No team has traveled to face the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day more than the Redskins.
Up until their last Turkey Day meeting in 2012, the Cowboys had never lost to Washington on the annual holiday game.
But thanks to a rookie QB named Robert Griffin III, the Redskins outgunned the Cowboys for a 38-28 win to snap the Cowboys' six-game winning streak against Washington on Thanksgiving.
Let's take a quick look back at the previous matchups in this storied rivalry:
1968 – Cowboys, 29, Redskins 20
This game of runs included Dallas jumping out to a 17-0 lead before falling behind early in the fourth quarter, 20-19. However, in what would later become a theme for this matchup on Thanksgiving, the Cowboys rallied back, thanks to an interception by defensive tackle Larry Cole, giving Dallas the 29-20 win.
1974 – Cowboys 24, Redskins 23
This might be the most memorable Thanksgiving Day game the Cowboys have ever played against anyone, not just the Redskins. But when Roger Staubach was knocked out of the game in the second half, all hope seemed lost for Dallas. However, backup Clint Longley saved the day with two touchdown passes in the second half, including a 50-yard bomb to Drew Pearson to give Dallas the improbable comeback victory.
1978 – Cowboys 37, Redskins 10
While the score was rather lopsided, this game marked the return of Thanksgiving Day in Dallas for good. The Cowboys didn't play in the game in 1975 or 1977, but in 1978 they began a streak of Turkey Day classics that will reach 39 straight on Thursday at AT&T Stadium. In the 1978 game, the Cowboys jumped out to a 20-0 lead, thanks to another bomb to Pearson – this time for Staubach. The Cowboys cruised to the win by outgaining Washington 507-202 in total offensive yards.
[embeddedad0]1990 – Cowboys 27, Redskins 17
After skipping the entire decade of the 1980s, the Redskins and Cowboys met up again at Texas Stadium with a rookie named Emmitt Smith, who clinched the game with a 48-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. The Cowboys had led 10-0, then trailed 17-10, before scoring the final 17 points to secure the win. Smith rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns.
1996 – Cowboys 21, Redskins 10
This time, Emmitt Smith wasn't a rookie bursting onto the scene, but a former MVP who was putting his stamp on the record books. With 155 rushing yards, Smith surpassed 10,000 yards for his career, becoming the 12th player in NFL history to accomplish that feat. Obviously, Smith would continue his crusade to become the league's all-time leading rusher. In this win, Smith scored all three of the Cowboys' touchdowns as they controlled the Redskins from start to finish.
2002 – Cowboys 27, Redskins 20
Once again, Smith dominated the Redskins on Thanksgiving, rushing for 144 yards. But Dallas found themselves down 20-10 in the third quarter before rookie safety Roy Williams turned the game around with an interception return for a touchdown. From there, rookie Chad Hutchinson engineered two more scoring drives to help the Cowboys rally for a 27-20 win over the Redskins.
2012 - Redskins 38, Cowboys 28
The Cowboys fell behind 28-3 at the half as Griffin torched the secondary early and often. While Tony Romo tried to rally the offense with some big plays to Dez Bryant, the Cowboys just couldn't overcome that first-half start. Romo passed for 441 yards but it wasn't near enough as the Redskins got their first win over the Cowboys on Thanksgiving.
