The NFL Thanksgiving slate kicked off with the Green Bay Packers pulling off an impressive win over the Detroit Lions in an NFC battle with huge playoff implications. Once that wrapped up, we got an equally fantastic duel between the Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.
Let’s dive into the winners and losers from the Chiefs vs Cowboys matchup on Thanksgiving Day at AT&T Stadium.
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Winner: Dak Prescott Delivers Again, Proves his Excellence
The only reason Dak Prescott gets a bad rap nationally is because he just so happens to be the Cowboys quarterback. Prescott came into Thanksgiving Day with a 20-4 TD-INT, 110.2 QB rating, and a 68.4 percent completion rate in his last eight games, but Dallas only had a 4-3-1 record to show for it because of its defense. Now, Prescott has a league-average defense, and it’s made all the difference in highlighting what he can do. After that game-opening interception on his second throw of the night, Prescott completed 26-of-37 attempts for 320 passing yards, 2 touchdowns and a 114.5 QB rating. He also delivered some money throws, including that downfield strike to Lamb in the fourth quarter to set up a critical score and precision darts to Lamb and Pickens to ice the victory. Ignore the star on his helmet and simply recognize that Prescott is one of the game’s top quarterbacks.
Loser: Andy Reid’s Early Conservative Decison-Making
On the one hand, we understand that this is just who Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is, and it’s never going to change. It’s just maddening to see that in a must-win game for a team that already has five losses, Reid coached this one like Kansas City already had a playoff spot locked up. The biggest issues came early. First, on 4th-and-5 from the Cowboys’ 49-yard line in the third quarter. A coach with Rice, Travis Kelce, and Patrick Mahomes should go for it in this situation. Reid punted it. Later in the third quarter, still trailing 17-14, the Chiefs offense had the football on the Cowboys’ 44-yard line with a 4th-and-4 attempt. Again, in a situation where the data screams to go for it, Reid punted. Those two calls cost Kansas City 8.9 percent in win probability. The Chiefs ended up losing, and they are now 6-6 on the season.
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Winner: Rashee Rice Demonstrates his Vital Importance
It’s truly remarkable how much better this Chiefs offense is when Rashee Rice is on the field and getting peppered with targets. Just four days ago, he drew a season-high in targets (12) and took over in the second half on the way to a 141-yard game with 8 receptions. Fast forward to Thanksgiving Day, Patrick Mahomes made sure his top receiver feasted in his return to Texas. Rice’s numbers, including his second consecutive 90-yard game, are impressive. What really stood out, of course, is the phenomenal fourth-down grab he made in the end zone for his second score of the day. If Kansas City can get him the 10-plus targets per game he deserves, Rice has an outside shot at 850 receiving yards this season even with a six-game suspension.
Loser: Trent McDuffie Gets Cooked on Thanksgiving
Trent McDuffie is an All-Pro corner, earning that honor at two different spots in the last two seasons. He’s also been instrumental in Kansas City winning two Super Bowls. However, he also can really run into some issues against top receivers. We saw that in the Super Bowl last season and, amid another great season, he had major issues on Thanksgiving Day versus CeeDee Lamb. On the second Cowboys’ drive alone, McDuffie surrendered more receiving yards in a game than he had in any other all season. It’s also not as if Steve Spagnuolo had other options since McDuffie’s size (5-foot-11) makes him a bad fit to match up versus George Pickens. McDuffie also had two DPI’s in coverage on Lamb.
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Related: NFL Defense Rankings 2025, Evaluating all 32 Defenses
Winner: CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens Remain Perfect Compliment
Hours before kickoff of the Chiefs vs. Cowboys game, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that Dallas plans to use the franchise tag on George Pickens this spring. That’s even with the franchise knowing that Pickens’ camp doesn’t want him to be tagged, preferring a long-term deal. As Thursday’s matchup showed, a contract dispute next summer is worth it to keep the Pickens-CeeDee Lamb pairing together.
Just look at the issues Kansas City had. The Chiefs had to keep Trent McDuffie on Lamb, even amid struggles, because the secondary already had its hands full containing Pickens. When Pickens finally got free, he made the big play in the fourth quarter that set up the Cowboys’ go-ahead touchdown. We know Jerry Jones will make contract talks with Pickens more difficult than they need to be, but the Pickens-Lamb duo needs to stay together for another season, and the franchise tag ensures it will.
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Loser: Fans of Good Defense
In the first quarter of the Chiefs vs. Cowboys game, the two teams combined for 21 points. The Cowboys offense then carried the second quarter with 10 points, including some explosive plays. While it might have seemed like the defenses figured things out in the third quarter, the final 15 minutes of this game proved otherwise. Dallas and Kansas City combined for 25 fourth-quarter points, while totaling over 800 total yards of offense. Both offenses also averaged 6-plus yards per play and reached the red zone seven times combined. On top of that, the Chiefs committed defensive pass interference four times, and the two teams combined for over 160 yards in penalty yardage.
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