If the Dallas Cowboys play like they did Thanksgiving Day in say, the middle of January, they will once again find themselves at home after the first round of the playoffs.
Fortunately, the Cowboys were playing the Washington Commanders and had more than enough pure talent to pull out a 45-10 win before a sell-out crowd at AT&T Stadium.
Early on, it looked like the Cowboys were on their way to a blowout.
Dallas took its second possession 90 yards in 11 plays, punctuated by a 15-yard touchdown pass from Dak Prescott to Rico Dowdele to give the Cowboys a 7-0 lead.
Washington would hang tough in the first half. The Commanders put together two long drives. The first netted 3 points on a 43-yard Joey Sly field goal to cut the lead to 7-3.
Then, trailing 14-3, quarterback Sam Howell engineered a 13-play drive that ended with Howell running in from the one-yard line to make it a 14-10 game with less than two minutes left in the first half.
A defensive stop right before halftime would have given the Commanders an emotional boost going into the third quarter. Unfortunately, Dallas answered with a lightning-quick touchdown drive as a seven-yard Tony Pollard touchdown run made the score 21-10.
The game then ended, for all intents and purposes early in the fourth quarter.
Trailing 23-10 with the ball on their own 34-yard line, the Commanders went for it on fourth and one. Instead of giving the ball to Brian Robinson Jr., Washington tried to throw. Howell was sacked and Dallas took over on downs.
Three plays later, Prescott found a wide-open CD Lamb in the end zone to make the score 31-10.
Prescott would have an encore a few minutes later, hitting KaVontae Turpin for yet another easy touchdown to give the Cowboys a 38-10 lead.
Prescott finished the day 22 of 32 for 331 yards and four touchdowns. So dominant was Prescott, he was seen eating a turkey leg on the sidelines with more than five minutes left in the fourth quarter.
The final embarrassment was a Howell pass intercepted and returned 63 yards for a touchdown by Cowboys defensive back DaRon Bland who broke an NFL record with his fifth interception returned for a touchdown in a single season.
The Commanders fall to 4-8 and will be off until next Sunday when the Miami Dolphins visit FedEx Field.
In his post-game press conference, head coach Ron Rivera refused to talk about any player or coaching changes. With nine days until the Miami game, owner Josh Harris might not give Rivera the chance to fix what’s broken.