On Thanksgiving, November 26, 2020, the Washington Football Team beat the Dallas Cowboys 41-16 at AT&T Stadium. Rookie running back Antonio Gibson ran for three touchdowns, two of them in the fourth quarter, and on the very next snap after his last one Montez Sweat intercepted Andy Dalton and returned it 15 yards for another. Washington scored 24 of the game’s last 27 points.
Both teams came in 3-7. The win lifted Washington to 4-7 and, for the moment, into first place in an NFC East that nobody had yet taken control of. Dallas fell to 3-8. It was Alex Smith’s third straight start for Washington, his first run as a starter since the leg injury he suffered in November 2018.
A trick play and an early lead
Dallas opened with a drive that stalled at the Washington 15, and Greg Zuerlein kicked a 33-yard field goal. On that drive the Cowboys lost guard Zack Martin, who left with a calf injury and did not return.
Washington answered with a 75-yard drive. Its biggest gain came on an end-around: tight end Logan Thomas took a pitch from Smith, ran right and threw deep to Terry McLaurin for 28 yards. Two Dallas penalties on third down kept the drive alive inside the 30, and Gibson finished it with a 5-yard run around right end with 1:37 left in the first quarter. Washington led 7-3.
Back and forth before halftime
Dallas went ahead on the second play of the second quarter, when Dalton threw deep down the right side to Amari Cooper for a 54-yard touchdown. Washington drove back to the Dallas 5 and settled for Dustin Hopkins’ 23-yard field goal, and it was 10-10.
The Cowboys then went for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 34. Dalton’s pass for CeeDee Lamb fell incomplete, and tight end Dalton Schultz was flagged for unnecessary roughness on the play, which moved Washington to the Dallas 19. Smith was sacked for a 9-yard loss, but Gibson ran for 10 yards and J.D. McKissic caught a 12-yard pass on third-and-9, and Smith found Thomas for a 5-yard touchdown with 2:26 left in the half.
Dallas got back into range when Ronald Darby was called for a 28-yard pass interference penalty on a deep ball for Cooper, and Zuerlein’s 32-yard field goal with 19 seconds left made it 17-13 at halftime.
Two takeaways, two field goals
On the second play of the third quarter, Ezekiel Elliott was ruled down after a 3-yard run. Ron Rivera challenged, the replay showed Daron Payne had knocked the ball loose before Elliott went down, and Jonathan Allen was credited with the recovery at the Dallas 33. Washington got only as far as the Dallas 13 before a sack pushed it back, and Hopkins kicked a 36-yarder for a 20-13 lead.
Dallas got its own takeaway late in the quarter. On third-and-10 from midfield, linebacker Jaylon Smith intercepted a pass intended for McLaurin and returned it 43 yards to the Washington 4. Washington’s defense held: Elliott lost 2 yards, a trick play ended with Lamb sacked for a 4-yard loss by safety Jeremy Reaves, and a third-down pass fell incomplete. Zuerlein’s 28-yard field goal cut the lead to 20-16 with 2:32 left in the third.
Gibson and Sweat finish it
Early in the fourth quarter, Dallas faced fourth-and-10 at its own 24 and tried a fake punt. Receiver Cedrick Wilson carried around right end, and Khaleke Hudson and Cole Luke dropped him for a 1-yard loss. On the next play Gibson ran 23 yards up the left side for a touchdown, and Washington led 27-16 with 12:07 left.
After a Dallas punt, Washington ran nearly six minutes off the clock. Peyton Barber converted a third-and-1 with a 15-yard run and a fourth-and-1 at the Dallas 43 with a 2-yard run, and on third-and-6 from the 37 Gibson went straight up the middle for a touchdown. It was 34-16 with 3:31 to play.
On the first play after the kickoff, Dalton threw a short pass for Elliott and Sweat, the defensive end, caught it at the Dallas 15 and ran it in. Two Washington touchdowns had come seven seconds of game time apart, and the final 41-16 score was set with 3:24 left.
| Quarter | Time | Team | Scoring play | Score (WAS-DAL) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 8:30 | DAL | Greg Zuerlein 33-yard field goal | 0-3 |
| 1st | 1:37 | WAS | Antonio Gibson 5-yard run (Dustin Hopkins kick) | 7-3 |
| 2nd | 14:08 | DAL | Amari Cooper 54-yard pass from Andy Dalton (Zuerlein kick) | 7-10 |
| 2nd | 7:13 | WAS | Hopkins 23-yard field goal | 10-10 |
| 2nd | 2:26 | WAS | Logan Thomas 5-yard pass from Alex Smith (Hopkins kick) | 17-10 |
| 2nd | 0:19 | DAL | Zuerlein 32-yard field goal | 17-13 |
| 3rd | 10:48 | WAS | Hopkins 36-yard field goal | 20-13 |
| 3rd | 2:32 | DAL | Zuerlein 28-yard field goal | 20-16 |
| 4th | 12:07 | WAS | Gibson 23-yard run (Hopkins kick) | 27-16 |
| 4th | 3:31 | WAS | Gibson 37-yard run (Hopkins kick) | 34-16 |
| 4th | 3:24 | WAS | Montez Sweat 15-yard interception return (Hopkins kick) | 41-16 |
The numbers
Gibson carried 20 times for 115 yards and three touchdowns and caught five passes for 21 more. Smith completed 19 of 26 passes for 149 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, and McLaurin caught seven for 92 yards. For Dallas, Dalton completed 25 of 35 for 215 yards and Cooper caught six passes for 112, but Elliott managed 32 yards on 10 carries. Washington’s defense had four sacks.
| Washington | Dallas | |
|---|---|---|
| Passing | Alex Smith, 19 of 26, 149 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT | Andy Dalton, 25 of 35, 215 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT |
| Rushing leaders | Antonio Gibson, 20 carries, 115 yards, 3 TD; Peyton Barber, 11 carries, 57 yards | Ezekiel Elliott, 10 carries, 32 yards; Dalton, 3 carries, 17 yards |
| Receiving leaders | Terry McLaurin, 7 catches, 92 yards; Gibson, 5 catches, 21 yards | Amari Cooper, 6 catches, 112 yards, 1 TD; Michael Gallup, 6 catches, 41 yards |
| Sacks | 4 (Chase Young, Jeremy Reaves, Tim Settle 1 each; Cole Holcomb and Daron Payne half each) | 3 (Randy Gregory 2, DeMarcus Lawrence 1) |
| Turnovers | 1 (interception) | 2 (lost fumble, interception) |
What came next
Gibson finished his rookie season with 11 rushing touchdowns. Washington won its next two games as well, handing the 11-0 Steelers their first loss, 23-17, and then beating San Francisco. After two losses it beat Philadelphia 20-14 in the final game to finish 7-9 and win the NFC East by one game over Dallas and the Giants, who both went 6-10. Tampa Bay beat Washington 31-23 in the wild-card round.
Washington had also won its previous Thanksgiving trip to Dallas, in 2012, when Robert Griffin III threw four touchdowns. The Cowboys’ failed fourth-and-1 and fake punt are the kind of calls covered in our fourth-down guide.
The 2026 connection
Dallas won this season’s first meeting 37-20 in Week 2. Week 10 opens Thursday night with Washington (2-5-1) at the Giants (5-2-1), and the Cowboys (4-5), coming off a 27-23 win over the Colts, host San Francisco on Sunday. Dallas is home again on Thanksgiving, November 26, against Philadelphia.
The scoring plays, drive notes and player numbers above come from the official play-by-play and game data.
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