The Dallas Cowboys bludgeoned the Washington Commanders on Thanksgiving, as they ran away with a 45-10 win over their rivals. The play of the game came late in the fourth quarter when DaRon Bland housed his fifth pick-6 of the season, setting a new NFL record with Jim Nantz providing an incredible call of the moment.
Just prior to that, the Dallas offense had put up its fifth touchdown of the afternoon, as Dak Prescott hit KaVontae Turpin up the seam for a 34-yard touchdown to make it 38-10 midway through the fourth quarter. At that point, the game was out of hand and the Cowboys decided it was finally time to break out their planned celebration of pulling turkey legs wrapped in foil out of the Salvation Army kettle in the back of the end zone and enjoying a little midgame snack.
THE COWBOYS HID TURKEY LEGS IN THE SALVATION ARMY KETTLE AND DAK PRESCOTT IS EATING THEM pic.twitter.com/a5YjmJltOs
— Arye Pulli (@AryePulli) November 24, 2023
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1727846769302950035
What makes the celebration funnier is that the Cowboys had a “two or three day” discussion of whether they’d get flagged or the coaches would go for it, but when Dak brought it up to Jerry Jones and Mike McCarthy before the game, they were in for it — provided they didn’t do it too early. Prescott explained they considered it after CeeDee Lamb’s TD to go up 31-10 early in the fourth, but were confident they’d get one more to truly ice the game on the Commanders.
Dak Prescott said he brought up the turkey leg celebration to Jerry Jones before the game and the Cowboys owner liked the idea 😂 pic.twitter.com/AcDQAJZUnZ
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) November 24, 2023
Not only did they have to get Jones and McCarthy’s blessing and be patient by waiting until they were sure the celebration couldn’t come back to haunt them by doing it too early, they also had to have turkey legs stashed in each end zone, meaning the Salvation Army Kettle in the other end zone also had a to-go bag stashed in it.
The disrespect was planned from the jump. My guy @jonmachota said the team had turkey wrapped in to-go containers in each one of those Salvation Army baskets around the field. Diabolical.pic.twitter.com/EiUa2e9aHe https://t.co/i0PCQb90kN
— Ben Standig (@BenStandig) November 24, 2023
I’m not sure I’d call it rock bottom because this is the Washington Commanders, but having your arch-rivals hide turkey legs around the stadium for a touchdown celebration and then be confident they could wait for their fifth touchdown of the game, not their fourth, to break them out is fairly embarrassing. It was a terrific Thanksgiving football moment (for non Commanders fans) and I hope the Cowboys continue trying to up the ante on Thanksgiving food themed celebrations going forward. Maybe next year they can put cranberry sauce in a Gatorade cooler and dump that on Mike McCarthy.
