IRVING, Texas, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Chad Hutchinson put Dallas ahead with a 41-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Joey Galloway Thursday and Emmitt Smith had his best performance in two years to carry the Dallas Cowboys to their 10th consecutive win over the Washington Redskins, 27-20.
Dallas has won back-to-back games for the first time this season to improve to 5-7 and did so by overcoming a 10-point deficit against its biggest rival. The Redskins also fell to 5-7 as their playoff hopes all but vanished.
Having promised franchise owner Dan Snyder the game ball when the Redskins beat the Cowboys, Washington Coach Steve Spurrier's aggressive play calling wound up hurting his team as Dallas staged its comeback.
Owning a 10-point lead in the third period, pinned deep in its own end of the field and facing third down, Spurrier called for a pass play rather than run the ball to protect against a mistake.
A mistake was made, however, when the short pass from Danny Wuerffel glanced off the hands of the intended receiver Kenny Watson and Dallas rookie safety Roy Williams picked it off for a five-yard interception return and a touchdown.
That brought the Cowboys within 20-17 and they took the lead for good with 10:05 to play when Hutchinson hit Galloway with the 41-yard touchdown throw. Billy Cundiff added a 42-yard field goal to give the Cowboys a seven-point lead with 4:23 remaining and the Redskins did not threaten the rest of the way.
Smith, who last month became the NFL's all-time leading rusher, gained 144 yards on 23 carries to help the Cowboys control the ball despite a patched-together offensive line.
It was his best game since he gained 150 yards against the Redskins on Dec. 10, 2000, and sent him past the 17,000-yard mark for his career.
Smith reached the 100-yard mark for the 76th time in his career, tying him with Barry Sanders for second all-time -- one behind Walter Payton's NFL record.
Dallas has not lost to its NFC East rival since the first of their two meetings in 1997. They will play again in Washington on the final weekend of the season. Over the last three seasons, Dallas is 15-29 with five of the wins coming against the Redskins.
"Their offense got better as the game went along," Spurrier said. "We tried to run and they stuffed us. We had three straight good possessions in the game and after that, we didn't do much.
"Hopefully, we will give them a little better contest the next time we play."
Hutchinson hit Antony Bryant with a 29-yard scoring pass to give Dallas the early lead, but Washington tied it on a 40-yard throw from Wuerffel to Rod Gardner.
The Cowboys regained the lead on Cundiff's 21-yard field goal with 5:52 left in the first half only to have the Redskins move in front with 1:55 to play before intermission on Wuerffel's 16-yard throw to Zeron Flemister.
And when Washington drove 63 yards after the second-half kickoff to score on Wuerffel's 11-yard pass to Derrius Thompson, the Redskins owned a 10-point advantage. But the Redskins missed the extra point after that touchdown, had a field goal attempt blocked in the first half and Wuerffel suffered three interceptions. On the blocked field goal, Washington punter and place kick holder Bryan Barker suffered a broken nose. His absence weakened the Redskins' special teams and eventually helped Dallas win the field-position battle in the second half.
Wuerffel had not thrown a touchdown pass all season before hitting three Sunday, but it was still not enough.
"When we have such a young team, the idea of being able to keep firing at them for four periods is important to us," said Cowboys Coach Dave Campo. "We had some guys get banged up in the offensive line. They had four sacks in the first half and we went out in the second half and they had none.
"And when you have a back rush for 144 yards like emmitt did, that shows progres. that shows fight, no matter who is in the game. we are building something.
"I am proud of Emmitt. He has a way of when he is on the stage of proving people wrong. There is no question he can still help us win."
Dallas had lost four of its five previous Thanksgiving Day contests, winning on the holiday for the first time since blanking Miami in 1999.
