ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Dak Prescott celebrated breaking Tony Romo's career franchise record for touchdown passes in a victorious locker room for the Dallas Cowboys.
Somber would be an understatement for the postgame mood around the other starting quarterback.
Prescott threw four touchdown passes to break Romo's record of 248, and the Cowboys beat Washington 37-20 on Sunday after the Commanders' Jayden Daniels went down with another gruesome-looking
dislocated left elbow.
Prescott's 249th TD pass was his second TD of the game to CeeDee Lamb, who had 153 yards receiving. Tight end Jake Ferguson had the other two scoring catches.
Lamb, whose 37 touchdown catches from Prescott are more than any other player, gave his quarterback the record-breaking ball, and there was more celebrating with teammates behind the scenes soon after that.
“That made me emotional,” said Prescott, who said he was also emotional hours before the game just thinking about his late mother as he pondered the possibility of getting the record with a four-TD day. “There’s tons of guys that aren’t in that locker room that I think about when I break this record. To see my teammates act that way, to see guys that only have been together for five, six months, have the joy, have the cheers that they do, it was emotional.”
The Cowboys (1-1) led 17-10 with the Commanders on the Dallas 1-yard line with 3 seconds remaining in the first half. Left guard Chris Paul stepped on Daniels’ foot as he backed away from center, and Daniels’ non-throwing elbow appeared to bend the wrong way as he braced himself and threw a wild pass that was incomplete as time expired.
Daniels stayed down momentarily, then started to walk to the sideline before going to the turf again. Upon seeing a video replay of the injury, Fox NFL analyst Tom Brady uttered a profanity.
Daniels’ head was covered in a towel as he left the field on a cart several minutes after all the Dallas players and most of the Washington players had gone to their locker rooms.
After the game, Commanders coach Dan Quinn confirmed the dislocation but said imaging showed no fracture and that Daniels would fly home with the team.
Daniels, who was replaced by Marcus Mariota, missed all but one game in the second half of last season after dislocating his left elbow in a blowout loss to Seattle last November.
“I thought he was really playing his (rear end) off,” Quinn said. “And we will rally so hard around Marcus until Jayden’s back. And that’s what we talked about as a team.”
Mariota connected with Stefon Diggs for his second TD catch of the game to get Washington (0-2) within 30-20 with 9 minutes remaining.
Prescott led an 11-play drive the other way that ended with Lamb's 24-yard touchdown. The 33-year-old in his 11th season went 26 of 32 for 279 yards without an interception and extended his home winning streak against NFC East rivals to 20 games.
“You can’t talk about Dak, the player, without starting with the man,” coach Brian Schottenheimer said. The man is unique. That’s why I was emotional watching the guys celebrate him in the locker room. The way he plays this game, the way leads us is special.”
Before his injury, Daniels kept the Commanders close with his mobility. He had an 18-yard scramble on a drive that ended in a field goal and then a 20-yarder before his 4-yard touchdown pass to Diggs.
The Commanders were out of timeouts when they had a first down at the Dallas 1 trailing 17-10 with 12 seconds left in the first half. Daniels threw two incompletions, leaving 3 seconds for the play on which he was injured.
Daniels had 69 yards on seven carries while going 11 of 17 for 96 yards passing.
A week a dud of a performance in the opener and the debut of 34-year-old defensive coordinator Christian Parker, the Dallas defense at least put up some resistance.
Mariota led the Commanders to a field goal to start the second half, but his second drive ended on the first play when Dallas rookie linebacker Jaishawn Barham forced a fumble by Dyami Brown on a screen pass. Dee Winters recovered inside the Washington 20, and Prescott's second TD pass to Ferguson for a 27-13 lead came two plays later.
Cowboys: S P.J. Locke was helped off the field after injuring a foot away from contact on Dallas' first defensive series and didn't return. ... CB Cobie Durant injured a hamstring in the first half and didn't return.
Commanders: Defending Super Bowl champion Seattle visits next Sunday.
Cowboys: Plays Baltimore in Rio de Janeiro next Sunday.
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