchup that already carries more weight than a typical September game.
For Washington, it is the sort of Week 2 test that can start to shape how the division race is viewed before it really settles in. Road games in Dallas rarely feel routine, and the combination of the stage, the opponent and the early-season stakes gives this one an immediate sense of importance. Even in September, NFC East games tend to linger, and Sunday offers the Commanders a chance to make a statement before the season gets any older. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Gave Commanders Fans Another Reason To Circle Sunday
The Week 2 meeting between the Commanders and Cowboys was already going to carry its usual edge, but Dallas added another layer of fuel with a social media post that quickly became its own talking point. The Cowboys shared a photo of linebacker Shemar James celebrating after a sack of Jayden Daniels, and the image showed the Washington quarterback injured on the play and out for the rest of that game.
The reaction came fast, with plenty of debate over whether the post crossed a line, and Dallas eventually deleted it. For Washington fans, it was one more reminder that this rivalry does not need much help getting personal, and Sunday now comes with a little extra bite beyond the standings. [Read more 🡒]
Jayden Daniels Injury Scare Just Changed Everything For Washington
Jayden Daniels night against the Dallas Cowboys took a sharp turn on the final play of the first half, when the Commanders quarterback went down with a left arm injury that immediately changed the feel of the game. Daniels was carted off the field after the play, and the sideline quickly shifted into damage-control mode as Marcus Mariota prepared to take over for the second half.
For Washington, the concern goes beyond one game. Daniels had been the centerpiece of the offense, and any injury that affects his throwing arm carries obvious weight for a team trying to build momentum early in the season. The look of the injury, and the fact that it resembled one he had dealt with before, only made the moment more unsettling as the Commanders waited for more clarity. [Read more 🡒]