Redskins vs. Cowboys: Score, Twitter Reaction for 2016 Thanksgiving Day Football

The Dallas Cowboys ran their winning streak to 10 games with a 31-26 victory over the Washington Redskins on Thursday at AT&T Stadium.

Washington fell short despite the best efforts of Kirk Cousins, who went 41-of-53 for 449 yards and three touchdowns. 

Cousins is playing on the franchise tag, and 106.7 The Fan's Grant Paulsen isn't sure he could have done more in the last two weeks to prove himself worthy of a lucrative extension:

Ezekiel Elliott continued his strong rookie season, carrying the ball 20 times for 97 yards and two touchdowns, which gives him 11 rushing scores on the season. According to ESPN Stats & Info, Emmitt Smith in 1990 was the last Cowboys rookie to reach at least 10 rushing touchdowns.

Jason Witten hit a milestone of his own, finishing with three receptions for 33 yards. Atlanta Falcons tight end Jacob Tamme has few words to explain Witten's success:

The 10-time Pro Bowler has 52 receptions on the year, making him the fifth player ever with at least 50 catches in 13 consecutive seasons, per the Cowboys' official Twitter account. With 1,072 receptions for his career, the veteran tight end supplanted Reggie Wayne for eighth place on the all-time list, per ESPN Stats & Info.

The Dallas Morning News' Jon Machota tweeted that Witten has caught a pass in 130 straight games, which illustrates his consistency over his 14 years in the league.

The Cowboys could thank Mother Nature in part for holding Washington to six points in the first half. As the Redskins drove down the field, they were greeted by near-blinding sunlight shining into AT&T Stadium: 

Dustin Hopkins missed two of his three field-goal attempts to begin the game. In his defense, the Redskins kicker may not have even seen the uprights during his third try with 3:56 left in the second quarter.

SB Nation showed how Hopkins was struggling to deal with the sun:

The MMQB's Albert Breer shared a piece of advice to address the issue:

Hopkins connected on his fourth attempt from 20 yards out with three seconds remaining until halftime, but Washington was staring at an 11-point deficit, 17-6, when the teams headed for the locker room.

As CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora tweeted, the Redskins left a lot of points on the board as a result of their struggles inside the Cowboys' half of the field:

Washington outgained Dallas 240-170 and averaged 6.9 yards per play compared to 6.1 for the Cowboys. Dallas, however, was more opportunistic, scoring on three of its first four drives—excluding its possession at the end of the half. Each of the Cowboys' trips into the red zone ended with a touchdown as well.

Elliott got the home team on the board with a four-yard touchdown run at the 11:09 mark of the first quarter. The NFL shared a replay of the score on Twitter:

A 24-yard field goal by Hopkins cut the Cowboys' lead to four points, 7-3, with 14:04 in the half, but Dan Bailey canceled it out with a 46-yard field goal six minutes later. A slick piece of footwork by Terrance Williams and the subsequent PAT added seven more points at the 1:45 mark of the second quarter.

The Cowboys wideout narrowly got both feet down in the end zone as his momentum was taking him out of bounds:

Jordan Reed scored the first points of the second half with 14:54 remaining in the game. He hauled in an impressive one-handed catch leading up to the touchdown. Even with Cowboys safety Byron Jones draped all over him, Reed got the ball down to the Dallas 3-yard line.

The NFL offered a second look at the reception:

Two plays later, Cousins and Reed connected again for six points. Washington's two-point conversion attempt failed, keeping the score at 17-12 in favor of Dallas.

The Redskins had no answer for the Cowboys offense in the fourth quarter, though. After Reed's touchdown grab, Dallas went 75 yards in seven plays, with Dak Prescott finding the end zone from six yards out to put the Cowboys ahead 24-12.

A blown coverage allowed DeSean Jackson to make a wide-open 67-yard touchdown reception with 9:22 left in the game to bring Washington to within five points, 24-19. But Elliott responded with his second touchdown of the evening.

Dallas had a short field after Redskins head coach Jay Gruden opted for an onside kick following Jackson's touchdown. Dallas recovered and needed to go just 53 yards before finding paydirt. While many are bound to be critical of Gruden, The Ringer's Robert Mays wasn't one of the critics:

La Canfora, on the other hand, thought the onside kick compounded the effect of Washington's previous mistakes:

Reed caught an eight-yard touchdown with 1:53 remaining, leaving the Redskins with a sliver of hope.

However, Hopkins' onside-kick attempt bounced out of bounds, and the Cowboys ran out the clock to seal the win.

Dallas gained only 353 yards, down from its season average of 413.1 entering Week 12. While it wasn't a dominant performance, the Cowboys demonstrated how effective they can be when sitting on a lead.

Elliott strengthened his case for the Most Valuable Player award with the way he continued to move the chains in the second half. Having a running back who can gain positive yards on such a consistent basis is a luxury and serves as Dallas' security blanket late in games.

For the Redskins, Thursday's loss will be frustrating given how many opportunities they failed to capitalize on early in the game.

Still, the Minnesota Vikings' defeat was good news for Washington, which remains in the NFC's final wild-card spot. Next week's game against the Arizona Cardinals will be a good chance for the Redskins to further stabilize their playoff position.

Postgame Reaction

Dez Bryant and Josh Norman had a minor altercation on the field at the conclusion of the game. Norman shared his side of the story, courtesy of the Washington Post's Master Tesfatsion:

For the Cowboys wideout, the war of words didn't end with the final whistle. As he headed for the locker room, he alluded to Norman's five-year, $75 million deal, courtesy of Mike Doocy of Fox 4:

Bryant offered more thoughts on Twitter:

Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett spoke highly of Elliott.

"Over time, you keep running the football, you're going to wear them down," Garrett said, per the Associated Press, via ESPN.com. "He made some big runs late that were critical. It really broke their back."

Gruden is looking for his team to respond positively following Thursday's loss: "We've been in third place for a while, so we have to understand where we are what it's going to take to get an opportunity to come back here in the future. The last five games of the year are critical."