Returning Smith thankful for win

ARLINGTON, TEXAS— Alex Smith has Washington at least temporarily in first place in the NFC East after winning on American Thanksgiving for the first time, two years after a planned holiday showing was wrecked by the quarterback’s careerthreatening leg injury.

Smith and his teammates aren’t going to concern themselves with how bad their division might be.

Antonio Gibson ran for three touchdowns, Smith had a scoring pass and Washington pulled away in the fourth quarter of a 41-16 Thanksgiving victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday.

Smith was days away from a second career Thanksgiving start in a visit to Dallas two years ago when he was injured. Now he has a second straight victory in his improbable comeback.

“It’s hard to put into words,” said Smith, who was a modest19 of 26 for 149 yards and got bailed out on his only interception when receiver Terry McLaurin ran down Dallas linebacker Jaylon Smith to prevent a tying touchdown before the Cowboys had to settle for a field goal.

“I never would have dreamt in a million years something like this would be happening. Just thankful for it and making the most of it every day.”

Gibson’s second score was a 23-yard run on the first play after an ill-advised fake punt attempt by Dallas as Washington beat its division rival on Thanksgiving for just the second time in 10 tries, the most frequent visitor for the Cowboys in their annual holiday home game.

Washington, now 4-7, slides ahead of 3-6-1 Philadelphia in the NFC East and will stay in first place if the Eagles lose to Seattle on Monday night.

“Our record’s not the best,” Gibson said. “We’re still in it. That gives us hope. That’s what we’re pushing for, is we can still make the playoffs right now. We’re going to keep going.”

Dallas, which fell to 3-8, couldn’t build on a big win at Minnesota, losing for the fifth time in six games since star quarterback Dak Prescott’s season-ending ankle injury.