Dak Prescott Breaks Cowboys' All-Time TD Record in 37-20 Rout of Commanders

Dallas needed a response after its opening-week loss. Dak Prescott gave it one—and made Cowboys history along the way.

Records have a way of becoming the story.

Sometimes they deserve to.

But before Dak Prescott threw the 249th touchdown pass of his career and moved past Tony Romo atop the Cowboys' record book, Dallas needed something considerably more immediate.

It needed a win.

One week after an uneven season-opening loss to the Giants, the Cowboys returned home against Washington needing to show that the problems from Week 1 weren't going to define the beginning of the season.

Prescott made sure they didn't.

He completed 26 of 31 passes for 279 yards, threw four touchdowns without an interception and finished with a 143.8 passer rating as Dallas beat Washington 37–20 and evened its record at 1–1.

The record came late.

The control came much earlier.

Dallas Started Like a Team That Had Something to Correct

There wasn't much mystery to the opening drive.

Dallas put the ball in Prescott's hands and let him work.

He completed five of six passes for 53 yards on the Cowboys' first possession and added an 11-yard scramble. CeeDee Lamb finished the 66-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown reception.

The next possession produced another trip inside Washington's 10 before Dallas settled for a Brandon Aubrey field goal.

Two possessions.

Ten points.

More importantly, the Cowboys looked considerably more settled than they had a week earlier.

Washington eventually answered, but Prescott kept moving the offense. His second touchdown came on a 10-yard throw to Jake Ferguson, giving Dallas a 17–3 advantage before the Commanders cut it to 17–10.

Prescott wasn't merely piling up completions. He was controlling the game.

And Lamb was making Washington pay for it.

He would finish with eight catches for 153 yards and two touchdowns, repeatedly giving Prescott the matchup he wanted.

The Game Changed at the Goal Line

For as well as Dallas played offensively, Washington had an opportunity to completely change the game before halftime.

The Commanders reached the Cowboys' 1-yard line with 12 seconds remaining, trailing 17–10.

They never got in.

Dallas survived three attempts from the 1, and Washington came away without a point. On the final play of the half, Jayden Daniels suffered a left elbow injury after stumbling and attempting to brace his fall. He did not return, with Marcus Mariota taking over after halftime.

The injury obviously changed Washington's circumstances.

But Dallas still had to take advantage of the opportunity.

That's something it didn't always do in Week 1.

This time it did.

Barham Provides the Separation

Washington opened the second half with a field goal, trimming the Dallas lead to 17–13.

The Cowboys answered with an Aubrey field goal of their own.

Then the defense produced the play Dallas needed.

Mariota completed a short pass to Dyami Brown, but rookie linebacker Jaishawn Barham knocked the ball loose. Dee Winters recovered at the Washington 13.

Two plays later, Prescott found Ferguson for a 12-yard touchdown.

Suddenly, a 17–13 game had become 27–13.

That's the kind of sequence that changes a game without requiring anything spectacular.

Create the turnover.

Give the offense a short field.

Turn it into seven points.

For a defense that entered the afternoon needing to demonstrate progress, that sequence mattered.

Dallas still allowed 182 rushing yards and had trouble containing Daniels before his injury, so nobody should mistake the final score for a complete defensive repair job. But the Cowboys held Washington to one touchdown in three red-zone opportunities and finished plus-one in turnover margin.

Better isn't the same thing as fixed.

It was still better.

Aubrey Does Aubrey Things

Washington later missed a 51-yard field goal.

Dallas responded by reaching the Commanders' 42 and stalling.

For most teams, that means punt.

For the Cowboys, apparently it means Brandon Aubrey.

Aubrey drilled a 60-yard field goal to push the lead to 30–13. It was already the seventh field goal of at least 60 yards in his career, extending his NFL record.

At that point, Washington was chasing the game.

The Commanders did manage another touchdown, with Mariota finding Stefon Diggs from 20 yards to cut the lead to 30–20.

Then Prescott and Lamb finished it.

Number 249

Prescott hit Lamb for 35 yards down the right sideline.

Then he went back to him.

From the Washington 24, Prescott gave Lamb a chance in the end zone. Lamb went up over the defender and came down with the touchdown.

Dallas 37.

Washington 20.

And Prescott had touchdown pass No. 249.

Tony Romo's franchise record of 248 had fallen.

There is a larger conversation to have about what that record means in the history of Cowboys quarterbacks. Meredith, Staubach, White, Aikman, Romo and Prescott played in different eras, with different offenses and very different expectations surrounding them.

That history deserves its own discussion.

On this afternoon, the significance was simpler.

Prescott played one of the cleanest games a quarterback can play.

Four touchdowns.

No interceptions.

A 143.8 passer rating.

And when Washington pulled within ten late, Prescott answered with the throw that simultaneously ended the comeback and put his name at the top of the franchise record book.

One Problem Didn't Disappear

The passing game looked ready.

The running game didn't.

Dallas carried 21 times for only 66 yards, averaging 3.1 yards per attempt. Javonte Williams managed 30 yards on 12 carries.

That's not something the Cowboys can simply shrug off because Prescott threw four touchdowns.

There will be opponents capable of making the passing game considerably more difficult than Washington did. Dallas can't expect Prescott and Lamb to erase an ineffective rushing attack every week.

That remains unfinished business.

So does a defense that allowed Washington to run for 182 yards.

The Cowboys won comfortably.

That doesn't mean they solved everything.

The Response Dallas Needed

Week 2 wasn't about proving the Cowboys had become a finished product.

They clearly haven't.

It was about responding.

The offense moved the football. The Cowboys finished drives. The defense made timely plays. Special teams produced another absurd Aubrey field goal. And when Washington threatened to make the game uncomfortable, Dallas found an answer.

Most importantly, Prescott looked completely in command of the offense.

The record will understandably become the piece of this game people remember.

Years from now, somebody looking through Cowboys history may see September 20, 2026 as the afternoon Dak Prescott became the franchise's career leader in touchdown passes.

But the record wasn't the entire story.

Dallas needed its first win of the season.

Prescott made history while delivering it.