Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) jogs off the field after the team defeated the Washington Commanders at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, September 20, 2026. Dak set the franchise record for most career touchdown passes. He hit wide receiver Ceedee Lamb (88)I the end zone for a fourth quarter touchdown.
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News
ARLINGTON — After CeeDee Lamb had recovered the touchdown ball to give to his quarterback — Lamb’s second of the day and Dak Prescott’s fourth — the passer acknowledged both that it was not a good throw and that he had no special place for it in his house.
“It will be a great dust collector,’’ said Prescott, whose 249th touchdown pass as a Dallas Cowboy gave him the record, moving one past Tony Romo. “I remember him throwing it to Dez [Bryant], throwing it to Jason [Witten], just the accuracy, the command. Those are the two things I was in awe of.
“Then I get drafted here and I remember sitting in meetings and listening to him and Scott [Linehan] talk, and they were talking so far over my head. I’m like, ‘Man, this is going to be tough just getting on the field.’ They were talking about building plays and formations and I just had no idea what they were talking about. Tony has always been great with me, even that year with everything that went down. So super thankful for him.’’
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Prescott said all this while wearing a Roger Staubach jersey. Now you have to consider that even Troy Aikman won his final Super Bowl when Dak was 2 years old, so any knowledge of the Cowboys’ two major playoff producers comes through the world of video. Actually, Prescott had to explain to defensive tackle Quinnen Williams on Friday who Roger Staubach was. Williams said he knew Joe Namath from that era as a former Jet and Alabama player, but not Staubach.
Prescott shook his head at that but then acknowledged “one day players won’t know anything about me.’’
What we know for now is that Prescott led Dallas to a 37-20 victory over Washington, and that the big passing day against the Commanders was nothing at all new for the 11-year veteran. Prescott has had one five-touchdown pass day (against the Eagles) and 13 games of four TD passes. Of those, eight came against Washington (five) and the Giants (three).
If this didn’t exactly make up for the season-opening loss to New York, it at least kept the Cowboys from going to Brazil next week with an 0-2 record. As nice and shiny as this day was for Dak (26-for-31, 279 yards) and CeeDee Lamb (8 catches for 153 yards), it perhaps ends up a much tighter fit if Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels doesn’t dislocate his left elbow on the final play of the first half. The same injury he suffered twice last year forced a switch to backup Marcus Mariota, and Daniels already had 69 rushing yards in the opening half as Washington was at the 1-yard line trying to make it 17-17 when he fell and ended his day.
The other thing to acknowledge is that while Dak is taking ownership of all the regular-season records in the Cowboys’ book (pass attempts, completions, completion percentage and touchdowns now are his), quarterbacks didn’t throw it around quite so freely in the old days. Aikman had 165 touchdown passes in 165 starts. Staubach actually lagged behind Danny White (155-131) in the category.
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The best way I can put this is that Kirk Cousins has more touchdown passes than John Unitas, and Johnny U played 17 years. So be careful exactly how these numbers impact your way of thinking about all-time greats.
Having said that, Dak’s accuracy has been record-setting during his time here and on Sunday afternoon he was basically uncanny while completing better than 80 percent of his throws.
“The guy’s just a different unique competitor,’’ coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “I’ve been blessed, I’ve been around some elite quarterbacks. Dak Prescott’s preparation is something that is abnormal. They all work, they all prepare, they all study film. But this guy takes it to a different level. You know he’s up in our office till all hours of the night, and I think that’s what it takes.
“And it’s what you love about the guy.’’
It’s also readily apparent that a great season from Prescott is what Dallas needs just in order to compete. At 1-1, their defense is yet to show any signs it’s ready to stop the run, and Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry are up next in a foreign land that counts as a Cowboys home game.
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That seemed frightening after watching what the Giants did to this unit, and it was feeling the same way before Daniels went down just before halftime. All the same, Dak and CeeDee are on the same page, as joined at the hip as they have ever been, and that has a tendency to carry the Cowboys to at least some degree of regular season success. Dak’s interested in a lot more than the regular season records he keeps breaking, and he’s well aware of the 2-5 playoff record.
But there are plenty of teams that would love to take their chances with the accuracy he delivered against Washington in his 20th consecutive home victory against the NFC East.