Back on top again
Cowboys gain share of NFC East lead after defeating Redskins, 31-23.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Ezekiel Elliott made the $21 donation after his touchdown. Amari Cooper took the freebie following the first of his two scores.
The bonus for the Dallas Cowboys: They’re all the way back in the NFC East race.
Cooper celebrated his first touchdown with a mock free throw before a 90-yard score that sent him to a Dallas
Thanksgiving-record 180 yards receiving, and the Cowboys pulled even with Washington atop the division with a 31-23 victory over the Redskins on Thursday.
Elliott ran for 121 yards with his TD and cash celebration as the Cowboys (6-5) won their third consecutive game since their first home loss,
to Tennessee in the Dallas debut of Cooper. Dallas’ eighth victory in nine Thanksgiving games against Washington, and second in three years, earned a season split.
“Everyone jumped off the bandwagon, of course, at 3-5,” quarterback Dak Prescott said. “You expect that. I can tell you who didn’t doubt ourselves. As long as we locked arms, we stayed tight, we knew we could do this and we can do more. That’s the only thing that matters to us.”
The Redskins (6-5) lost for the third time in four games in Colt McCoy’s first start in four years coming off Alex Smith’s season-ending leg injury.
The former Texas Longhorns star threw three interceptions to offset two touchdown passes. McCoy won his two previous starts at the home of the Cowboys, one for the 2009 Big 12 championship and the other his most recent NFL victory with the Redskins in 2014.
“I think I’m encouraged, on a short week like that,” said McCoy, who was 24 of 38 for 268 yards. “Losing overshadows everything. But I’ll go back and watch it and try to clean up some of my mistakes that are going to help our team win.”
Cooper had 105 yards after the catch on his two touchdowns.
First, Cooper ran away from Quinton Dunbar after the Washington cornerback slipped on a short pass, turning it into a 40-yard touchdown for a 17-13 lead. Cooper celebrated by mimicking a free throw, shooting the football through the goal post.
On the 90-yarder, Cooper made the catch just outside the Dallas 30, spun out of the arms of Fabian Moreau and won the race to the pylon against former Alabama teammate Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, who tried to shove him out of bounds around the 5.
The longest catch of Cooper’s career and longest completion in Prescott’s three seasons came exactly a month after the Cowboys gave Oakland their first-round pick in the upcoming draft for a new No. 1 receiver.
“I’ve been putting in extra time with my coaches, with Dak,” Cooper said. “For some reason, since I’ve been here, the chemistry with Dak has been phenomenal.”
Early on, McCoy looked as if he hadn’t started a game in a long time, throwing into double coverage on his first play and fumbling while trying to scramble on his third, with the Redskins recovering and punting.
But McCoy settled in with a couple of third-down passes to Jordan Reed to keep drives going, then hit Vernon Davis in stride on a 53-yard touchdown — the longest Washington completion of the season — for a 7-7 tie.
The Cowboys were having all the fun before the Redskins pulled even, with Elliott scoring on a 16-yard run and dropping $21 into a giant Salvation Army red kettle behind the end zone. The cash was handed to him by a team photographer.
As a rookie in 2016, Elliott jumped into the kettle on the same part of the field after a touchdown in a 31-26 victory over the Redskins. That season’s NFL rushing champion, who wears No. 21, was fined for the stunt and later donated $21,000 to the Salvation Army.
After scoring on a scrambling 5-yard run for the third Dallas touchdown in less than eight minutes and a 31-13 lead, Prescott let Elliott help him into another kettle on the other end of the field, drawing the same unsportsmanlike conduct penalty Elliott did two years ago.
Elliott missed the Thanksgiving game last year on his six-game suspension over domestic violence allegations.
“I didn’t have any plans to do that. Zeke did,” said Prescott, who was 22 of 31 for a season-high 289 yards in his third consecutive game without an interception or a lost fumble. “He showed his strength. Once he had me in the air, I said I’ve got to own it now and just figured I’d jump in there before I got hurt.”
BEARS 23, LIONS 16
DETROIT — Chase Daniel made the most of his chance to fill in for Mitchell Trubisky, having the best day of his journeyman career.
Daniel set career highs with 230 yards passing and 2 touchdowns to keep the Chicago Bears rolling with a 23-16 victory over the Detroit Lions on Thursday.
The NFC North-leading Bears (8-3) sealed their fifth consecutive victory with Kyle Fuller’s interception in the end zone
with a little more than a minute left.
Detroit (4-7) has lost four of five, plummeting to last place in the division.
Chicago broke a 16-16 tie on Eddie Jackson’s 41-yard pick-6 with six minutes remaining. It was Jackson’s second consecutive game with an interception returned for a touchdown. It’s also the fifth career defensive touchdown for the 2017 fourth-round pick.
The Lions drove to the Bears 11 on the ensuing drive, but couldn’t score because Matthew Stafford’s pass to Michael Roberts was picked off by Fuller. Fuller’s interception was the 20th of the season for the Bears.
Daniel, 32, made his third career start and his first in nearly four years, replacing Trubisky, who was out with a shoulder injury.
He finished 27 of 37 for 230 yards and 2 touchdowns, setting career highs in each category. Daniel had a 10-yard touchdown pass to Taquan Mizzell in the second quarter and a 14-yard pass to Tarik Cohen in the fourth.
And unlike Stafford, he didn’t make any costly mistakes.
Stafford was 28 of 38 for 236 yards with 2 interceptions.
SAINTS 31, FALCONS 17
NEW ORLEANS — Drew Brees threw four touchdown passes to inexperienced receivers and the New Orleans Saints won their 10th consecutive game with a victory over Atlanta that eliminated the Falcons from contention in the NFC South.
Tommylee Lewis and Austin Carr each caught their second career touchdown pass, and rookie tight end Dan Arnold grabbed his first, as did rookie receiver Keith Kirkwood.
All four entered the NFL as undrafted free agents within the past three years and had combined for zero touchdowns this season before Carr caught the first of his career last Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Falcons (4-7) lost three fumbles inside the Saints 20 — something no team facing streaking New Orleans (10-1) can afford this season.
Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan was stripped by safety Marcus Williams on a third-and-2 from the Saints 3 and Williams recovered to end Atlanta’s opening drive. Julio Jones was stripped by linebacker Alex Anzalone after a catch on the New Orleans 17, and safety Vonn Bell recovered in the final minute of the second quarter to preserve a 17-3 lead going into halftime.