Thanksgiving brings Cowboys and Redskins together at AT&T Stadium

Thanksgiving and the Dallas Cowboys.

It’s been a fabric of sports life for many years.

And nothing will change this year when the Cowboys (9-1) host the Washington Redskins (6-3-1) at AT&T Stadium on Thanksgiving.

It’s the second of two NFC East meetings with Dallas taking the first game 27-23 on Sept. 18 in Week 2.

“The way we look at it, it not so much as how they’re different than Week 2. We look at the team that we’re playing and prepare for them,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said.

The game will be the first Thanksgiving Day meeting between the teams since 2012 when the Redskins took a 38-31 win.

For the first time since 1935, Thanksgiving Day features three games with all six teams owning a record of .500 or better. The other games feature Minnesota (6-4) at Detroit (6-4) and Pittsburgh (5-5) at Indianapolis (5-5).

However, it’s the Cowboys-Redskins game that is generating the biggest buzz.

The Cowboys have a 29-18-1 record on Thanksgiving Day. Thursday marks the eighth time the Cowboys and Redskins have met on Thanksgiving with Dallas leading the holiday series 6-1.

Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins has already passed for 3,091 yards and 17 touchdowns with seven interceptions. Robert Kelly has jump-started the running game with 424 yards and four scores. Defensively, Ryan Kerrigan has eight sacks. Josh Norman is a respected shutdown cornerback who has two forced fumbles and an interception.

“They’re a good football team. They have a lot of weapons on offense. They’re a balanced offensive team. The quarterback is playing very well,” Garrett said. “They’re aggressive on defense.”

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott leads all NFL rookies in passing yards with 2,640 and touchdowns with 17. He is the fourth rookie in NFL history with five consecutive multi-touchdown games. Rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott leads the NFL with 1,102 rushing yards, third-most ever in a player’s first 10 career games. Second-year safety Byron Jones has led the team in tackles the past two games.

Statistical comparisons

This story was originally published November 23, 2016 at 10:50 AM with the headline "Thanksgiving brings Cowboys and Redskins together at AT&T Stadium."